As a person who has broken many things in her lifetime, I know the consequences are never good. I went from breaking plates to toys and in school, I had to be very meticulous in classes involving lab because breaking apart of any sort would "ruin my life." However in today's class, we were told to let go of all guilt that came with the breaking of items and break open and disassemble a milk frother (if you don't know what it is, don't worry we were on the same boat. )
This is the $2.49 milk frother from Ikea.
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The function of the milk frother is to spin its circular end to shake the milk and make it bubbly (or in other words-froth).
The strengths of the product was that it only took a few seconds to complete its job. It was simple, light in weight, and didn't need to come with an instruction manual. It was also extremely cheap, $2.50, so if it ever broke, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. A weakness was that it almost resembled a toy which could actually break any second if it fell or was thrown.
Although I had never used a frother before, I think this one worked really well because it only took a few seconds to make the milk frothy and it stayed frothed for about an hour. The affordances of the frother were that anyone could easily lift it, it could stand by itself and the user could use it to froth any milk (even chocolate, yum!). The signifiers and mapping were on point. You knew the switch would make it spin on and off. The batteries also showed how to open and which way to place them. The feedback was the spinning of the rod and vibrating noises made when the frother was turned on.
Since the item costs $2.50, the price of all the items could not have cost more than $.50 and when I estimated all the costs of the parts, it came out to be $.46 which is a reasonable estimate.
Before disassembling the frother, I thought it would be a very intricate machine with a million circuits inside but it turns out that it can be simple if you take the time to take apart an item and see the work that goes into making it.
There were two higher end devices that were heavier, sturdier, more powerful, and faster than the Ikea one. However, they were a lot more expensive. I would go for the Ikea frother because it works really well and since I do not see myself ever really needing it, I would not spend extra money for it.
This is the $2.49 milk frother from Ikea.
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| Milk Frother in action |
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| Aerial view of result |
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| Result: The milk came out beautifully and frothy in a matter of seconds. |
Although I had never used a frother before, I think this one worked really well because it only took a few seconds to make the milk frothy and it stayed frothed for about an hour. The affordances of the frother were that anyone could easily lift it, it could stand by itself and the user could use it to froth any milk (even chocolate, yum!). The signifiers and mapping were on point. You knew the switch would make it spin on and off. The batteries also showed how to open and which way to place them. The feedback was the spinning of the rod and vibrating noises made when the frother was turned on.
After making chocolate milk and frothing it (sorry, no picture evidence because result was consumed right away), we began the disassembly process. Some grunt work and pliers were necessary but the frother was broken down into its pieces to make this masterpiece.
Since the item costs $2.50, the price of all the items could not have cost more than $.50 and when I estimated all the costs of the parts, it came out to be $.46 which is a reasonable estimate.
Before disassembling the frother, I thought it would be a very intricate machine with a million circuits inside but it turns out that it can be simple if you take the time to take apart an item and see the work that goes into making it.
There were two higher end devices that were heavier, sturdier, more powerful, and faster than the Ikea one. However, they were a lot more expensive. I would go for the Ikea frother because it works really well and since I do not see myself ever really needing it, I would not spend extra money for it.
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