It looks like if you want simple, its going to cost you. KitchenAid has a new blender out that’s super simple. On this unit you will only find only one retro style switch that offers three choices: up for on, down for pulse and center for off. And that’s it.
What will this kind of simplicity cost you? Well about $400 regularly. That about 6 times more that your average blender with lots of buttons.
Apparently its very expensive to strip out functionality.
RE>Apparently its very expensive to strip out functionality.
That pretty much nails it. Alan Cooper has a good bit about this in his “Inmates” book. For example, most similar devices rely on the same integrated circuits inside, so the designers find similar ways of using those circuits, and probably think it’s wasteful not to afford the user all the functionality the IC has.
Perhaps Kitchen Aid has to order a custom IC and other parts to create this unusual device.
Recently I have read the story of a nordic company that sell trash bins. They are very well-designed yet very simple. Guess what, they were selling for $400 a pop also. And sales are strong according to the article.
I think we can say that simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.