Interview about Lavazza Voicy Coffee Machine, winner of the A' Home Appliances Design Award 2022
Voicy is the first espresso machine with built-in voice assistant. A smart product combining quality coffee with functions provided by Alexa, all in a well designed and innovative device. The user can interact through the UI, voice commands, or use the app to check status, consumption, order coffee and, above all, make espresso. Innovation, functionality, and aesthetics in harmony to meet the needs of users who experience their coffee ritual in an increasingly personalized way.
View detailed images, specifications, and award details on A' Design Award & Competition website.
View Design DetailsVoicy is a great project in which we learned a lot. The complete integration of a built in voice assistant is our first step in exploring a more advanced user interaction and a unique user experience. Bringing the world of coffee and smart home devices together in one single device was a huge challenge for the whole team. Especially since we hadn't done anything like that before!
For us aesthetic elegance and functional requirements aren't really two seperate things. They always need to go hand in hand to achieve great product design. There is almost always a clear and distinctive elegance in a well thought out and well working product.
Lavazza's whole design language is inspired by automotive design. This ranges from volumes and proportions to high quality surfacing. But also colours, material and finishes and also the whole aspect of user experience. In this case we created a rather simple user interface with a clear visual hierarchy on a silicone pad and mechanical buttons.
We're always aiming to use appropriate materials for the specific task at hand. In many cases this means plastic for the housing - for example ABS for the external shell and SAN for the water tank. For other components, like the handle and the grid we often use real metal. The metal lends a certain robustness and perceived quality to the product.
I wouldn't necessarily call the challenges obstacles. While there really was a lot to figure out and learn, it was all part of the project and part of the job. From a technical point of view we had support to make sure the voice assistant was integrated properly and worked well and in symbiosis with the main machine.
We always aim to embed a visual hierarchy on a sense of order in our user interfaces. It is important that users can quickly understand different functions and orient themselves.Especially if the user interface is a little more complex.
Our appliances almost always offer the possibility to adjust the cup rest to accommodate cups of different sizes. Obviously every cup requires a certain amount of space, but we try to bring small cups closer to the spout, so that the coffee doesn't have to fall through too much air. The cuprest on this machine is quite special as the user can simply pull it out and replace it in the higher position if necessary.
I can see smart technology go on to enrich the user experience of small domestic appliances and also make some of the products slightly more accessible for specific user groups. However, the basic function of a product still needs to be the main focus. If a product doesn't perform well in this respect, adding a layer of smart technology is just a waste of time.
We have a lot of know how and also several distinctive passages and tests in our development process that allow us to intercept potential issues. This aspect is enabling us to fine tune the final design of the product and Voicy wasn't an exception. With the feedback we made sure that all the different interaction methods worked as intended.
Voicy is actually a perfect example of a product that maintains a strong family feeling and brand identity but also explores a completely new aspect at the same time. In this special case the focus was on user interaction and how a connected product with an integrated voice assistant might impact and improve our current products. Simply put, Voicy makes the pleasure of good coffee easily accessible for everyone.
Dive into a world of design excellence with our curated highlights. Each feature showcases outstanding creativity, innovation, and impact from the design world. Discover inspiration and learn more about these incredible achievements.
