The commons things I usually use the toaster oven for is toasting bread, when a bread toaster is not available. Warming up food when a microwave is not available. Baking cookies when an oven is not available or I am only baking a small batch of cookies. The most common use for a toaster oven for me is to heat up frozen pizza.

The directions on the toaster oven are very basic. A user would definitely have to a user manual to operate this toaster oven. Althought there are only two knobs on it. The user still have to guess which knob to use first. It is quiet obvious the manufacturer wants the user to select the temperature first and then select the timer. However, it should be clearly indicated on the toaster oven.
To use this toaster oven to heat up a frozen pizza. The user would first have to look at the desired temperature recommended on the box and set temperature according to it. Then the user will have to set the time based on the instructions written on the frozen pizza box.

In terms of helping the user figure out how to use the toaster oven, there is not much help available. The user has to plug in the power cord, then the power light comes up to indicate the oven has been turned on. The toaster oven is very simple if the user only wants to heat up food a certain temperature for a desired amount of time. But, if the user wants to use this oven for toast or broil, it gets a little bit complicated. There are no clear indication on how to operate it. Based on how the layout is set, the user is to assume that the toast setting is automatically applied when the toaster nears the 5 minute mark.

There is power LED light at the bottom right that gets turned on when the power cord is plugged into the wall. When the timer has stopped running, a ding sound is produced at the end. However, there is no indication on weather the timer is running or not.

As mentioned earlier, if the user/guest wants to use the oven only for heating something for a specific time on a certain temperature, this toaster oven is good for it. If the user, however, wants to use the toast or broil setting, the instructions are very poor.

The biggest design mistake is the failure to mention the unit of temperature (F or C) and the scale of timer (minute, seconds, hours, days, etc). The other problems with the design is the incremental points on the temperature dial. The temperature increments 50 units each time. If the user wants to heat at 175 or 225, it is hard to estimate as the dot on the knob is very thick.
Broil and toast settings are located right after the 450 temperature unit. It leads a person to believe that Broil is 500 unit and toast is 550.

- There are only two knobs, so it is very simple to use.
- Labels are bold and visible from a distance.
- Power LED is clearly labeled.

- Not a clear inidication if the door opens down or the entire compartment slides out.
- No mention of units by the knobs for both timer and temperature.
- The user has to guess for the temperature. The dials goes in the increments of 50 units, so if a user wants 125 or 225, it would be difficult to estimate.
- A user is led to believe that the toast setting is applied automatically at the end.

That is how I would change the layout of the toaster oven if I were to modify the design. - The arrow on the knobs are easy to visualize; the mid-temperature indication are easy to calculate and follow.
- The knobs are easy to grab since they have a cone like structure.
- Everything is labeled clearly.
- The usage is divided into two section: Broil and Toast, or Setting Temperature and Set Timer.
- LED indicator light in each buttons.

This is a good approach because this acts like a cassett player, where if one button is active, then all others will be disabled. The button at the right mid-section allows the user to select which side they want to use. If the user wants to use Toast or Broil side, then knobs on the bottom are disabled. Since the usage of LED lights are involved, the manufacturer can now guide the user on the product is intended to use each time.