Midea Integrated Microwave, Steamer, and Oven (R5) GUI Design

Midea Smart Appliances launched its flagship premium product — the smart built-in integrated microwave, steamer, and oven R5 — redefining the category through scientific and efficient utilization of kitchen space. To ensure users enjoy a comfortable and efficient experience, Midea collaborated with KKD to create this intelligent, user-friendly, and visually refined interface system.

Challenges

Amid the trend of intelligent appliances, a clean, intuitive interface has become an indispensable element of an outstanding product. This project employed a TFT full-color high-definition screen paired with a physical knob outside the screen. The key challenge was to harmonize their visual relationship while creating an immersive visual atmosphere tailored to cooking scenarios.

Research & Insights

Through product research, we found that most competitors in this category focused on basic interaction habits, resulting in simple positional relationships between knobs and screens with little visual harmony or forced integration. Meanwhile, many products featured flat, functional interfaces lacking visual texture and atmosphere.

Solution

Starting with visual cohesion, we proposed the core concept of a "virtual knob," using circles and rings as recurring visual elements across the interface to echo the physical knob outside the screen.

The interface’s visual tone draws inspiration from the scenario of cooking in an oven, where light and heat converge on food within a dark cavity. The system employs deep, dark tones as its base, accented with orange-red hues for highlights and interactive feedback. This striking color combination enhances usability while evoking the warmth and luminosity of cooking, creating an immersive culinary atmosphere.

Differentiating from the flat minimalist style common in smart appliance interfaces, we prioritized the depiction of light, shadow, and texture. Through layered visual elements, delicate lighting details, and subtle motion effects, the interface achieves rich visual depth and atmosphere, aiming to provide users with an experience that balances functionality and aesthetics.

Results & Impact

The R5’s interface system adopts a unified design language, seamlessly integrating the physical knob with the screen to create a distinctive, textured visual experience. This system effectively showcases the product’s functionalities while delivering an optimal user experience, helping users effortlessly enter a cooking mindset and enjoy the joy of creating meals.