My mornings are based on routine. I'm not sure if it's the repetition of familiar movements or the cold coffee waiting for me in the kitchen that drives me through those first few waking moments. Either way, after I've had my coffee, I am awake enough to figure out how to make more coffee... and then it comes to breakfast.
Breakfast is my first true decision of the day. Everything else up to this point is robotic motion practiced into familiarity. Variety is the spice of life, so after my day has been kick started, I want a little choice to keep things from getting dull. Usually breakfast consists of some sort of grainy thing in a bowl with soymilk to wash it down. What can I say? It's fast and easy. If I want to break away from a bowl of cereal or oats, usually I look to toast.
Yes, plain, boring old toast, usually buttered with cinnamon on top.
Luckily for me, variety can be (well, if it ever comes to market) achieved with the Scan Toaster, a submission in the 2008 Electrolux Design Lab contest. The concept piece certainly takes variety seriously, as not only can it print any design onto your toast via a USB attachment to your computer, but it can also toast articles and news headlines right on to your toast. Read the day's news, and then eat it.
Designer Sung Bae Chang, a design student at Sejong University in South Korea, created the toaster for the competition that ends October 9 in Zurich, Switzerland.