Prompting users about whether they would like to receive a receipt upon completing an ATM transaction is a long common practice. As is the practice of after printing one, immediately throwing it away. How are users interacting with these receipts and what can be done to reduce the waste as well as provide an easier and more secure experience?
Through examining ATM environments and the methods in which users interact with ATMs we can gain insightful details, especially around how receipts are used. To begin though, we must look at what types of information are provided on an ATM receipt; usually bank name, time, location, withdrawal/deposit amount, and account balance. These receipts often don’t travel very far from their birthplace–usually right into a trash can, which has been neatly placed at the foot of the ATM. Also in an odd bit of anthropological examination it is interesting to see how users dispose of their receipts; sometimes they are simply placed in the trash can, other times they’re crumpled up or even torn up into bits. The later methods appear to be some form of rudimentary security implementation (I must confess that out of habit I too tear my receipts up).
But so why is that we opt to print a receipt, create waste, only to view its contents for a few mere seconds? Banks have even gone ahead and accommodated this practice of printing and throwing away by placing trash cans directly next to ATMs–effectively solving the surface problem of ATMs being littered with receipts. Yet the greater problem at hand still remains.
It seems that often times users ask for a receipt simply to view their account balance. Upon completing an ATM transaction typically the only option offered is whether or not to print a receipt, when an ideal additional option would be to view the account balance.
01.06.07 — Design
I was recently thinking about how to exercise my mind to force myself out of the daily routine and came up with a challenge. Redesign any commonly used object.
This isn’t a ground breaking concept, but I think it’s an interesting method to keep yourself thinking and looking at how you interact with objects in your environment.
The redesign is to be quick and dirty, rough sketches, nothing too elaborate–focusing more on the idea than the delivery. There is no guideline as to what the redesign is to acheive, it may be increased usability, it may just be to look prettier.
04.06.06 — Design
Recently I was asked to speak at the Mobile Monday series in New York on the research I had worked on around text entry methods. It’s nice to see events such as these popping up, as it seems this field is under-represented by the professional design and usability organizations (upa, chi, ixda, etc).
The topic for the Mobile Monday event I spoke at was all about design and usability of mobile devices. Coming from a more research background it was interesting to see the other presenters talking about work which they have done that has actually made it into products.
In addition to the presentations, we participated in a panel discussion talking about our work and more importantly where the mobile field is going. My take is more wireless integration with other devices (watches–they’re coming back, kiosks, purchasing systems, etc).
03.31.06 — Design
Spanning search results or any other kind of list of information across pages has become standard fare on the Web. Unfortunately this information is now secretly locked behind mystery doors (links) 2 through 34. How can we give the user insight into what lies behind these doors instead of simply choosing at random in order to find they information they desire?
Pagination has helped in reducing the load of information a user has to take in or download for that matter, but the pagination navigation leaves a great deal to be desired. Typically the pagination navigation is simply a list of linked numbers which reference each page of results, sometimes truncated to reduce an overload of page links. The problem with this is that the user is essentially gambling with what he will be presented with when clicking on a page link. Which is why most users don’t actually randomly pick a page, they walk through the results with the Next Page link.
Jared Spool has talked at great lengths about the idea of information scent, basically giving the user an idea of what lies behind a link before they click it. Information scent can give a user a purpose to click a link. Pagination navigation does not provide the user with any scent as to what exists behind a link such as 4. When looking at an alphabetically sorted list of results, wouldn’t it be nice to be able to know that a particular letter was on a certain page instead of excessively clicking around? Figure 1 showcases a pagination navigation scheme with scent for Flickr. When the user mouses over a page link he is presented with a sample of the photos which exist on that page. Thus allowing the user to make a better informed decision about whether to proceed to that page or not.
Figure 1. Flickr pagination with information scent
11.20.05 — User Experience
I know, why are we still talking about tag clouds? The concept is becoming a bit cliche as of late, but they’re still a viable option for presenting information visually. Although, a problem with tag clouds seems to be that their scaling ability is limited. But there are ways to improve its scalability.
As an avid Flickr (king of tag clouds) user, you can imagine my list of photo tags is getting larger over time. Thus the tag cloud which represents my photo tags is becoming increasingly difficult to quickly acquire comparative information of my tags, based soley on font size.
The visualization of varying font sizes becomes almost useless when viewing a tag cloud which approaches the length such as mine (Figure 1). Tags begin to blend together and it becomes almost more difficult to determine differences between tags as well as lowers their findability.
By using a gradient of color in addition to varying font sizes we can bring more depth to the tag cloud and augment its ability to emphasize popular tags (Figure 2). The variations in color almost give the tag cloud a 3D representation, pushing the popular tags to the front while de-emphaszing the less popular tags.
Figure 1. Current Flickr tag cloud with varying font sizes representing popularity
Figure 2. Modified Flickr tag cloud with varying font sizes and colors representing popularity
The traditional Flickr tag cloud works well for lists with few elements, I don’t think the addition of color would provide significant improvements for such tag clouds. There seems to be a threshold where merely using font sizes is not enough and color could be added to assist.
10.11.05 — User Experience
If you use Apple’s iTunes Music Store you’ve probably had that moment of confusion when attempting to decipher the iTunes login prompt. What was meant to be a simple option of choosing whether your account is from Apple or AOL has led users to have to more closely evaluate what is being asked of them.
The login prompt, displayed in figure 1, goes against the typical linear fashion of form entry. Account type options are listed vertically alongside the username and password fields. Without any presentational separation or field label for the account type, the form is read from left to right and top to bottom. Figure 2 outlines how the current format is typically perceived by the user when scanning the form. The user is given the impression that the username field may only belong to the Apple radio button and password to the AOL radio button.
Figure 1. Current iTunes login prompt
Figure 2. Current iTunes login prompt with emphasis
The root of this problem can be traced to the advent of AOL logins in iTunes 4.2. This new feature required Apple to redesign the interaction for logging into the iTunes Music Store. It appears that instead of more carefully investigating how to incorporate the option for AOL logins, Apple merely dropped the option into the, then current, prompt where space was available.
Figure 3 provides a simple redesign which follows the typical flow of how users interact with entry forms. Additionally, the user is provided with a field label for account type to provide extra guidance and consistency throughout the form.
Figure 2. Redesigned iTunes login prompt
While this is a minor annoyance I have heard this complaint from more users than I would have imagined. Plus, I expect more from Apple as I know that they take even the most minor details into consideration when designing.
09.25.05 — User Experience
It is almost a rarity to see a person with a walker which does not have the signature tennis balls on the back legs. The users of these walkers have filled a gap in the design to make the walker better fit their needs. But the real question is, why haven’t the designers of the walker taken notice of this very prominent “user hack”.
As a designer it is always fascinating to see how the users actually interacts with your design. This also poses as a means of feedback and a way to learn more about how users push the design. Typically the activity of listening to users’ feedback and observing their interactions is reincorporated back into the design process.
When people began to place split tennis balls on the back legs of walkers this should have been a clear indication to the designers that they missed something in their usability testing. But what is worse is that this process has continued for many years without any redesign of the walker.
Granted, new walkers such as those with hand brakes do exist to answer the shortcomings of the traditional walker. But, the tennis ball solution is a simple one, one which I feel could be easily reincorporated into the traditional walker. These people are just looking for a little bit of traction and the ability to easily slide their walkers. Not to mention the difficulty in slicing a hole in a tennis ball. Do medical supplies stores sell tennis balls to go along with the purchase of a walker?
This design shortcoming has even been taken advantage of as a business oppurtunity, the Walkerballs.
09.23.05 — Design
I recently heard a radio advertisement proclaiming, “Don’t change that dial”, a fairly common phrase in radio advertising. But as technology advances (eliminating dials in favor of buttons), sayings such as the aforementioned one are becoming irrelevant. This same progression is occurring in the metaphors we use in computing.
When the first graphical user interfaces were being developed the designers sought to ease the learning curve by making the user experience similar to one which they already knew–the desktop. Such a metaphor was an ideal implemenation. The computer interface contained all the familiar elements of that of a desktop–files, folders, sticky notes, a desktop workspace, and a trash can.
But what happens when the desktop metaphor becomes irrelevant because the computer has become the desktop? Today, when someone speaks about files or folders, it isn’t so out there to assume they are speaking about computer files. Will there be a time when someone much younger than myself will question why the computer is arranged as such? But then again, there is the possibility that the desktop metaphor will simply fade away as developers push towards a more Internet OS strategy than the traditional desktop environment.
08.04.05 — User Experience
On Saturday, July 30th, I will be leaving Boston on a one-way trip down to New York City. Next week I start my new job at JPMorgan Chase in Midtown Manhattan.
At JPMorgan Chase I will be working as a user interface designer and information architect within the Global Credit Risk Management division (that sounds so much more complex in writing). I will be the fourth member of the User Experience group. From what I have gathered from my conversations and meetings with them they are very friendly and chill people–much like how I see myself.
Starting work could not have come at a better time. Most recently I have been missing that stimulation I get when I design and write. While I have enjoyed my time off, getting back into a creative atmosphere will surely be welcomed.
But before I can get back to working I need to move. Having lived in the same apartment for the past three years I, luckily, have avoided the stress of moving. Prior to my current place, my roommates and I moved quite frequently. Each time when we moved we cleaned house by dumping all the junk we’ve accumulated. The unfortunate side of not moving often is the glut of junk I have built up. Therefore, I’m left with the daunting challenge of determining what junk I want to throw away and the junk I want to keep. It is somewhat comical how I have stuff I keep that I only come across when I move.
07.25.05 — New York, Personal
It’s Sunday afternoon, there are clear skies with a high of 92°. A bit hot for my tastes but I’ve had a good weekend. I am looking forward to taking a shower, watching some TV, and getting some work done on the computer. Only to arrive home and discover that I was robbed.
I expected my arrival at my apartment to be no different than any other time I’ve come home after staying over at Neera’s place. This time around it began just like that–nothing seeming out of the ordinary, Moz (my cat) hanging out in the living room, some stuff moved about due to Kevin moving. It wasn’t until I walked into my bedroom that I was a little tweaked out. Some of my drawers were pulled out–meanwhile I’m thinking, “Man, if you need some stamps or something at least close the drawer.” Then I notice my PowerBook is gone. Still, at this point I have this feeling that maybe someone was using it in the living room or something.
This is the point where if this was a story being told on This American Life the music would stop and there would be a short pause, then I say:
And then I turned around–back door wide open, window screens smashed out, and there are flies everywhere. I’ve really just been robbed.
I looked into my roommates’ rooms to see if anything of theirs had been taken. Kevin’s room has always looked as if a robber came in ransacked the place, with the exception of drawers pulled out. Steve’s room looked pretty much intact except for the aforementioned pulling out of the drawers.
With shock and disbelief firmly setting in I call Kevin, who by the way is about to have a graduation party, to see if he has his laptop. Unfortunately he was a victim of the smash and grab as well.
What They Took
After filing reports with the police it is apparent that we’ll never know who stole our stuff and we probably will never see it again. What is worse is that I keep discovering more stuff that they stole. Provided below is a list of my items that were stolen:
- PowerBook G4
- iPod
- Canon Digital Camera
- An older Mobile Phone (formerly Neera’s)
Things to Take Away from this Experience
Things could have been much worse. For one, they could have stolen a lot more. But what really freaks me out is the possibility of being home when someone invades your property.
While this is a horrible experience for me, it is a wake up call. We’re hyper-vigilant about locking this apartment down, but even that won’t always prevent the worst from happening. What this violation has taught me is that if you rent an apartment you should get renter’s insurance. This was always on the back of my mind–never did it, now I’m paying for it. Back up your data to an external hard drive, dvd, anything that is not physically attached to the computer. Luckily I did this. The financial loss of my property is far less than if I were to lose my data. If anyone else has some tips I would love to hear them.
Writing this article was tough, cause it only makes me more angry thinking about it. But on a funny side note (meaning it could have been worse), a few hours after the whole ordeal, I realized that Moz was covered in dirt. He’s an indoor cat mind you. Apparently he ventured outside for awhile, I guess he doesn’t think my apartment is that bad of a place to live.
06.28.05 — Personal