Superficial Intelligence

For my User Interface Design class we had to get together in groups of two and prepare a presentation where we compared different interfaces that solved the same problem. The presentations were called Hall of Fame/Shame due to the fact that we were supposed to find both examples of bad and good interfaces. My partner and I decided to do ours on vending machines. Very simple machines with a very simple model, but given a bad interface, it is still possible to make mistakes while using them. One thing that I have learned in this class is that often we blame ourselves for making mistakes when using everyday objects, when in fact it is the interface's fault.

The idea for talking about vending machines arose from one such mistake that my wife made. She went to a vending machine and looked up the code for the candy she wanted. It was D10. She then started to press the buttons. She pressed "D". Then "1". Before she could look for "0", another item started dropping. This item was D1. The vending machine actually had a button for "10". This unusual button was the source of my wife's confusion. Needless to say, this machine was our Hall of Shame example.

We then presented a vending machine that fixed the last one's problem. This one has a much more familiar interface for entering numbers. It is very similar to phones and ATMs and there is no button for "10". We classified this machine as Hall of Less Shame:

We then presented our third and final vending machine. This one eliminates basically all possibilities of making mistakes. It is not required to enter any code at all. It is extremely easy to use. This was our Hall of Fame vending machine:

It is amazing how user interfaces for even the simplest of machines can impact user experience so much. Just think of how many times you have tried to push a door which you were supposed to pull. As a programmer, I hope I am able to make things as simple and easy to use as possible. Let's see how that is reflected in the class project!