Best: Metrocard Vending Machine
Traveling throughout the city means
you need to have a metro card on you at all times. In order to purchase one,
you can either buy one from a booth where a person will be able to assist you
or from a metro card machine. However not all subway stations have a booth
available so interacting with the machine is required. For me personally, I
think the metro card machine is extremely fast and efficient. I remember the
first time I ever used one, I read whatever was on the screen carefully and use
my finger to pick my options. As I began to use the machine more frequently, I
realized how fast and useful it really is. it is a perfect example of service
design because it is a machine that forces you to interact with it. it is a
form of communication design.
The
machine is made
out of steel and other materials; the interface used is a combination of
director, photoshop, illustrator, and visual basic software. Its dimensions are
approximately 6' 7 7/8" x 41 11/16" x 26" (203 x 106 x 66 cm).
The MTA's vending machine leads customers through the process of buying metrocards
in a manner that is efficient and no-nonsense, in a very New York spirit,
suggesting colorful, never-boring transit ahead: the buttons on the screen are
large and the purchasing choices are clear; the machine itself is done up in
bright, almost toy-like primary colors and, with its enamel-coated steel, it is
both graffiti- and scratch-proof.
The
metrocard vending machine is a successful service design because it gets the
job done in an effective manner. No matter where you are in the city, every
subway station has the same exact machine with the same exact instructions for
use. Once you have mastered its process, you will never have to relearn it
again, the experience you share with this machine will be exactly the same at
any subway station. I admit that for first time users it may be a bit
complicated, however for people who are not fluent in English, there
interaction can be made easier by choosing the option to proceed in a different
language. There are four language options on the machine; English, Espanol,
Italian and Deutsch. Picking a different language can help some people but for
others just reading whatever comes up on your screen can automatically help you
get your metro card.
The advancement in technology is
what makes the metrocard vending machine so efficient. In the reading,
Service design: Practical Access to an Evolving Field by Stefan Moritz, the
relationship between service design and technology is discussed. Technology is
a main component of rising service designs; Moritz states, “Technology
has changed the relationships between clients and service providers. Therefore
technology represents new possibilities as well as challenges.” I
encounter many service designs throughout the day, for example going to the atm
etc. the only draw back I find with these other machines is that they are
always different wherever I go. Atms in particular can be hard to adjust to and
are not nearly as quick as the metrocard vending machine.
***
Worst: Self-Checkout Machines
Standing on line to purchase an item can take some time. Inventors
believed that in order to speed this dreaded process up, self-check out
machines should be built and put into various stores including super markets, department
stores and so on. I for one am not a huge fan of these self-checkout machines.
The first time I ever used one was at my local grocery store. I found myself
going extremely slow and making sure the prices the machine rung up were
correct. There were many items I was buying, for example fruit that did not
have a price tag on it and had to be weighted in order to determine a price. To
do that, I had to call over an employee to assist me. By the time that was all
done, my entire checkout procedure took twice as long as it normally does. I
did not fancy this concept at all.
The few
variables that I think made this service design a fail was that for stores with
this much variety, it is hard to program every last detail into one machine.
First off, the software was not extremely fast, which is fine but the faster
the better. The second obstacle was that some items would not ring up properly
so you would have to go back and retry (wasting time) and putting in your store
card number was an entire procedure on its own. Lastly, whenever there was a problem
with the self-check out, you had to contact a person who worked there to come
over and help you. That itself, ruins the entire concept of a self-checkout.
In order for a service design to be
successful, it cannot be for something too complicated. In other words, the
machine should be able to do exactly what you need it to without any human
assistance at all. In the Mager Service Design reading, the purpose of service
design is stated, “Service designers visualize, formulate, and
choreograph solutions to problems that do not necessarily exist today; they ob-
serve and interpret requirements and behavioral patterns and transform them
into possible future services.” Successful
service designs should also provide people with the same exact experience every
time they use it (no matter where there location is.) I think that is what
truly makes the metrocard vending machine a true victory. I understand that for
people who are in a hurry and do not have many items that the self checkout is
actually efficient for them, however I would rather wait the extra minute on
line in guarantee that I will have no problems dealing with the machine.
Nowadays, there are express lines in most grocery stores anyway. I think that
self-checkouts can definitely be successful, however only in certain types of
environments.