While the term, “User Experience Design” (UX design) prevails in the world nowadays, we discovered that consumption behaviors are also changing. Such consumption has changed from physical demand to mental satisfaction. Product development and design no longer emphasize on “function and appearance” but user experience and combine such experience with the company’s DNA.
Product Development and Design=Corporate Demand+ User Demand
A good product must combine both the corporate and user demands. Let’s take a scientific look at our brains. A human brain can be divided into two parts: the left (red area) represents logic while the right (blue area) represents intuition and senses. A company has a great left brain to think, reason, judge and deal with different projects and tasks to gain profits. A user has a strong right brain where they simply want something easy to use to feel happy and satisfied.
When the company is developing or designing products, they are often met with little conflicts or gaps between the overall corporate goal and user demand. This is the conflict between the sensible left brain and sensitive right brain. How to decrease the gap and find a perfect balance becomes the theme for all companies to deal with.
Getting to know corporate and user demand through UX design
From the example of IDEO’s design for the ATM of Spanish bank, BBVA, we could analyze how they connect corporate and consumer demand and come up with different user experience. Not only did they satisfy customers’ demand for ATM to be “private, simple, personalized, getting the cash, joy” but conveyed the corporate philosophy of BBVA.
“To understand” is something a company needs to do before developing a product. The project team needs to understand business requirement, usable techniques, market compartments and target groups etc, then move on to structure and progress planning.
Field observation of the original ATM design of BBVA bank. Miscellaneous functions, buttons and messages were quite confusing.
A good product is not something you could create sitting in front of your desk. During the process of improving or innovating your product, you need to think about your end-service user. Realistically observe how they use and feel about the product. We not only dig out “how satisfied user is on the product’s functions and features,” but further unearth “the nature of using the product and the user experience.”
The design team visited Spain, Mexico and the U.S to see how users of BBVA use ATM. They also observed similar devices such as automatic payment system of gas station, auto-check-out counter at the supermarket and automatic ticket vending machine to discover the most convenience and easy way that also fits user’s daily habit.
Cross-team collaborating create unlimited brain storming opportunities, fun and room for discussion. Everyone can propose ideas and imagination and seek to find the best solution.
Through observation and role-play experience, the design team proposed multiple solutions for privacy problem such as peeking. E.g. adding cover-up/protection effect.
Prototype may seem crude but it can actually test operation flow problem and users’ understanding of interface.
The design team noticed that users are afraid of the peeking problem so they turned the ATM 90 degrees and added matte glass as material. On one hand it can enhance the alert, on the other it can prevent others from prying private information and makes the user feel secure while using it.
The ATM interface design of BBAV bank only has three functions: “insert bank card, money slot and touch-screen operation service,” very intuitive. Their UI design focuses on simple, friendly and personalized. When the customer uses the ATM service, they could choose their preferred personalized service item. If they wish to break the bill into small change, illustrations of bills are displayed to signal the status.
The purpose of UX design is for development or design team to observe through being on users’ shoes and empathy during the process of developing or designing a product. Then to incorporate user behaviors, personality and experience into the company’s DNA to draw the users’ relationship with the company even closer.
1) The Future of Self-Service Banking
About Author
Gamania UI Designer Center / T-T Yang
Adopting a User-Center Design approach, the Center seeks to improve upon Group initiated projects to promote Gamania self-produced products and give the players the best user experience.