ATM for Children
A lesson on Rapid Design Thinking
During this weeks UX courseload, I was given the task of creating an ATM for children. The primary purpose of the assignment was to familiarize myself with the process of thinking like a designer. Thinking back to when I was younger, I rarely had encounters with ATM’s, so this process did require a bit of research regarding my users and how, or if they could use an ATM. Once I had a very clear understanding of my users I was able to design with their needs in mind.
Step 1: Empathy
The first and most important part of the design process is empathizing with the user — putting our selves in the user’s position while interacting with the product. This involves considering what feelings, behaviors or needs we might need to address in order to come up with helpful solutions. In my case, it was very helpful starting out with a general list of questions to address so that I might better understand my users:
General Questions
Who is using this ATM?
- How old are they?
- Do they need to be above a certain age to use it?
- Who else, besides kids, might be using it?
- Do they authenticate differently based on their age?
- Why?
- Why are they using it?
- Why do they need it?
- What motivates them to use it?
How will they use this ATM?
- How does it function?
- What core functions does it need?
- Why?
- How do they navigate from one screen to the next?
- How will they deposit money?
- Do they understand how to deposit money
- Do they understand what deposit means?
- How will they withdraw money?
- Do they know how to withdraw?
- Do they understand what withdrawing money means?
- How do they check their balance?
- Do they understand what a balance is?
- How will they authenticate themselves?
- Do they use a card to authenticate
- What happens if they lose their card?
- Do they use a fingerprint scanner or facial recognition to authenticate?
- Do they understand this type of authentication?
- Can they afford this type of authentication?
- Do they use a designated pin to authenticate?
- What happens if they lose their pin?
What type of ATM is it?
- What is it being used for?
- Money?
- Prizes?
- Toys?
- Stickers?
- Tickets?
- What are the tickets used for?
- Snacks?
- Candy?
- Baked goods?
- Healthy snacks?
- Drinks?
- School supplies?
- Books?
- If money, what type of money?
- Real money?
- Fake money?
- School money?
- What can the money be used for?
- What does it look like?
- Does it need to be shorter for kids?
- Why?
- How does a shorter height affect all users?
- Does it account for disabilities?
Where is the ATM located?
- Where and Why?
Next, it was important to consider more about potential users as individuals. This is the part of the assignment did require a bit of research for me, especially with regards to how much children really understand the technology and how to navigate interfaces. Because ATM’s typically deal with money it was also important to consider their understanding of counting, and basic math principles. Creating a list, in this case, was also very helpful:
Potential Users
Children:
Early Childhood, ages 3–5:
- Able to use a mouse or hand to find a target on screen/touchpad
- Is familiar with interactive applications, games or activities
- Has been exposed to common technology such as computers, tablets, or touch devices
- Has a basic understanding of sets of ones when counting
- Knows their name
- Understands basic functions to a browser including how to open or close windows, and use a back key
Middle Childhood, ages 5–7
- Can click on icons, buttons, and menus to produce a desired outcome
- Can locate and use basic parts of digital devices
- Understands basic technology terms such as (exit, close, click, drag, scroll, etc)
- Can count in sets of ones (K) and by tens (2nd grade)
- Has a basic understanding of addition and subtraction by ones, familiar terms include “adding” and “taking away”
Early Adolescence, ages 8–12
- Has basic keyboarding skills (knows how to type)
- Can navigate between UI screens, use a back button, drop down menus, etc.
- Has a basic understanding of the value of money
Teens, ages 13–17
- Understands the value of money
- Understands navigation with technological devices, switching between browsers, following commands, etc.
- Understands the basic functions of an ATM — deposits, withdraws, and checking a balance
Adults (Yes, adults could potentially use this ATM as well)
- Parents
- School staff- Teachers, Administrators, Teachers Assistants, Custodians, Librarians, School Nurse, School Visitors…
- Maintenance workers
Motivations
At this point, I had a pretty good understanding of my user's abilities. The next question I needed to address was why. Why would they use it? What motivations would cause them to use an ATM? Heres what I came up with:
Children :
- To experience the empowerment that comes with money management
- Experience the satisfaction of managing one’s own money
- To develop a sense of independence from parents or adults
- For social status
- For novelty
Adults:
- To provide a concrete method of teaching, and reinforcing basic math skills — for parents and teachers
- Classroom management for teachers — provide positive reinforcement for good behavior — for teachers
- Positive reinforcement at home — for parents
Market Gaps
At this point, I had established who my users are and what might motivate them to use an ATM. It was also important to consider current ATM’s on the market and if there were any gaps I could fill for my users:
Height — the regular size of an ATM machine is too tall for the average 5–7-year-old. However, with adults using these machines as well I didn’t want to adjust the height to an uncomfortable position — causing them to bend or kneel just to operate it. For that reason, I considered adding a drawer at the bottom of the machine for students to pull out and give them the height needed to operate the screen.
Disabilities — coming from a background in special education I wanted to consider children who might be physically or learning impaired. A possible solution to this was adding a “Read to me” pop up feature to the main screen for students who struggle with reading or are blind. While also considering students who struggle following basic instructions — getting from point A to point B adding a “Show me how” video link with each function could help younger children navigate and understand how to use the machine.
Fraud / Bullying— yes considering that this ATM is primarily for children I had to consider if a child could end up in a bullying scenario. Children will push boundaries and attempt to hack the system. To address I considered adding a fingerprint authentication code so that students do not need to worry about having their accounts hacked, or be able to hack the other accounts.
Step 2: Define
The next phase of the design thinking process is to now, define — what is being used, who is using it, how they are using it, and where they are using it.
What is being used?
An ATM for children and teachers and parents.
Who is using it?
Children — Ages 5–7. I chose this age because during this phase of school children are learning basics in math — i.e. counting, addition & subtraction, etc. An ATM is an awesome opportunity to teach these concepts in a very concrete way.
Adults — Teachers and parents. Money can be very motivating no matter what your age, and using an ATM as a method of positive reinforcement while teaching basic math principles is an excellent way to teach. Parents and teachers can deposit and withdraw funds based on student behavior, completion of assignments, etc.
How they are using it/Functions?
- Authentication — Children are notorious for losing items, so for this functionality, there is no card or pin to gain access to the child’s account — just a simple fingerprint scan. This would also decrease the risk of having account details stolen or misused.
- Deposits — children can select the amount they would like to add to the account and input the money. I went back and forth on how I might title the deposit button because younger children might be struggling with the concept of a deposit. Instead, I decided to label the deposit button “Add.” This would also tie into the teaching of basic math concepts.
- Withdraws — to keep things consistent and simple this button is called “Take away.”
- Checking Account Balance — The account balance is always displayed for the purpose of reinforcing how much the child has in their account.
- A section/insert where the money is disbursed or applied to the child’s account. Money disbursed is not real, and can only be used within the school setting. Examples include the school cafeteria, vending machine, price boxes, etc.
Where they are using it?
Due to the fact that my ATM is primarily being used as a teaching tool it can only be found within the school — teacher classrooms and the main office where it can be monitored by teachers and school staff.
Step 3: Ideate
This step was not as difficult as I expected. After following the two first steps I had a clear understanding of what I needed to include in my ideations and what to leave out. This is my super messy, low fidelity sketch of the users flow from the authentication page, withdrawing money from their account, and having the option to take more or complete the process.
Step’s 4: Prototyping
The prototyping phase of the design process typically involves users playing with varied versions of the product. This helps illuminate mistakes in the design so that they can be resolved early on. For the sake of this assignment, I was unable to create an interactive prototype, just a cleaner version of my original wireframes to emphasize the placement of elements and possible typography:
Step 5: Testing
The last step of the design process would involve a few potential customers to test the prototype. For the sake of this assignment, however, I am unable to complete this step.
Conclusion:
This model of design thinking was very helpful. It was time-consuming, to say the least, but I now understand why it is useful and see myself applying this method to future projects.
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