Interface Critique #2: Ratty Salad Bar
The last thing you want in your salad is someone else’s sleeve. Unfortunately, due to the poor design of the Ratty’s salad bar, you might just get a taste of the last user’s sweatshirt. Designed as a two-rowed, single-sided salad bar, this interface forces users who want toppings from the second row to reach over toppings in the first, often accidentally dipping in their elbows in the process.
The cause of this problem is the storage of plates beneath the counter for easy user access. The space that these plates occupy directly translates to the space that makes the reach for second row toppings all the longer.
Although inconvenient, we must evaluate the constraints that may have contributed to the current design before proposing any changes.
First of all, as a result of the recent Sharpe Refectory renovations, the salad bar was nearly doubled in size. Considering its 30-foot breadth, it was likely situated as a single-sided bar to save space. Its single-sided design also highlights effort and time constraints, specifically those that may be cumbersome to student users but beneficial to Ratty staff. This design lends itself to the BUDS workers who restock the salad bar from the other side, allowing them to spend less time and effort doing so than if the bar were double-sided and crowded with students on both sides. Furthermore, it being the first image visitors see upon entrance, the bar’s clean, polished aesthetic and somewhat triangular design reinforce the Ratty’s newly branded image, firmly defining the border between eating areas, food, and the kitchen.
The learnability of this interface is average in that user lines for both wings of the bar start centrally at the dish table and diverge in opposite directions. This unconventional divergence of lines may confuse users initially, but they are unlikely to forget after using the bar once, making this interface’s memorability relatively high. However, its accessibility and efficiency are both low. While the bar as a whole is accessible to users, due to the awkward reach, second row toppings are not. Furthermore, to obtain these distant toppings, students spend extra time leaning under the glass overhang, slowing the line and decreasing the efficiency of the interface.
To address these design flaws, I propose the adoption of one of the following three design changes, all of which improve accessibility and efficiency: a two-tiered bar, re-situation of the bar’s two wings as parallel to allow double-sided access, or relocating the plates beneath the counter and flushing out both rows of toppings to be even with the edge of the counter. While a two-tiered bar design would likely cause higher implementation costs and lower accessibility for restocking, it would eliminate the awkward reach by stacking the second row above the first, allowing users to reach up rather than across. See below:
Re-situating the two wings of the bar as parallel to allow double-sided access would improve efficiency and also eliminate the awkward reach, but only if each wing was stocked with exclusively row one or row two toppings. Sure, users may have to visit both wings to satisfy their salad needs, but at least they would no longer be straining for that second row because it’d be the same as the first. See below:
And finally, relocating the plates. While reconstructing the marble bar would prove expensive, I propose expanding the central table for storage of all plates, allowing for the bar itself to shift forward to its users, thereby also eliminating the awkward reach.
Any of these three alternative designs would heighten both the efficiency and accessibility of this interface.