Identifying Communication Design in Vending Machines
Vending machines are commonplace and almost ubiquitous in most buildings, especially on campuses like Carnegie Mellon University. Vending machines range from the simple, to the complex that can provide anything from food to jewelry.
The most common vending machines provide drinks, and in most cases they are used in the context of being fast and convenient food. Personally, I would get a drink or a snack during the minutes moving between classrooms, if I am feeling peckish and find one in the corridors.
As per my example, a significant segment of vending machine users will be in a rush. Therefore, an ideal vending machine for a busy user should:
- Communicate quickly what products it has available
- Easy to use and operate
- Provide the product to the user quickly
Of course, there are other goals that a vending machine operator would have: they will want to attract the most number of users they can and sell the most products for the largest profit.
An effective design of a vending machine should hopefully meet the goals of both personas. Let’s take a look at two different vending machines to analyze if either meet these goals with effective communication design.
Ineffective Design
I found this hot coffee vending machine in the lower level of Hamburg Hall in Carnegie Mellon University. Given the non-central location of Hamburg Hall, this machine would ideally serve hot coffee drinks to graduate students from Heinz College needing a boost.
From the first look, it is pretty obvious that this machine is serving up hot coffee. In terms of marketing its product, it is extremely effective, albeit gaudy with the full bleed images.
However, a closer inspection of the ordering panel reveals that this machine may not meet the goals for a customer that needs to quickly get a cup of joe.
First off, we find that the 3-column layout is not the most intuitive, the instructions are on the rightmost column which does not follow a usual left-to-right reading order. This might confuse a user attempting to identify the starting point.
Second, the use of imagery and color is ineffective for the labelling of the different products. There are no images to show how each product (ideally) looks like, and the colors in the background of the panel are not exactly significant to each product.
An inconsistent use of type might also confuse the user as to what exactly the product they are buying is. Observe that “French Vanilla Latte” is emphasized differently from “Caramel Cappuccino”. It would take a user another moment to realize that they are actually ordering a cappuccino and not any other coffee drink.
Lastly, the use of shapes are not effectively used to distinguish between the options for coffee drinks, and the options for customizing the drink before ordering. It is also confusing that there is a continuing list of drinks under the creamer, sugar and sweetener options.
Overall, the ineffective design of this vending machine may prevent a coffee-deprived customer from quickly understanding how to order his drink, and end up being grumpier and giving up.
Granted, that there is a hardware limitation of what can be designed around a push-button machine, certain key changes may allow the machine to better communicate its options to the customer.
Effective Design
Hot coffee vending machines are actually fairly rare, and I believe this is the only such machine on campus. To find a more effective design, I looked up on the internet and found this machine:
From the get-go, we see that this is a very different machine from that found on campus. It has a modern design, with black panels and silver finishes. While this machine would certainly be more welcome in a millennial-centric office building, it is slightly disadvantaged in the sense that it is hard to tell what product it is selling. Azkoyen, the manufacturer of this machine, suggests that a color display displaying video ads would remedy this problem.
More importantly, let’s compare the ordering panel which was the main issue with the push-button coffee machine we saw earlier. This machine uses a touchscreen panel, which has the benefit of being more interactive and flexible.
First of all, we see that the color touchscreen effectively communicates the different products available from the machine in a clear and consistent manner. The imagery shows how each coffee drink looks like and in a standard coffee cup, and the use of color helps to quickly customers identify special options like steamed milk and green tea.
Second, we can see that the options for customizing the drink are clear as well from the use of shape and color. The use of blue and different sized buttons differentiate them from the normal drink options and calls them to attention. The icons used also quickly communicate what options there are.
Lastly, layout of the options make the panel easy to read and understand. The drink options are in a simple grid which is easy to parse, and the customization options are in a single row. It is actually smart that the customizations options are actually above the drink options, assuming that pressing a drink immediately dispenses it. Having the customizations presented first encourages the user to first select their customization and prevents a scenario where the user forgets to do so.
Overall, this machine seems to effectively communicate its options to its customer, and provides a fast and straightforward ordering system. It would probably be more enjoyable to use this machine over the first.
These two examples show the importance of effective communication design, and how its use can either elevate or complicate something that is as simple and joyful as coffee!
