Consider the Vending Machine

Consider the device above, a vending machine that dispenses snacks. It has a viewable area, buttons, a pickup location, purchasable products, and some other stuff. There’s a lot of things the creator of this device could have focused on — the buttons, the buying process, the display, the mechanics, how you restock the device, the materials used to build it, etc. From personal experience, there’s a lot of flaws with this type of vending machine, things like:

• The buttons can get sticky and hard to press, and as a result you mistype an order
• The spiral that pushes out products can get stuck, not allowing you to get your purchase
• Your hand can get caught on the flappy door during retrieval
• The change compartment is only wide enough for 1 or 2 fingers making it hard to get your coins
• Falling items can get stuck near the bottom and become unretrievable

However, there’s one thing that is pretty clear to me — the creator designed this vending machine around one thing that she felt really mattered to her hungry audience, goddamn snacks, and as a result, the experience, although flawed, is burned in our minds:

• There’s a clear glass that allows the machine to showcase the actual products you will be purchasing
• Products are organized in a grid that mimics a shopping experience
• Products are placed at a height so that when you order and they fall, there’s a good amount of movement that catches the eye
• The mechanism that pushes the products out is slow and steady so that in the moment, you know you’re about to get this item and there’s time to subconsciously realize this
• When the item drops, you can’t see it in the retrieval area and you must place your hand inside to fish for the item without sight, further prolonging the experience by the right amount of time.
• The machine itself has no color, rather the products themselves are shown off for the world to see

The designer of this machine evidently didn’t have a delightful experience in mind, but she stumbled into one by figuring out the one thing that mattered to her audience and crafting an experience around it, which today is ritual.

Product designers have a lot to think about. Everything from crafting the perfect user experience based on research and personas, to picking the perfect color for a button, to making sure everything is pixel perfect. It’s easy to get lost in the myriad of things that need to get done, and of course we never have the luxury of time to craft the perfect thing we want. At the end of the day all what we’re doing is window dressing around the trigger for delight, and that can be as simple as letting that bag of Cheetos speak for itself.

Delightfulness is something that can completely change a user’s perspective on a product. We are so rarely delighted through things we use that when we come across something that truthfully delights us, it could completely negate everything else that might possibly be wrong.

Knowing what motivates your audience and framing your product around that can be a powerful thing — you figure out how to trigger delight and build a minimal experience around it. The maker of the vending machine could have prioritized having springier buttons, or a higher resolution screen, or writing better copy on the device, or maybe making change retrieval a little easier, but instead she focused on adding just enough delight for me to enjoy my little bag of cheesy, crunchy Cheetos.

P.S. Managed by Q is always looking for great designers who want to create well-crafted, delightful experiences. Feel free to email me - win at managedbyq.com if delighting people is your kind of thing.