10 things to remember when designing self help kiosk experiences

I will preface this post by saying that the list below is directed primarily at touch screen kiosks. Most rules still apply across any self-help kiosk, but because of the increasing popularity of touch screens, and my recent encounter with a very confusing kiosk at a museum, I thought I would share some lessons that we have learned.

1. Design your interface so an 8 year old can use it. It drives me completely crazy when user experience designers make assumptions about interactions that, supposedly, everybody knows (pinch-to-zoom, or drag-and-drop to name a couple). The only safe assumption is that the first time someone uses your experience will be their last, if it’s confusing or frustrating. Make it simple and deliver useful information quickly, rather than flashy and hard to use.

2. Don’t be verbose. In fact, whenever possible don’t use words. Words assume the understanding of a specific language, so animations or even short video clips are a better choice to express information. If you must use words, use as few as possible and try and add other visual queues, even colors. In a recent usability test we performed more than half of our test subjects selected a green button labeled “No” to answer in the affirmative.

3. Limit the number of options displayed on a single screen at any given time. Offering just a few choices to users, helps them make a decision more quickly, and makes them feel more confident about their interaction. It can also help reduce the amount of irrelevant information that they view, by filtering what is displayed based on their choices.

4. Always provide “Previous”, “Next”, and “Home” buttons. Giving users the ability to change their mind is extremely important. And when a user does change their mind, make the screen look exactly the way they left it. Also, in the case that the user needs to give up and start over again, give them an easy way to do it; add a “Home” button.

5. Ask nicely before returning to the default state. All self-help kiosk experiences should detect a period of inactivity and return to a default state; there is always the chance someone will walk away at any point. There is also the possibility that the person is simply distracted for a moment, so be sure to ask with a countdown message before resetting the experience, and erasing their progress.

6. Avoid touchscreen keyboards. If at all possible find other ways for users to enter data; scanning barcodes and swiping cards are great alternatives. If you must use a keyboard, test it’s usability on the actual kiosk. Parallax and touch detection will play a significant role in the keyboard design.

7. Customize the experience for different types of users. Someone who uses the kiosk regularly will expect a quick path to what they are looking for and need very little help getting there; whereas, a new user will expect some hand holding and may need to explore a bit. In either case, simplicity is a best practice.

8. Get to know the hardware. Touch screen specifications, behavior, and performance are very different from one display to the next. Also, a kiosk may have hardware buttons, a scanner, a magnetic stripe reader or other hardware you can leverage. Understanding the hardware options and what the touch experience is like before designing, will help flesh out the experience in a useful way.

9. Design the experience around the purpose of the kiosk. A kiosk used to purchase tickets to a movie, is a much different experience than an informational kiosk in a shopping center. Start with the question, “What will most users use this kiosk for?” If the kiosk’s use is primarily transactional in nature, users will want the interface to feel private and secure, and place less importance on entertainment and pizzazz.

10. Perform usability tests. I don’t mean, “have guys around the office play around with the experience”; I mean scientific testing that is planned out with proper controls, users from the desired demographic, and a questionnaire for test subjects after they participate in the testing.