Callum Hunter How can we design a cash

Callum Hunter

How can we design a cash machine that reassures the user ?

Observations Day and Night Video observations at cashpoints around Aberdeen showed me that many it can be hard to tell if a cash machine is working, and can also be intimidating to use if the surrounding area is badly lit.

User Interactions 54 people observed at two different cash points. 41 people selected “cash without receipt”

Cutting down options Initial research showed that the majority of ATM users selected cash without receipt, I looked at different ways of cutting down the process trying to make cash transactions faster.

Questionnaire Do you cover your pin ? 64% said no Would you use an ATM that was in a badly lit area ? 79% said no Have you ever had your card withheld for no reason? 67% said yes

Do you have any concerns before using ATM’s “I always forget to cover My pin” “Will I get my card back” “Is this ATM in a safe location”

Development Aims Visible Card Covered Pin Communicating Lights

Initial Prototypes Initial prototyping was focusing on creating a pin pad that would cover the users hand without them worrying about doing it themselves.

Hidden Pin After prototyping I started to model my cash point on Rhino. I designed the pin pad so that it would be hidden from anyone not using the cash point. The user will be able to look through a piece of glass position above the pin. The glass will have an effect added to it making it dark for anyone looking at it from an angle. The glass will become clear when looked at directly, or straight down on. The pin pad will be

Developed Pin Originally the hidden pin was going to have an added hand guard to add more cover to the users hand when they enter their pin. This however is no longer possible as everyone is so varied in the size, the gap would have to be the same minimum width and height even if the guard wasn't there, making the guard pointless.

Visible Card A big concern for many people using cash was if the machine was going to swallow their card or return it safely back to them. Just under seventy percent of people that I interviewed have had their card taken by and ATM and at the time had no idea why. By making the card reader clear and out with the machine the users card will be visible to them throughout the whole transaction. The card will also stick out the top of the reader. This should hopefully give users piece of mind that if they can see their card then they will feel closer to it and have more control, i. e. if they want to end a transaction quickly or start again they can remove their car at any time.

Pulsing lights Many cash machine are in badly lit areas, and at night it can be hard to tell if an ATM is working. By creating a pulsing light that pulses green when the cash machine is not in use and is working would allow users to know from distance if it was worth going to that ATM. When the ATM is in use the lighting will stay solid green to let you know from a distance that this ATM is in use. The pulsing lights will also change to red if the ATM is not working or is out of cash. This idea derived from the pulsing light on a mac book pro. This lights shows that the machine is working and gives the you the feeling of life and a pulsing heartbeat. By adding in a human like pulse it will reassure you that this ATM has a pulse, its breathing and is ok to use.

Final Model Final model was made out of cardboard, and I stuck together using PVA and super glue. I then sprayed the body black and the lighting green to try and capture the ATM as it would look in real life.

Rendered Rhino Model

Further Refinement Further refinement lead me to updated the shape of my ATM. Originally the shape of the ATM was boxing and could become very easily outdated. With this in mind I decided to add more curves to the design. I also modeled up different lighting, this will help add a brighter light as the lights and longer and thinner, which will give the light a larger surface area.