User Experience

The other day (no, it was not THAT other day) I was at an ATM. Lets call the ATM of Bank 'I-52' (why does everyone call the unknowns - X and Y?) So there I was pushing buttons, working the thing and waiting for the dough when I started thinking.

Before that a bit of a background. I have also had the good fortune to access more than one bank. Not that I have a lot of moolah to store, but thats besides the point. So I have used the ATM of Bank 'C-87' also in the past. OK now on with the story.

OK so while waiting for the dough I started to think about the differences I noticed in the ATMs of these two banks.

Bank 'C-87' has this nice plushy casing for its ATM with a touchscreen monitor embedded into the wall (or table or whatever they can find at that particular location). You just press the icons on the touchscreen, the thing gives out a few comforting beeps and out comes the moolah. Plus the graphical interface on this ATM is also quite nice - subtle colors, soft corners on buttons, very easy on the eyes etc.

Bank 'I-52' on the other hand has this box-like contraption which encases its ATM machine. There are hard physical buttons (no touchscreen) for you to type your PIN number etc. The menus are operated by another set of buttons which are nowhere near numeric keypad that you used to type in your PIN number. The on-screen graphics uses very harsh colors which are not necessarily easy on the eyes. Especially when you are desperate for the moolah.

And there are no comforting beeps.

OK so what is the moral of this story? Well I 'feel' happy and content (like a baby that has just had its milk) when I use the ATM of Bank 'C-87'. Bank 'C-87' makes me feel good about the experience. Whereas the ATM of Bank 'I-52' makes me 'feel' that life couldn't get any worse.

I get my dough in both situations (and in approximately the same amount of time) but the difference was in the user experience.

The moolah is really in the user experience.