Self-Serve Payment Kiosks

I will be analyzing self-serve kiosks, which are common in nearly every restaurant and cafe in Seoul. These kiosks are typically free-standing and require no human interaction, where users can use the touchscreen to order their own food or drinks and pay for them.

Although there was a lot of variety in the ordering and payment process, generally, the user would add items to the cart, check the shopping cart, and then pay. However, I noticed that there were several redundant pages during the payment process, which might slow down the user or create confusion. Sometimes, the kiosk lacked a translation option altogether, or would revert back to Korean, despite switching the language to English. Yet, often the only choice for ordering food and drinks was to use the self-serve kiosk.

Koreans have what they call "Pali Pali" culture, which translates to "quickly quickly". Koreans value their time and prefer to be efficient and speedy in their everyday lives. This is likely a huge reason why self-serve kiosks are so popular in the first place. Digital-native users are able to quickly order and pay for their food while the employees can focus on making the food or serving it. Pali Pali culture also affects how self-serve kiosks should be designed. Ideally, the kiosks should allow customers to quickly order without hesitation, confusion, or asking others for help.

One challenge with the existing payment kiosks I saw while in Seoul is the redundant screens. Sometimes, you would get several pop-up screens to redeem points or enter coupons. There was also redundancy in the payment process, which would sometimes take the user through three screens before they could insert their card or cash.

Sometimes, the text would revert to Korean, even after selecting the English translation. This would make the whole ordering and payment process longer for foreigners. The available payment methods might also be confusing for foreigners. Samsung Pay and KakaoPay are less popular in Western countries and may create some confusion during the payment process.

Additionally, some self-serve kiosks did not have a translation feature at all. This would make ordering and paying for one's food incredibly difficult for non-Korean-speaking individuals.

With a population of over 9.5 million people, Seoul has a wide range of people. Some users will be elderly, while some will be older adults, young adults, and teens. There will also be people with physical disabilities, such as color blindness, motor disorders, or blindness, using these kiosks. Because this is such a popular city, there will also be many foreigners who are either visiting for fun or who plan to stay for work or school.

These self-serve kiosks must be able to accommodate all kinds of people, and therefore should have features that the users can control. Some suggestions include language translation, font size changer, text-to-speech, larger buttons, and color adjustments.

It's also important to note the context in which people are using self-serve kiosks. Most likely, the customer wants to be able to order quickly, as is expected in pali pali culture. If the kiosk has too many redundant screens or other pop-ups, the process may take too long and cause frustration. Therefore, the kiosk should be as streamlined and simple as possible.

Some Human Computer Interaction principles I will be considering for my redesign are recognition over recall, consistency, feedback, error prevention, and simplicity. These are universal principles that make it easier and more efficient for people to interact with technology. In self-serve kiosks, it is especially important that the user can easily navigate through each screen, because they will likely have no external help. Additionally, in order to abide by pali pali culture, the whole process must be quick and efficient.

To serve a more diverse audience, I am proposing extra accessibility options. I would also like to make the ordering and payment process as simple as possible, with minimal redundancy.

My prototype redesign focuses on simplifying the user interface of self-serve kiosks by reducing the number of pages and pop-ups. I also wanted to ensure that there was consistent language throughout the process, especially if a user needs translation. One HCI principle that I think does a lot of heavy lifting in user interfaces is "recognition over recall." Therefore, I wanted to incorporate a lot more universal icons and photos to signal to the user what they should be doing.

My design reduces the amount of cognitive load it takes to order on a self-serving kiosk by
reducing the number of steps to just 3. I also included some persistent buttons at the top
for accessibility, changing the font size, and language, which will better support elderly, disabled,
and foreign users. This redesign also focuses on increasing the size of important text, such as
the checkout button, the order screen, the payment type, and the payment instructions. This makes it clearer to the user what they should be focusing on and minimizes the confusion of what they
should do next to proceed.

Additionally, I wanted to ensure that there were persistent back and cancel buttons so that users
can recover if they make a mistake, or entirely abandon the order if they change their mind. The
result is a sleeker, simpler design that is more user-friendly to all customers.

Overall, I couldn't be happier with my trip to Korea. I learned a lot about Korean culture, and got to experience how similar life here is. There are really only minor differences in culture, such as remaining quiet in public or bowing as a form of respect. Surprisingly, I was not too shocked by the way of life. Seoul is such a modern, technology-inclusive city, so I didn't have too much trouble with public transportation, translation, or buying things.

I loved the aesthetics in Seoul. Clearly, style, fashion, and looks is something that's very prominent in Korean culture. Every sign or advertisement was colorful and fun. There were also a lot of cute, friendly-looking animal characters used around the city. Korean people always look put together and stylish, even when going out to eat or shopping. I would like to say my sense of fashion improved after this trip! Because of the emphasis on aesthetics, I would say there is more importance on how something looks (including technology and advertisements) than on how practical it is. Things are very stylized and cute. Some of their apps and websites are a bit busy as compared to what's seen in the U.S. Naver Maps took some adjusting because of the amount of redundant options, but it was overall pretty similar to Google Maps.

People in Korea are extremely respectful, helpful, and polite. I had nothing but positive interactions with the locals at restaurants, at our hotel, while shopping, or while on public transportation. I am going to miss how peaceful and safe the city is, despite it being such a densely populated area. Even at night, I always felt safe to walk around and explore the city.

The food was also something I very much miss. You can get huge, healthy meals for very little money. Each meal had so many sides and sauces, making every meal incredibly satisfying. Even very simple dishes, such as rice pot, felt like a whole experience. Eating these meals in Seoul made me appreciate Korean cuisine a lot more, and has me excited to learn how to make these meals myself.

As for technology, I would say what's available in Korea is not too different from the U.S. However, the biggest difference I noticed was people's comfort with tech. Even elderly individuals could easily order food for themselves at self-serve kiosks or handle the point of sales systems at shops easily. Tech is simply a part of life in Seoul, although it never felt overbearing or impersonal. There are so many cute visuals and nature in Seoul that you don't feel trapped by a bunch of screens, as you see in some U.S. cities (Las Vegas). I don't think it's really about the technology-- it's about the way it's been incorporated into the city, making it feel more like a tool than a distraction.

I will very much miss the walkability and public transportation in Seoul. It is nice to walk so much and see so many things every day while getting to your destination. I had a lot of fun meeting all of the students on the trip. Everyone was so kind, smart, and cool! A special thanks to Dr. Shewell and Dr. Jeong, who made this trip possible. You guys did an incredible job putting together the site visits, and were always available if we needed help navigating the city or recommendations on things to do. I'm looking forward to my next trip to Korea!