Bringing chip card payments to outdoor payment terminals

Enabling chip card support for outdoor payment terminals.

Year
2020
Client
NCR Corporation
Services
UX, UI, Interaction design
Credits
Wanda Glover, Morgan Evans
Image showing the OPTIC EMV project banner with the interface and the 12 and 5 inch hardware variants

01

Goal

Add chip card payment capabilities to the system and user flow primarily from an interaction, usability, and content standpoint.

02

Challenges

Challenge 1: The system flow / user experience when paying using chip cards is different, and the user needs to be informed and be aware of the changes on screen

Adding chip card support introduces a different customer experience, since users will have to leave their card inserted at the pump—as opposed to quickly inserting it and removing it.

To change the user’s mental model, it was essential to improve the messaging used within different screens in the app; intentionally informing the user of the different system states and activities.

Challenge 2: In India, there is no pay-at-the-pump technology at fueling stations, so I had no references to perform first-hand research

This was a bit of a personal challenge, as there exist no pay-at-the-pump technologies at fueling pumps in India so I had no frame of reference.

(My team helped me hit the ground running by providing videos and other documentation necessary for me to understand the user journey and flow completely, which was very valuable. So Kudos to them!)

03

Principles

Reduce the number of steps a user needed to take, while following the logic of the flow

The approach began by defining a proper user flow in the form of a user journey map, in collaboration with the product team and subject matter experts, while suggesting appropriate messaging to be used for each step in the journey.

Improving messaging and content was crucial, since chip card flows change the user journey and their interaction with the system and usage behavior

Our UX writer recommended appropriate messaging for each step in the user journey so the user may complete their task as quickly and easily as possible.

This had a vital role to play in the visual design, as it had shaped my approach to designing the interface.

04

Design

The main aim of the visual design was to optimise efficiency through well-defined interactions, and improve engagement through strategic placement of content

Our approach was completely based around content, and visuals were added mainly to support/enhance the messaging.

The intent behind the layout design was to reinforce the messaging used in the flow by establishing a proper content hierarchy through typography so that the user is naturally guided from viewing the context to performing an action.

Animations and illustrations were designed to match the content shown on the screen as a visual aid to the user and provide them with a little additional context.

05

Accessibility

The Americans with Disabilities (ADA) guide was a useful reference for applying accessibility principles to the interface

All actionable items were placed below the 'ADA line', an imaginary reference line we applied to the interface — in order to offer interactivity to people with disabilities.

Color was contrast checked and color-blind tested, and spacing was optimized, with the layout designed by placing emphasis on the content in the centre to account for environmental conditions, screen calibration sensitivities, and peripheral vision challenges for our users.

ADA line defined for the 12 inch version of OPTIC

The interface was periodically tested outdoors to check for colour contrast and visibility in outdoor conditions

In line with accommodating accessibility principles relating to color contrast and visibility, I tested the interface outdoors by porting the screen to the closest equivalent screen to a point of sale—an iPad, at different cycles of iteration.

The intent here was to simulate the outdoors and see how the interface might be perceived at different lighting conditions.

This gave us a rough idea as to how colors present in the interface might look in the real-world. Included below are sample images from my test at different times during the day. Conducting these tests by taking the interface outside gave me a sense of adjusting color values at different points during the visual design process.

ADA line defined for the 12 inch version of OPTIC

06

Impact and outcomes

From a remote user study with 31 participants (general public based in the United States), the interface was found to be highly usable and attractive

Participants were able to perform their tasks with ease. The screens received a mean rating for 4.52 out of 5.

Participants found the screens attractive, with a mean for attractiveness measured at 4.29 out of 5.

07

Key learnings and takeaways

How content plays a vital role in shaping visual design

I realised the importance of working with great copy, thanks to an amazing UX writer in the team (Thank you, Morgan!), as it helped me design visuals faster.

Working with data from service design and user research

This was my first time working with a service designer, and it really opened my mind to different intangible aspects of the design process, such as considering the whole journey and the different consumer touchpoints along the way.

Accessibility considerations and branding for white-labeled products

I spent a lot of time studying accessibility principles and branding do's and dont's and applied them to this project.

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