This project is to design a revolutionary, intuitive,
and absolutely unique interface for a currently non-existent
system. This system will be constructed as a Senior Design
Project at South Dakota State University. When it is completed
it will have the ability to mix beverages with any combination
of the sixteen liquids contained inside it. As there is no
current system this will be a complete and one-off design
from nothingness.
Overview and Problem Definition
This project will be to design a User Interface for the Self Contained Automatic Beverage Mixing System or S.C.A.B.M.S. This system is currently not in existence so this User Interface will be the first of its kind. Its aim will be to be both visually pleasing and highly functional at the same time. This will be accomplished by using common visual elements to convey action for instance elements that a user may encounter in their everyday life that with no instruction they simply know what steps to take to achieve the desired outcome.
Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works. — Steve Jobs, 2003
This Interface will need to be straight forward, intuitive, and easy to use. The system is not aimed at any particular demographic so the users will have varying levels of technical knowledge as well as very varied ages. For all practical purposes we will assume that the users are not visually handicapped and are able to use at least one of their arms / hands.
Usability Test
Scenarios / Interviews / Observations
I Interviewed three users and had them run through a few different scenarios using my system. These scenarios were to:
- Select a drink and pour it
- Select a drink and taste test it
- Select a drink, customize, and then pour it
- Add a new drink (including customizing, naming, and saving it)
- Prime the System
- Clean the System
I simply gave my users the interface and the above list of tasks and observed what they did.
My test users were:
Name: Karla Fernholz
Age: 43
Technical Background: Average to Below Average
Karla made it through all of the tasks with relative ease, she said that the interface had a great flow and the controls were really intuitive and easy to follow. She need a bit of explanation as to how the Add Drink function worked (as in how to choose the ingredients). Other than that one issue it went quite well. I did notice that she would usually go to the Main Menu instead of just going back to complete the three tasks involving a drink selection, although this is not an issue as it works just fine that way, I just thought it was interesting.
Name: Barry Whipkey
Age: 22
Technical Background: Average to Moderate
Barry had a pretty easy go at it as well after acclimating himself with the menus by just simply clicking around a bit. Once he was done inspecting the different menus he set off on the given tasks. The three tasks involving drink selection were a breeze as he made use of the back option to simply toggle back to the drink selection screen and choose the next option on the list. (I was glad to see this) Barry likes to play around a bit, so when customizing his newly created drink he decided to see what would happen if you ran one ingredient all the way up. This uncovered a bug in the system that, once you try to change another value you get a NaN (not a number) error in the text field. I was glad to see that without prompting he simply hit the reset button and tried again. He had no trouble at all with the Clean and Prime options whatsoever.
Name: Dave Freitag
Age: 23
Technical Background: Expert
Dave had an unfair advantage in my test field as he is a co-developer of this system, but he has not been involved directly with my User Interface Design, so I thought I would let him have a go at it. Well, Dave flew through most of the tests, but like Barry, Dave likes to test the limits (and I think he was out to try to break it) and he also found the error that happens when you run one ingredient all the way up on the customization screen. Like Barry, he was able to easily remedy the problem by hitting the reset button and continuing on.
Summary
Overall I was very pleased with the results of this Scenario Testing. I was able, with the help of my testers, to uncover a bug in my customization screen and I was also pleased to see that the users were able to intuitively remedy the problem on their own. I was also glad to see and hear that the users thought the system had a very natural flow and they were able to navigate through the tasks with relative ease.
Interface Redesign
Upon completing my observations I only saw one major thing that needs to be changed and that is the error that occurs when a user runs the value of one ingredient all the way up. I will add in some additional logic to accommodate for that. Another minor issue will be to add in some more descriptions and help features, which as I've stated in my status report I ran out of time on implementing. Other than that the system seems to be a success and my users can't wait to use the real thing.
Long Manual
Figure 1: Main Menu -> Drink Options Flow Chart
Figure 2: More Detailed Drink Options Flow Chart
Main Menu -> Drink Options
There are a few different paths through the system that involve selecting a drink, below are the steps for each:
- "Touch" Drink Menu
- Scroll through the list until you find the drink you are looking for
- "Touch" said Drink
- On this menu you will see an image of the drink you've chosen on the left, along with its name. You will also be give a brief Description and the Ingredients that make it up. There are several Options at the bottom of the right side of the Menu.
- Choose Taste Test
- "Touch" Taste Test
- This will scale your drink down to a 2 oz. portion and dispense it for you.
- Choose Customize
- "Touch" Customize
- You will then be displayed each ingredient in a white box with a color coded square that corresponds to each liquid in the drink image to the left. You can increase or decrease each ingredient using the black "+" and "-" buttons next to the number value in each ingredient box.
- Once you've got the drink configured how you want it, "Touch" Pour It
- This will change the proportions of each ingredient for that drink temporarily and dispense it for you.
- Choose Pour It
- "Touch" Pour It
- This will take the default values for the drink from the database and dispense it for you
- Choose Back
- "Touch" Back
- This will take you back to the Drink Menu so that you may choose another cocktail
- Choose Main Menu
- "Touch" Main Menu
- This will take you back to the SCABMS Main Menu
Figure 3: Main Menu -> Add Drink Flow Chart
Main Menu -> Add Drink
These steps will detail how to add a new drink into the database.
- "Touch" Add a Drink on the Main Menu
- Next you will see a scrollable list of ingredients with their proof on the top, right. These are the available ingredients in the system. Go through the list and select the ingredients that make up your drink. As you "touch" the ingredient it is added to the "Selected Ingredients" area below.
- Note: To de-select a chosen ingredient, either "touch" that ingredient in the list again or "touch" the ingredient in the "Selected Ingredients" area.
- After you have chosen the ingredients you want, "Touch" Continue.
- You will now be at the Customization / Configuration page, you will see a text field in the upper left that says, "Name this drink" and a list of your chosen ingredients on the right with the black "+" and "-" buttons to change their quantities.
- "Touch" the text field that says "Name this drink" and a pop up keyboard will appear on the screen allowing you to enter the name of this drink. Once entered you may hit the "X" or "Enter" keys on the keyboard.
- Next you will want to change the amounts of each liquid that appear in this drink by using the black "+" and "-" buttons
- Once you have the drink configured how you like, "Touch" the Save button and the drink will be stored in the database.
Figure 4: Main Menu -> Clean System Flow Chart
Main Menu -> Clean System
These steps will allow you to clean the system.
- "Touch" Cleaning System from the Main Menu
- Choose to clean the entire system
- System will send the commands to clean all lines
- Choose to clean a single line
- Choose which line
- System will send the commands to clean specified line
Figure 5: Main Menu -> Prime System Flow Chart
Main Menu -> Prime System
These steps will allow you to clean the system.
- "Touch" Priming System from the Main Menu
- Choose to prime the entire system
- System will send the commands to prime all lines
- Choose to prime a single line
- Choose which line
- System will send the commands to prime specified line
Discussion
Now that this project has come to a close I have just a few things to say. I really like the interface I've created and the response from my classmates, family, and friends has been completely positive which makes me feel good. I did spend a little too long on a few of the functionalities and this caused me to run out of time and I had to sacrifice a few of the functionalities that I originally sought out after, namely, the Help and Search / Sort Functions.
It will be exciting to see this at the end of this school year in a real and working environment. Trust me this is not the last you've hear of the SCABMS.