"In Your Face"

Tips and Hints for Successful Kiosk Implementation

by Dave Heyliger

Know Your Target Audience

 

Introduction

I was asked by the creators of Kiosk Magazine to produce a series of articles that discuss the broad range components that make up a successful kiosk implementation (thank you!). My goal it to make you think – or rethink – about your kiosk implementation and how your implementation affects your end-users. Since my expertise in kiosks revolves around software design and interface components, many of these articles will discuss interface design strategy – hence the title "In Your Face".

Although sometimes it’s easy to go hog-wild on techno-speak, my intent is to keep this series as basic as possible yet still target the content to satisfy a wide of range of individual skill levels. So, whether you’re just starting out, considering "rolling your own", or you’ve been in the business for years, my goal is to hopefully expose you to a new trick or two each month.

Know Your Target Audience

This month’s tip revolves around general kiosk interface acceptance. To gain acceptance means that your interface is fast, friendly, and easy to use for your target audience. Therefore, determining who is your target audience is and how they perceive content should be your first step in successful kiosk implementation.

Think about whom is really going to use your kiosk application. Are they web-savvy teens, elderly gray panthers, kids with expendable income, someone who has never seen a computer, someone who is afraid of computers, all of the above, some of the above - or none of the above? Understanding both the age group{s} and experience level{s} of your audience will help you accurately define your interface requirements.

If your kiosk application is geared towards a narrow selection of individuals (for example: health benefits kiosk for a senior citizen’s center), your audience evaluation process and interface design is somewhat streamlined since the focus and experience of the target audience is fairly predictable. However, if your audience ranges from say, the child to the elderly, your task becomes a bit more difficult. In these cases, try to design your interface such that it doesn’t offend any segment of the whole – including someone’s intelligence! Nothing is more prone to failure than an interface design that makes someone feel inadequate or unintelligent.

A globally acceptable experience is usually accomplished by creating an interface that you will probably consider as "very basic", but what your audience will enjoy: a simplistic design consisting of easy-to-read buttons that contain both pictures and text, and not too many selections (buttons) per screen. Although the design may seem sophomoric and lack a certain level of razzmatazz, it’s probably a direct hit on the success meter with respect to successful kiosk interface design.

Remember: when you are designing your interface, you’re "living it" on an hourly basis. Due to this situation, designers often have the tendency to over-design and complicate the interface. They may also start to make some assumptions, like assuming everyone knows what their particular icon is supposed to represent or assume users know how to "set the focus" on an input field.

The true kiosk visitor will probably be experiencing your interface for the first time, and probably only for a few minutes at the most. Don’t overexpose them or assume anything. When in doubt, have both Grandma and your 7-year old test drive the interface. You’ll learn volumes.

Get to Know Them Again

Audience examination and evaluation is a great exercise for any new kiosk project as well for any kiosk already in-the-field. Remember: these are fast changing times. This means that maybe what was "right on" two years ago may not be "right on" now. Don’t be afraid to make changes. Don’t be afraid of criticism but rather learn and respect others’ opinions. Keep it simple. Don’t over complicate or assume. And finally, remember that you can’t – and never will - please everyone all of the time.

About the Author

Dave Heyliger (heyliger@rockmedia.com) is founder and president of Rocky Mountain Multimedia, Inc. (www.rockmedia.com), and has been creating kiosk software and interface solutions for hundreds of clients since 1993. Feel free to check out this and any previous article contained within this series by visiting the online section at www.rockmedia.com/kioskmagazine.html.