Design Assignment #1

Assigned: January 28
Due: February 4, Before Class

Overview
Your assignment is to design a touchscreen interface for an Automatic Teller Machine (ATM). Unlike most previous ATMs, this new unit has an iPhone-style touchscreen (with multi-touch) and no physical buttons. Sketch three alternative interface designs for the ATM and indicate which alternative you prefer.

What to Do:
The goal of this assignment is to exercise your user interface design abilities. Creativity in balancing usability with the constraints of the interface will be essential to successfully completing this assignment.

You should design your interface for a square touchscreen that is 10" in width and height. The resolution of the screen is not defined, but you can assume that the screen will have around 72 dpi. Remember that you are sketching your interface designs. We do not want to see designs that are accurate to the pixel-level.

When making your designs, consider the broad range of potential users for the ATM, including the elderly. Also consider the implications of replacing the physical buttons that are commonly found on ATMs with just a touchscreen. How will people know that the screen is touch-sensitive? How can you address problems that are common with touch screens, such as the mismatch between where the user actually touched and where they think they touched?

Your ATM interface must support the following functions:

  • Entering a PIN to access the ATM
  • Fast Cash Withdrawal in these amounts: 20, 40, 60, 80, 100
  • Withdrawal in any amount
  • Deposit
  • Check Account Balance

For withdrawals, deposits, and balance checking assume that the user may want to inspect either their checking or saving account.

All of these functions must be included in the user interface, but they do not need to be included on one screen. Make sure it is clear in your sketches how the user navigates between the various screens.

You must scan or take digital pictures of each of your sketches and link them to the wiki before class on Thursday, February 4. Make sure that your images are scaled appropriately on the wiki so that the instructors can easily view your assignment. You should also write a brief description of your designs in the wiki so that we can understand your motivation and design rationale. Be sure to describe some advantages and disadvantages of each of your design alternatives.

You must also bring your original sketches to lecture on Thursday, February 11. In class we will look over all of the solutions and discuss as many as possible.

Grading:
This assignment is 2% of your overall grade, which has been broken down into 10 points for grading. The breakdown of points is as follows:

Sketches (6 pts)
You receive 2 pts for each sketch for a design of the ATM interface. You must sketch at least 3 clearly different alternate designs to receive full credit. Briefly describe the advantages and disadvantages of each design.

Completeness of the Designs (2 pts)
Full points will be awarded if each design contains all of the required functionality, the size of the touchscreen is appropriate (it doesn't need to be perfect), and all other instructions are followed.

Creativity and Quality of the Designs (2 pts)
The sketches will be evaluated on the basis of the creativity of your designs and the variation between each of your three design alternatives.

How to Turn In:
Visit the Design Assignment #1 page on the Wiki. Create a new page for yourself that links from this page. Embed your sketch images in your new page, along with the brief description of your rationale. See the example solutions on the Wiki for more information.