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'Keep it simple, Stupid'

September 26, 2011 by Michael Ionescu — President, Ionescu Technologies

I always hated this phrase when teachers would use it to explain school work when we felt overwhelmed. As clichéd as this platitude is, it came screaming back into my head during a meeting with one of our then-potential clients. About a year ago we were showcasing a newer kiosk interface that we customized for the growing selection of large format, 32-46-inch digital touchscreens.

We showed him the new interface and took him through a brief demo, and the first words out of his mouth were, "It's stupid." My brother, and co-owner of Ionescu Tech, and I looked at each other with the same disconcerted look, because he said something so negative in such a nonchalant manner. The next words, however, were "This is exactly what we need," and so we started to understand what he meant: Our demo was so simple and straightforward, it was "stupid" enough that anyone could use it.

Keeping the user interface simple has been an overall guiding principal behind our kiosk design, and I would encourage anyone seeking to deploy a self-service network to adhere to the same principle.

In a world where we are constantly adding more complexity to our phones, cars, and other devices, why does simplicity make sense? To start off, most kiosk networks that are deployed to the public are used by thousands, sometimes millions of people per year. These people have different backgrounds and vary from big to small, young to old, and all of them interact with technology differently. Please do not underestimate the importance of simplicity. Even something as seemingly simple as a credit card swipe is still too complex for some users - we have had numerous people use our kiosks and complain about credit card errors, only to find that they were swiping the cards backwards or upside down.

Also consider that a person using your self-service kiosk most likely does not use one every day or even every month. Because of this, the learning curve of the user interface has to be almost non-existent. From the minute users walk up to a kiosk, they have to know how to use it or you risk driving them away due to confusion or impatience. Complexity could alienate a wide section of your potential audience.

With this in mind, think of asking yourself one simple question when designing your software: "How do I get a user through a successful transaction in as few interactions as possible?" A successful transaction should be thought of as any complete session that a user has with the kiosk, whether it is buying a product, looking up information or printing something. Streamlining the amount of navigation required to get from Point A to point B can make things infinitely more accessible.

While having the most up-to-date technology might seem attractive and enticing, unless it simplifies the user experience, it's not going to do much more than look pretty. Looking nice and flashy may be a great visual, but if there is no clearly defined pathway from one step to the next, then you're going to have a hard time launching a successful network.

As the network matures, you can always add more complexity to it incrementally, but making sure your foundation is effective will increase the chances that additions will also be successful. Let me defer to a cliché that is as cheesy as the one that I started out with: "It's a simple task to make things complex, but a complex task to make things simple."

About Michael Ionescu

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