I disagree with half the of the assertions in this article. I don't like how the coke freestyle machines work. They touch screens are finicky, the soda doesn't taste as good, and the interaction feels a little over-the-top. I think the simplicity of most gas pump interfaces is actually a feature. My main gripe is that they are slow. While I don't think gas pump ux is amazing, it seems like the author is conflating visual design with effective user experience.
Coke Freestyle is a poor example of good UI. The system is so underpowered it can't reliably detect touch events or even the physical dispense button. It's running CE on something like an early 00's reference PDA platform that can't push the pixels to a big screen and handle all the embedded IO at one time. That's why the 2fps animation is such a joke.<p>It's funny to watch young kids using quick taps and get nowhere, expecting it to work like an iPad.<p>The Pepsi equivalent puts Freestyle to shame on UI polish.
One problem being (badly) addressed in the images, in my unskilled opinion, is that is it possible to finish the transaction without replacing the nozzle in the holster (and then, presumably, drive away with the nozzle still in the car). While no kind of UI expert, I do believe that good UI should guide the user into a correct flow of actions and make it difficult to make a mistake.<p>I have a hazy memory that in the field of ATM design, the reason you don't get your money before you take your card back is to ensure that people take their card back; because people were focused on getting money, they would leave the card behind as soon as the money was in their hand. The solution was to make getting the card back a necessary step towards getting the money.<p>The analogy doesn't quite hold; people want the fuel, at the point they have the fuel (and are effectively done getting what they want) the nozzle is still in the car, but is there a way to make finishing the transaction more difficult without replacing the nozzle in the holster? Perhaps if paying by card, the machine could hold onto the card until the nozzle is replaced, or in some other way make payment impossible without replacing the nozzle. That would work where I am, but for all I know there are systems out there in which people complete payment in advance, get their card back, and are then dispensed a pre-agreed amount of fuel.
I don't get why US gas pumps are so complicated at all. Here, I drive up to the pump, grab the right nozzle, fill up, go inside to the cash register and pay. There are literally bo buttons on the pumps. Fiddling with the pump UI in the US has always been a slower process for me.
My favourite UI mistake at a 24 hour self-service pump, a page on a 7" screen half way through the sequence of pages after selecting the gas type that simply asks for a Yes or No answer:<p><pre><code> Are you sure?
Yes
No</code></pre>
I have a simpler explanation:<p>They let the IT guys handle the graphics.<p>This small company did the software, probable not a lot of UX/UI experience there, so get something together that ""looks good"" and most importantly was done without extra cost (well, maybe GIMP or an "unofficial" PS version * wink * ) and voilà<p>The receipt screen looks nice because it's probably "native", meaning, there's some SDK for the ATM/dispenser hardware that makes it easy to ask questions on the interface
<i>> Without exception, every major bank’s ATM screen design is top-notch, impeccably professional looking.</i><p>Ah, my friend, I see you have yet to do business with SunTrust!
The thing that surprises me most not how bad each interface is, but that no 2 interfaces, even at the same chain or sometimes the same store, are ever the same.<p>On top of that, how can every one of those unique combinations be so consistently bad. Generally evolution finds at least one good option.
The graphics on the screen are honestly something I have never payed attention to. What really bothers me is the way the interface bounces you from touch screen to physical key pad a couple times.<p>At my local station, the final step before you actually get gas flowing is to push the "Enter" button on the physical keypad, which also happens to be right next to the "Call" button which if you accidentally hit it (wearing gloves, too fast, etc) you get the tinny disembodied voice asking "can I help you?" instead of gas.
I'm Canadian and I've never seen gas pump UX like this. It's mostly just terse instructions in a clear font on a black and white screen; certainly no cars represented.
Gas pumps, payment readers at restaurants and stores, ATMs, vending machines, etc...<p>I've always kind of thought it was because these important/widespread devices lacked sexiness. So you get engineers working on them and not UI folks. You get solid transactions, and UI is just not a priority.<p>Meanwhile at game companies, you get fancy UI folks self-selecting to work there.
Why isn't the PIN pad on a touch screen? Wouldn't that be more secure? Are people's hands just too filthy in the aggregate? I know those buttons feel pretty grimy.<p>They have been giving away paper towels and glass cleaner since the dawn of time. Why not hand out screen cleaners too, and let people wipe down the touchscreen if it needs it? People could also use them on their phones and would be delighted.<p>Or why not allow people to place their orders from their own screens?<p>There is no competition for this equipment around UX because there is little competition at all in this space. Its a remarkably regulated product, from weights and measures to EPA checks. UX only has to be good enough for the seller to close the order, and they go in 2500 locations. People buy gas on price and location, not UX, so the theory goes.<p>Who wants to disrupt gas pumps?
Edit: I stand corrected. I've seen examples when people used "light years" to express time, but this seems not to be that case.<p>I'm always puzzled about picky people who make trivial mistakes, like using "light years" to express time.
Has anybody seen the "upgrade" that AM/PM (at least in California) to their pump terminals in the past 12 months or so. It is a breathtakingly poor UX and use of hardware.<p>I am pretty sure that the approximately 10 inch screens are color and reasonable resolution but the UI is entirely character-based and often manages to obscure what little text is presented by placing it close enough to the border that the outer frame easily hides it (at my height) leaving about 90% of the screen unused -- the easily visible part.<p>Not sure what happened on this project. I figured they would roll out v2 of the firmware/software shortly after I first saw it. Nothing so far.
I thought this was going to be about why diesel and gasoline don't have differently shaped nozzles, so you can't screw up your car engine with the wrong fuel.
But the design doesn't suck? I mean sure the images look a bit amateurish, but they are perfectly comprehensible and would cause nobody difficulty.
My favorite screwup- my BP station prompts with something like "BP points 500, Yes No?" What am I supposed to answer to that? I just hit No on the theory that not doing something random is better than doing it.
The worst thing I've found about pumps with touchscreens is that half of them tend to be sitting in direct sunlight so they can't be seen. I can deal with crappy Camaro images, but if I can't see the screen it's 100% unusable.