Public Access Systems

de Greg Kearsley

There are many different public access applications: ATMs, information kiosks, museum exhibits, point of sale units, and message systems. The potential for improving service in many businesses by providing excellent user interfaces to public access systems is great. System designers must understand the basic principles, follow guidelines to ensure consistent layouts, do extensive usability tests, and collect usage data to guide refinements. The opportunities for public access systems increase daily as the capabilities of computing systems increase and the costs decrease. Customer service and satisfaction can be increased at relatively low cost if designers understand the technology and apply usability engineering processes.