Have you ever had this problem at a restaurant buffet? You wend your way through the line, collecting an armload of food and drink. You reach the end, fully burdened, and suddenly realize you are without utensils or napkin.
You then turn around and dive back into the line, swimming upstream against the frowning hoards. Everyone, including you, wonders how you could have made such a silly mistake. It turns out the utensils were at the very start of the line, at a point where your mind was preoccupied with food, not the logistics of eating it.
But you are comforted to see you are no longer alone in your salmon run: others have realized they too have forgotten their knives and sporks.
Once again, the system sets up a trap. Once again, the users blame themselves for the "error" when a better designed system would have made the error impossible.
How might the buffet line be improved?
Although part of the analog world, the buffet line as a design problem is not much different than sequential tasks done on a computer. Examples of this include placing an order on a web site or guiding the user through the initial setup of a new piece of software.
Some key considerations for such sequential problems:
- Sensitize people up-front about what to expect.
- Only provide the essentials necessary for success at each step. Don’t convolute what is needed here and now with future concerns.
- Defer non-essential options to the end.
Idea to Steal: Guidelines for Buffet Line Design
Applying such considerations to the design of a buffet line leads to the following sequence of items:
- First, show the complete menu with vegetarian options, common allergens and any other important information clearly called out, so the user can ponder their choices.
- Offer the plates that will contain the food (preferably ones with separate compartments to help prevent plates from folding and to keep the liquid from individual dishes separated)
- Next comes the food. Space the serving dishes widely enough to allow people to temporarily put down their plates. For those in a rush, serve grab-and-go foods such as pre-dressed salads and pre-made sandwiches.
- Offer utensils and napkins at the very end, preferably in individually rolled-up packages for compactness and efficiency.
- Separate the drink and dessert stations to keep them out of the flow of the buffet line.
Deep Fried Food for Thought
The buffet line is just one example of an interactive system in the analog world. We normally take them for granted, but they are worthy of closer analysis. Both good or bad examples can offer lesson on digital designs, just as design principles of the digital world can apply to the analog world as illustrated here.
And the next time someone cuts in front of you at a buffet line to grab a fork and napkin, smile at them knowingly and as you hand over the goods and say, "No problem, it’s not your fault".
[Readers: Let us know if you run across other examples where design in the the analog or digital world informs one another.]
David S. Cortright is a veteran Bay Area interaction designer currently at Yahoo! Inc. David’s previous stints included Microsoft’s Mac division, Claris Corporation and Oracle Corporation. David has a degree in computer science from Stanford University. You can read more from David at http://360.yahoo.com/davidcortright.
