Comments on: Wells Fargo’s Exciting ATM Redesign

By: manuj dhariwal

manuj dhariwal — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:13:57 +0000

“Okay, maybe interaction design just isn–™t as exciting as designing logos, coffee table books, and posters.” This is the strangest line I have ever read , how can for someone Interaction design be not more exciting then designing logos ( boo ) I always thought that everyone if given a choice would want to be a interaction design……..by the way If you are still looking for interns in ID , I would be more than happy to know of possibilities in this regard, here’s a link to my CV http://manujdhariwal.googlepages.com/ManujUpdatedCV.pdf

By: José

José — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 22:57:42 +0000

What? Colors? Some ATMs in Mexico still use Cobol... So other than black and white (or blue and yellow) are not really an option.

I'd love to see this interface in action as well... looks quite flashy here.

By: Alvin

Alvin — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 09:56:38 +0000

Wow! I would love our bank ATMs here in Singapore to look like that.

By: dez b

dez b — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 03:51:12 +0000

While the new design may be clean and clear, combining the extra steps that they've added with the new envelope-less deposit system makes the deposit process twice as long and incredibly annoying.

And as far as Wells Fargo goes, I consider it to be the worst bank I have ever had in terms of fees and general rip-off/targeting behavior, and hope to be switching all 4 of my WF accounts over to a credit union as soon as I can find one that I like.

By: Sachin

Sachin — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 04:41:20 +0000

Looks like it will be a great hit.

By: Jason Glaspey

Jason Glaspey — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 20:35:33 +0000

I think it's great that Wells Fargo was unafraid to drastically change the way ATMs function. ATMs have definitely been something that seemed to work, so therefor, nobody really thought about improving them, or making them capable with today's now-affordable technologies (scanners, printing copies of checks on the receipt, etc.). However, BofA has also done this.

Two points: 1. F*CK WELLS FARGO FOR EVAR!!! They are the scum of the banking industry. I've had multiple friends work for them over the past 10 years, and NONE of them have anything nice to say (although they have been very happy working at other banks). WF is in the industry of making money by charing customers incidental fees and making it very hard to avoid them.

I agree with Jorge. The new systems take MUCH longer. My wife feels very unsafe at our neighborhood Bank of America ATM. As each check has to be entered individually, then scanned, and approved, and checked for errors, the process of depositing 4 checks now takes several minutes. Our neighborhood isn't the most 'crime-free' area, and the extra two minutes are not an inconvenience, but a factor that relates to fear and the feeling of safety.

As for a lack of people wanting to do interaction design, I feel the same issues. Everyone still wants to do old-school graphic design and the schools just keep catering to that, yet every single interactive agency/web shop in Portland that I know of can't find good designers who aren't incredibly busy, regardless of their insane rates. I easily pay two times the hourly rate to a good interactive designer than my very experienced wife makes doing print design. People should let those print designers know that print designers are a dime a dozen, a GOOD interactive designer is gold.

By: George Bush

George Bush — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 18:01:25 +0000

Only a designer would say he'd ditch his bank for another due to a ATM design! :)) Of course, we are not known for our financial sense what with the subprime crisis and living our lives on credit.

See it performing on the ATM screen - out in the sun, rather than the computer, before drooling!

By: Kevin Cannon

Kevin Cannon — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 16:41:29 +0000

I’m not that sold on it. It’s clearly aesthetically more pleasing that the old one, but a few things trouble me. It’s hard to make a call without seeing it in action, but I would be concerned about a few things:

There’s an awful lot going on, on each screen.
The main text is quite small and the secondary text looks tiny. Unless these things are running on a 17″ monitor, then I can see that being a problem.
The contrast between the background and the buttons is very poor. Compare their ‘test’ of conrast here: http://physicalinterface.com/files/physicalinterface/wells-fargo-atm-case/wf_contrastcomparison-500.jpg The difference between the old and new seems minimal.

Overall, it’s an improvement though, the main benefit being the pure-touchscreen approach and a general clear layout and grid. Perhaps there’s reasons why some of the issues above weren’t addressed, or they jsist didn’t matter in testing, but I can’t help feeling that the design isn’t as usable as it could be.

By: patrick

patrick — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 22:50:49 +0000

Good interaction design is very exciting for me. I wish I could get into the interaction design world and get out of the dying print design world.

By: Jorge

Jorge — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 22:21:44 +0000

Bank of America also had a similar re-design of their ATM UI. I'm pretty impressed with the capabilities-- scanning, text recognition of check amounts, and printing a copy of the checks on the receipt.

However, simple ATM task, like a $20 cash withdraw is painfully slow. I used to be able to run up to the ATM, punch in my pin, select "fast cash $40, no receipt" and walk away with my cash in 45 seconds... these days, with the beautiful redesign, it takes 2 minutes for the same transaction.

yeah, yeah, yeah. I know... it's only an extra 60 seconds of my day. but I wish the speed of the old IBM-DOS looking interface, with the new graphical interface.