Design Thinking — How Do You Design an ATM For Children?
For a UX bootcamp that I’m part of, we’re practicing design thinking. For this exercise, the goal was to think about how an ATM might be designed for a child. I went through various questions to try and empathize with a child, and see from their perspective how the ATM should look and function. Here’s what I came up with.
What is an ATM (Both Functionally and Metaphorically)?
Functionally, it gives and receives cash and checks from those with a debit card based on how much money they want (if they have the funds available). Metaphorically, it gives the freedom of having cash on hand to purchase goods and/or services, thus purchasing happiness/security/comfort/etc.
How and Why Would a Child Use an ATM?
Similarly to an adult, but I believe with limited functionality. To start with, ATMs are fairly basic machines anyway. You can do a lot more with your checking account online or through your bank’s phone app than you can standing at the ATM. As for the location of these ATMs, I feel as though it should actually just be a “kid’s mode” on a regular ATM. For fun, we can call this kid’s mode ATeMily, and it can have a fun-looking visual design that’s easy for kids to understand and use.
As to why a child may want to use an ATM, they might want to be more independent, take charge of their own finances, or learn more about how money works. They also might need money to buy a bus ticket/pass, pay for school breakfast/lunch, or simply to buy things that they want. For this reason, I chose to focus on children ages eleven-fourteen. Younger than that and I don’t believe they have the cognitive ability to fully understand how an ATM or money works, or the freedom to access an ATM without the aid of an adult. Older than that and I believe they could learn how to use a regular ATM.
What Are the Possibilities or Features a Kid May Need for Using an ATM?
There should be a withdrawal limit just in case. Most regular ATMs only give cash in $20 increments. For ATeMily, I think that should be in $5 increments as I think kids in this age-range would rarely need to withdraw amounts of $80, but could regularly need to withdraw $5 only.
It would need to be easy to use, free of clutter/distractions, and touchscreen. Many children today have never experienced a world where they’ve not been able to touch a screen and have it react. Therefore, I think physical buttons should be done away with. There can be a button to assist with voice commands for visually impaired children.
Is There an Educational Aspect at Play?
Absolutely. Saving money is smart. Since understanding interest rates and compounding interest is higher level, I think the reward of gift cards or stickers or treats is better. Say a child has had $25 saved in their account for a few months. Instead of that $25 gaining minute interest, perhaps when they log in to the AteMily, they see a message telling them that they did a great job saving and not spending, so they may push a button on the screen to pick a prize. These prizes could be redeemed inside by a teller. Maybe things like gift cards, stickers, candy, etc.
Since I envision it just being a separate mode on an already existing ATM, there would need to be an adjustable, attached step stool in some way (either that is fixed or retracts into the ATeMily for convenience), and the UI would need to look fun, happy, and inviting. Vibrant colors.
What Functionalities Should it Include?
Functionalities would include only 3: deposit, withdraw, and check balance. I don’t believe that the ATeMily should be any more complex than that. For the age range, I just don’t think it needs to be. At the same time, we live in an “internet of things” world. Perhaps there could be a feature on the adult’s account that enables or disables features on what their child sees when they log into the ATeMily screen. For example, maybe you don’t want your eleven year old to be able to withdraw more than $20, but you’re comfortable with your fourteen year old withdrawing up to $100. Or, maybe you don’t want your eleven year old to be able to withdraw at all.
One safety feature that I think should be in place is the option to have overdrafts turned on or off. For instance, when the child is young, they won’t be able to overdraft the account. It just won’t go through. It might seem silly for the adult to turn the overdraft feature on, but perhaps this can be a great lesson to teach as the child gets older. The lesson that money isn’t unlimited, you need to be careful with how you treat money, and that our actions can have consequences.
It can be accessed with a normal PIN and debit card. Since it’s on a normal ATM, when a child’s PIN is entered after using their debit card, the ATM recognizes that it belongs to a child, and immediately enters the kid’s mode.
My initial thought was to use a fingerprint scanner, but I wonder if a fingerprint scanner would lose functionality as the child ages and grows. Would a fingerprint from a eleven year old read the same when they’re twelve? Research would need to take place to find the answer for that. Or, we can just go with a PIN.
At the very least, it should be touchscreen-only. Children today live in a touchscreen world, and this shouldn’t function any differently than an iPad.
The Work
First I drew up some quick sketches. Then I made up some Lo-Fi wireframes. I tried to keep in mind simplicity and only the most essential information.
