A user interface for an ATM created for a class project.
For this assignment, your group will design and implement a UI for one of the possible options listed below. The key idea in all cases is that the UI should be touchscreen-based. For our purposes, it is sufficient to develop your application in something like Visual Basic or C#, and imagine that the mouse pointer is the fingertip, i.e., you don’t actually have to support a real touchscreen! The actual functionality of each system is very minimal – your primary goal is to design a usable interface, and use your programming framework to simply support navigation between screens and the minimal functionality.
Minimum functionality for each option is outlined below – note that these are intentionally written without regard to the UI, but rather just the features the system should support. Implementing this bare minimum functionality with an adequate design will yield a grade of approximately a C+. A higher grade will be awarded for better designs and/or additional functionality – but note that and simply adding additional features may not yield a higher grade if these features detract from overall usability! The key here is designing the interaction using the concepts discussed in class – not simply adding more and more features.
Recall from class that new technology doesn’t automatically improve usability – so your objective here is to think about the design of your system in the context of the usual design principles/guidelines, to develop a usable system.
Option 2: Bank Machine Bank machines have been discussed a few times in this course already. In general, the UIs for these are fairly simple, as users are expected to be able to “walk up and use” with very minimal training. But, there are sometimes problems: consider bank machines that accept the card, process a withdrawal, then release the card. In these cases, it’s more likely that a user will forget their card as completing the transaction (getting the cash) likely “completes” the interaction. In contrast, a system that simply swipes the card will be less error-prone (users will likely not forget their card). For this option, design a touchscreen-enabled bank machine UI. It should support the following features, at minimum:
- Ability to enter an account number, simulating swiping/inserting a card
- Ability to withdraw and deposit cash, updating a bank account balance accordingly
- Ability to simply check/display account balances
- Transfers between accounts