Hand-Swipe Payment System
- zamierheyward
- Apr 16, 2017
- 4 min read
About the Project:
The hand-swipe payment system was an idea created by myself and project team members (Martin, Joe and Bukar) to allow for a fast, secure and convenient transactions at the register. Users would be able to link their biometric signature with their bank account or PayPal account, thus allowing them to pay for any good or services they choose with ease.
During popular hours at UMD dining facilities (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) we noticed an influx of students not only in UMD dining halls but other restaurants on campus as well. We noticed that the payment process at on-campus restaurants and the verification process at dining hall facilities were creating an abnormal wait time for students. This wait time not only makes students frustrated, it also only allows for a limited amount of time for students to enjoy a proper meal before jetting off to their next class.
We created the hand swipe payment system, mainly to solve this problem. The hand swipe system not only allows for a convenient payment option, it's also secure!
Goal of Hand-Swipe System:
The ultimate goal of the hand-swipe payment system is to improve the speed and ease of transactions. We plan to implement the device into all dining hall facilities and restaurants on the University of Maryland - College Park campus and most importantly, retail stores. This would make the payment process of a typical purchase at a cash register simpler, faster, and easier than it is now.
(Note: A system similar to this already exists in UMD dining facilities, we simply wanted to create another product that would also utilize people's biometric signature).
Contextual Inquiry/Analysis:
I interviewed five UMD students and two faculty members who use the current fingerprint entry systems that are in UMD dining hall facilities. The current system allows students scan their designated finger, in order to gain access into the dining hall.
I also observed 250 UMD students and five faculty members interact with the current finger scanning system.
Questions that were asked during interviews with students and faculty:
Tell me about the process of scanning your hand for identification?
Can you provide a demonstration of this activity?
How does this process compare to the old system?
Would you use this system for identification at other places?
(After describing the system) Do you have any privacy concerns? Does this make you feel safe?
Do you feel that this system is more efficient? Are there any weaknesses?
Results:
One students stated their frustration with the current fingerprint entry system in UMD dining hall facilities. He says that 75% of the time, the system doesn't recognize him, but when it works, it's a great system.
A UMD dining hall faculty member stated that hand swipe systems would make her job easier and faster.
Requirement Extractions:
My team and I extracted design requirements from our contextual analysis by creating a Work Affinity Activity Diagram (WAAD). The three main categories we focused on in design were: Efficiency, Usability and Security.
Sketching:
We sketched three potential designs for the hand-swipe payment system.
We also sketched the interaction between a user and our payment system.
Persona:
We created two ideal users of the hand-swipe payment system.
Theodore Sullivan (24 years old, College Student):
•Always wants to be in on the latest tech trends that appear
•Will seek out potential technologies in the cuts of obscure online tech forums
•Desires to be the first of all of his friends to adopt new technologies and get to introduce them to it
•Will intentionally seek out and support businesses that are using new age technologies in their environment
Margarie Lewis-Jones(40 years old, Stay at Home Mom):
•Desperate to retain her feeling of youth that she’s held onto for so long
•Scared of the rapid changes that society is undergoing in this day and age, but loves technology trends.
•Feels great cognitive dissonance when faced with conflicting emotions of her love for her children and the reality that the sands of time are slowly but surely eating away at her youth, something she holds in such high esteem.
Paper Prototype for Testing:
Low - Fidelity Wireframes:
Evaluation of Prototype:
Ux problems found...
•No option for users to go back to the previous screen, if needed.
•How would user register their hand for the device if implemented in retail stores?
•International payment.
•Security issue are presented when we think about what material the hand swipe portion will be made out of. If glass, it could pose a threat to users security.
•There is no reason for the number pad to be on the screen at all times.
•Denied message was not clear. Does the message indicate not enough money in the account or failure scanning a hand?
•Only two card options (either debit or credit). What about gift card?
Conclusion and Future Work:
•Don’t assume anything when designing.
•In contextual analysis, treat user as a master and researcher as apprentice.
•For future work the next step would be creation of a high-fidelity prototype for further testing.
Created By: Zamier Heyward, Martin, Joe, Bukar
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