Pines Redesign
Role: Experience Designer
Tools: Pen and paper, Adobe Illustrator, Paint 3d, Sketchup
Year: 2019
Pines is one of the most popular dining halls on the UC San Diego campus because of its prime location close to many classrooms and wide range of food options. However, this also means that Pines can get very busy throughout the day, which made it a prime target for a redesign to streamline the process of ordering food.
The problem:
The buying process at Pines is inefficient, leading to a chaotic dining experience.
The solution:
Architectural changes to the physical space and a new system for purchasing food.
Identifying the issue
We interviewed several cashiers and Pines customers in order to learn more about the food purchasing process and checkout. Due to university HR constraints, we were not allowed to interview Pines cashiers, but instead interviewed those from another dining hall. Both dining halls used the same POS system, but with different menu items. For customers, we both interviewed them and timed them buying their food.
Upon analyzing the data, we found that most customers do not need to see the actual food to make a decision, but they change their minds several times before deciding what to order. Customers also want to know about all the options. However, because the digital display menus are scattered around the different stations at Pines, customers end up walking around the entire space. This takes more time and increases the flow of traffic, making the dining experience more chaotic. Customers also overestimate the amount of time it takes them to purchase food, in part because of the deceptively long lines. Many times, people are simply waiting around Pines to receive their food or standing with friends, creating the illusion of a long and crowded line.
We also found that cashiers greatly disliked the current POS system, which constantly changed to reflect new menu items and increased the amount of mistakes cashiers made, which would slow down the checkout process.
Initial ideas
Lo-fi sketch of the color-coded box idea
One of our first ideas was to have color-coded takeout boxes for each of the different stations or food items. In this redesign, cashiers would no longer have to open the box to check what is inside, but could instead just look at the colors. We hoped that this would increase efficiency during the checkout part of the process, but we scraped this idea because not all customers would want to use takeout containers. It also did not reduce the number of lines, which was one of the major issues.
Lo-fi sketch of the scanner system idea
Another idea was to create an entirely scanner based checkout system. In this redesign, customers would carry a plastic card along with their tray. They would receive barcode stickers on the card with every food item added to their trays, and cashiers would simply scan all the barcodes at checkout. We also ended up discarding this idea because it does not reduce the number of lines, and it would also require barcode scanners to be available at every station to differentiate food items.
No more traffic jams
Lo-fi sketch of the redesigned space
Our final redesign features a redesigned layout of Pines. Any measurements of the space are estimations, since we were not able to get exact blueprints or measurements from the school.
Customers will first walk through a Decision Hall, lined with digital displays of all the menus. This allows customers to see all the options and make their decision in a controlled area without crowding the rest of the dining hall by walking back and forth throughout the entire space. The hall will not get congested because it is large enough to accommodate the number of incoming customers we measured at peak hours.
Introducing…self-checkout
Next, customers can order at kiosks, which replace the cashiers. This is essentially a self-checkout process, but a Pines worker will be stationed in this area if customers have any issues. There will also be two Express kiosks for quick foods such as prepackaged meals, pizza, and dessert (express kiosk foods can also be ordered on regular kiosks). After ordering, customers will receive a buzzer that will indicate when the food is ready to be picked up. All the food will be picked up at windows that correspond to the kiosk number the food was ordered from. This aggregates where the workers are, which decreases the need for them to walk long distances.
Rendition of a possible kiosk and interface
The finishing touches
The redesign includes an expanded kitchen as we are getting rid of the separations between the old food stations.
There will be an area on the side for drinks and salads, so customers who purchase those items can self-serve. Drink cups and bowls for salad will be picked up at the food-pickup counter.
Benches will be places to serve as a food waiting area where customers can sit. This will create a more organized space than if people were simply standing around.
Simple 3-D model of the redesigned space.
The red area is the food pickup, yellow is the Decision Hall, purple is the kiosk area, and blue is the salad bar and drinks area.
Clearly, this redesign may be unrealistic due to budget constraints, but I find that this project is extremely valuable as it points out the faults with the current situation and provides a solution, albeit in an idealistic world.