It’s funny how after researching so much about design thinking, interaction with end user to understand needs and rapid prototyping to obtain feedback.. I was finally part of an experiment last week. I was at Spinelli’s Wheelock branch and they were attempting to transform the customer coffee buying experience. The great part was that we got $1 coffee, while several members of the design team went around interviewing customers about their thoughts on some of the proposed improvements. 
The experiment – you fill up a form with paper and pencil of your coffee/tea/hot chocolate choice at the entrance, bring it to the cashier, then collect your coffee. If you are puzzled, don’t worry, I didn’t know what they were trying to do initially either, I figured it was just a gimmick – cheap coffee to attract coffee drinkers for focus groups.
Well, turns out there were a few things they were trying to find out: 1) what if you had a separate ordering machine at the entrance where you can tap your loyalty card to order (loyalty card can record your usual preferences) so you need not wait at the counter for indecisive people to make up their minds about what they want to drink 2) was it useful to have information abt coffee eg where the beans were roasted, what was the difference between a flat white and a latte at the pick up counter to entertain customers while they wait for their coffee 3) will a smartphone app be useful to preorder coffee that you can just come by and collect quickly 4) will customers prefer the use of name or serial number to know when to collect drinks?
I thought (3) was the most useful, my friend says it’s very prevalent in Sydney, I haven seen it around in Spore yet. I can imagine how it will be very suited to the impatient professional who just want their coffee quite literally on-the-go! But it’s crucial to ensure that the branch has the resources to handle the inflow of orders on top of those coming from in-store customers, otherwise it pretty much defeats the purpose of pre-ordering right?
In any case, this was an interesting experience and I look forward to more such prototype experiments!
A Smile A Day 