Interface examples #1: Laundry reservation interface

This interface is found at the basement of my apartment, which is responsible for the reservation of  laundry machines in the same place.

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The grey box on the left is a printer that prints out reservation records, while the black box on the right is the main touch-screen interface of the system.

If one wants to make reservation for washing machines:

First, log into the system by presenting a designated card to the touch screen box on the right.

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The user can check whether a laundry machine is being reserved at the time. Press “Add reservation” to make a new appointment

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Then the user can choose the time they want to book a machine. The system will also indicate which time slots are available.

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The user can also check the reservation they’ve made, and modify the reservation of the machine.

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Finally, the user can access to the laundry machine during the rewerved period.

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Unfortunately, there are some drawbacks on the system concerned. The biggest problem is lack of flexibility: The timespan for each reservation is 2 hours, but a single run of washing, for example, is only 48 minutes. There could be instances like: If one arrived early and used a washing machine within the first hour of reservation, others cannot use the same machine at the second hour.

Besides, the washing machines itself also have their own user interfaces. It would be better if the reservation system and the machine control can be integrated together.

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(Courtesy to Jerry Yao for assisting in taking of photos and understanding of Danish texts on the interface)

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