Design & Innovation

During our second class, I vividly remember Professor Yoo telling us that good design “delights” us. Far more than satisfying our needs, it exceeds expectations and creates a sense of wonder and ebullience. I was totally on board with that - I mean, yeah, the iPhone is cool and it was fun to play with Abhishek’s whenever I had a random question and needed an answer quickly. BUT, did it “delight” me? No. Sorry, Steve Jobs, but it didn’t.

So, I wondered… if the iPhone doesn’t do it for me, am I simply un-delightable? Or had I just not found the right gizmo yet? The answer came a few days later when I went to deposit a few checks, including my rebate check from Uncle Sam. I walked to my normal ATM at 16th and JFK, and, lo and behold, the deposit envelopes were gone! Instead, I was told to proceed to the ATM as usual, and to actually insert the checks into the machine, which would scan and automatically count them. This new method, I was told, ensured quicker funds availability and was more accurate than filling out an envelope.

I have always HATED filling out that envelope. I mean, it used to ask you for the most ridiculous information like the check number and your account number. I don’t even know my account number! So this was good news for someone like me. After inserting the check, n image of the check appeared on the screen, and BoA even knew how much the check was for.

As if this weren’t delightful enough, I glanced at my receipt and noticed an image of the deposited check, for my records. It even had the ABA routing number and Account number of the payer scrubbed out for security reasons.

So basically, this was a really great user interface for someone like me. It was painless, intuitive, and yes, “delightful.”