While withdrawing cash from a machine in Amsterdam recently I suddenly realised the importance of designing for people that speak, or do not speak, different languages. This is especially the case in a city such as Amsterdam that us overflowing with tourists and ex pats who work there, such as my good self. For example, ING bank machines do not offer the domestic card holder a choice of language. All instruction appears in Dutch. Fair enough you might say, if you insert a Dutch bank card you get Dutch instructions. But the card holder might not speak Dutch. When it comes to pin entry there is an image of a hand pressing numbers but no other prompt for you to begin entering the digits. This image caused me to delay slightly because it looked like it was simply advising me to shield my pin. I was waiting for something more unequivocal to prompt my action. A blinking cursor would have done the job. Or maybe four dots representing my pin number to encourage me to start typing. Should I just stop complaining about little things and go learn Dutch?
1 Comment
Erik v d b
8/8/2012 00:19:46
ABN AMRO cash machines use four stars to prompt you to start entering your PIN. More importantly they give you a choice of language even if you are using a Dutch card. Much easier!!
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