I completely understand.
“we’ll quickly revisit this design if we find users experiencing issues.” – Sounds good to me!

-Skymiler

This is something we’ve debated on long and hard; our final decision, as many are, was based on the 80/20 rule–you can try to make an interface that satisfies everyone, but you end-up potentially alienating the majority of your users. One good example is Apple vs. Microsoft–you can put every option on the screen (such as in MS Word’s traditional toolbars) for power users and create a cluttered, confusing interface or you can satisfy the majority of users and hide the more advanced options in menus and preferences.

We looked at options that placed the multiple languages at the forefront of the experience (either on the Home screen or right after it), both using flags (which adds duplicate buttons, as multiple countries share languages and users’ tongues aren’t bound by the country they live in) and displaying the options in native languages. For most users, though, this is another screen they’ll have to click through when they don’t need it. Every moment matters and we don’t want to have users click on unnecessary screens.

In our case, the majority of our customers are far and away English speakers; those that aren’t native-English speakers usually know enough to recognize the term “language”. Plus, most of our traffic is still within the U.S.. That, though, is changing–we’re on track to shifting the majority of our traffic to international travel and with that will come an increasingly diverse audience.

As mentioned, we have plans for rolling out other languages over the next year and we’ll quickly revisit this design if we find users experiencing issues.

OK, Mark if you say so. All I can say is that if I were in Russia, I would not know that “Язык” means language, therefore I wouldn’t assume that everyone who flies Delta could understand “other languages.” I understand that if the passenger is in their home country it is not an issue, however, I feel that airports like JFK and ATL, that have tons of international destinations, should make it so foreigners can get to their native tongue as easy as possible. If you do not have enough room to list those languages on the home screen another user suggested displaying the flags of the countries. That would be great too!

As to your questions and feedback:
- How about an audible feedback when pressing keys?
Unfortunately, the current hardware doesn’t support audio cues; we had actually considered this early on. The R2-D2-like beeps you may currently hear at our Kiosk is actually coming from the card and other device readers attached to the hardware.

- I like how there isn’t like loads of adverts and promos no one cares about on the screens.
Thanks–we want to focus on making this a simple and quick process for you. I love rich, immersive experiences…but sometimes you just need to get in and get out, right? We are looking at ways of providing special offers and perhaps even purchases from the kiosk in the future…but that’s a ways off.

- I like the main screen with the sky view but how about showing one of your birds in flight too?
The concept for the redesign is codenamed “JetStream” and it’s supposed to evoke the view from one of our planes while in-flight. We wanted to keep it clean, simple, and serene. I joked with the team that we could feature flying leprechauns for St. Patrick’s day, but they all called blarney!

One cool thing we’ll be doing is using imagery that changes with the time of day–it’s one way of our acknowledging that we know where and when you are and that every moment matters.

- On the last screen with information regarding BOB meals, can you place an info button with available meal options.
Unfortunately, we don’t have this data passed to us currently for each flight; we share the same data as is used on delta.com, which basically tells us the type of meal (Snack, Dinner, Food for Purchase, etc.) but not specifically what is being served. We’re looking to see if we can get more detailed around this in the future.

- Instead of “Other Languages” you should list those languages in that language.
This is an interesting point–we debated long and hard over what languages to feature on the Welcome screen. It was decided that we would always default to English with the local/alternative language being the main option; in France we will have “Francais” on the button, for example, instead of “Espanol”.

We actually considered designs that listed all languages as a welcome or start screen, but felt that it was then an extra screen that the majority of users would not need; we tested the verbiage of “other languages” and found that non-native speakers would recognize that option on a button. Clicking it brings-up a screen that lists all languages available on the Kiosk, each listed in the native tongue.

We’re exploring adding several other languages to the Kiosk experience, as our goal is to maintain parity with delta.com and serve our global customer base in their language of choice.

Here’s another example, instead of cluttering up the screen with being too many words, would it be easier to display the nation’s home flag as a symbol?

Instead of “Other Languages” you should list those languages in that language. For example, it should read:

Francais
Nederlands
日本語

etc.

It does not make sense to say “Other Languages” in English, when the passengers who press that button will probably not be able to understand English!

Suggestions:

1.) I would clarify the credit card portion on the second screen such as “Insert Skymiles Card or Credit Card with passengers name”

2.) On the last screen with information regarding BOB meals, can you place an info button with available meal options.

3.) an icon indicating whether the aircraft will have PTV