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Redesign of the McDrive order interface
McDrive is a service of McDonald’s restaurants where clients can order and take their meals without getting off their vehicles. In the entry of the service, costumers have to speak to McDrive’s staff using a terminal with a microphone and a screen recapping the products ordered.
Our brief was to explore the McDrive experience and rethink the terminal screen.
I followed HCD (Human Centered Design) by first conducting user research. After synthesizing inspiring insights from benchmarks, shadowing and interviews, I defined the problem and jumped right into the ideation phase. From storyboards all the way into fidelity prototyping.
To understand the experience from A to Z, I started my research by going to a McDrive and be a costumer of the service.
1️⃣ Wait
McDrive is a one-way road where cars advance by order to the terminal.
2️⃣ Order
Once next to the terminal, you wait until someone pick up the microphone and asks you to order.
3️⃣ Pay
After ordering, you are asked to advance to a window where you can pay your order.
4️⃣ Collect
Collecting your order happens next to another window you are requested to attend after paying.
After experiencing the McDrive, I decided to analyze the experience for another costumers. I started observing their steps and I tried to focus more on the order area (by the terminal).
I was still curious about other’s experiences and how they lived that moment from their point of view. Then, I organized multiples interviews using a panel following their age and the frequency of using the Mcdrive.
During the interviews, I tried to know more about the whole experience, my principal question was the following: “Could you tell me about your McDrive experience, from the thought of going to the exit of the service? “.
I also prepared some secondary questions to understand their interaction with the terminal and the speaker.
During the shadowing and also the interviews, I noticed that many people don’t know much about McDonald’s menus. They feel stressed while ordering, some of them order randomly because they don’t know what to take, and others waste a lot of time asking detailed questions about the products.
Once it’s someone’s turn, and he is next by the terminal. The driver doesn’t know if he can speak or if someone is hearing him from the other side. This moment takes in general 1 to 2 minutes but the driver is always wondering when we are going to talk to him or doubting if the terminal works.
While ordering, the terminal’s screen turns to a recap of the ordered items. This screen is barely visible for the driver and its display is very basic, outdated, and none accessible.
Costumers need to be reassured while waiting. They need to know that someone is coming to take their order.
The McDrive’s screen is a basic interface listing text. This interface needs to be more ergonomic and alive.
Ordering food is the most stressful step in the Mcdrive’s experience. This step has to be enjoyable for the customers.
Beside redesigning the interface of the terminal, my ambition was to humanize the ordering experience.
Replacing the existing with a self-order terminal can cost a lot to the company, and it is also a long process to go by.
My goal was to find an easy “low-cost” solution that resolve the biggest problems without actually changing the experience’s installations.
Drivy is a new character that will take over the terminal interface. He will be there for the coming consumers, reassuring them that his colleagues are coming, looking after them while waiting and accompanying them while ordering their meal.
