Chinese boris bikes
Unlike boris bikes in London, boris bikes in beijing don’t need docking stations. Users user an app on their phone to unlock the bikes. bikes can be found anywhere in the city. it appears that users can just leave them anywhere, and I can only assume that the app can tell any potential user where […]
Talk to us – service design
Walking across a bridge in London I noticed a sign… The sign, from the Samaritans, said: “talk to us if things are getting to you”. Now I’m going to make some assumptions about its origins, but it seems to be a brilliant bit of multichannel service design. Prevention The sign and many like it around […]
When cash is no longer trusted
Mobile payment in China is prevalent. In fact, it is so prevalent that cash is longer trusted (in some places). This sign, found in a shop window, tells its patrons that they need to provide proof; presumably identification documents; when paying by cash. Paying with WeChat – the Chinese version of whatsapp, AliPay and Unionpay […]
Pay it forward – a smokers moment of delight whilst travelling
Airports can be frustrating places for smokers. Throw away your lighter? keep it on you and hope they don’t confiscate it? hunt around for a smoking room or not? wonder if the airport has a smoking room? try to find the smoking room or not? etc etc airports in china were particularly picky. no lighters […]
Usability of date fields in a non-latin language
i’m not going to lie – the thought of trying to find my way around chinese websites was daunting, especially on a mobile. For the most part, the websites I interacted with had english translations, or some level or chinglish. my fears were mainly unfounded. but i did come across on example that i found […]
When people have no choice they’ll struggle through but this doesn’t meant you should treat people like the they are computers – an online checkin experience.
Recently, I was trying to check in for a flight. it was a long distance flight so I felt it important to check-in and choose my seat as soon as it was available. I logged onto the website precisely 23.5 hours before the flight – 30 minutes after check-in opened. Treating people like computers In […]