I make this simple mistake all the time. I’m at the grocery store paying with my debit card using the chip reader. The person helping me asks me if I found everything ok, there is beeping and other noises, another person asks me if I need bags, I look down at a little screen and see the words “Remove Your Card”, I take out the card, and realize I messed up the whole process. I realize the entire message is “Please Do Not Remove Your Card”.
There is no reason for the words “Remove Your Card” to be on a tiny screen when the opposite action is the desired action. This is an example of a bad user experience.
How about something like this:
Processing Leave Your Card Inserted
…and:
Approved Remove Your Card
As a designers, we are in the communication arts. We think about how users will view a website, brochure, logo, and so on. The chip card reader bugs the hell out of me. The code was written by a software engineer and it’s a crime that so many machines use these same statements! It would be so easy to make this little change. It would save so much confusion. Even if it’s just a little confusion, it should be changed. Sure, you can call the customers like me idiots for getting confused, but it’s better to just be less confusing.
