The Exchange

I definitely see how this could this could make lines go faster, but I do wonder if there is a way you could adjust this so that customers do not end up staring at the floor to figure out where they are supposed to be going. I feel that this could be an issue if, say, one line is very full and the other is not. That very full line could end up spilling over into the other line and covering up the LEDs. I do like how the system reacts to the environment though by adjusting the light color depending on the traffic!

I feel like while this will speed the line up, there is a certain rate limiting step, which is the speed at which a sandwich made-to-order can be made. In this case, the line can still become really long and then doesn't really solve the initial problem of the line spilling into the building proper and blocking traffic. Although, with this method, people wanting hot food will not have to wait nearly as long, which is an incentive to get hot food instead of a sandwich. I think in general, because the hot food line will be so much faster, that this will be a great improvement, though.

I like the idea of splitting up the lines to avoid one giant one. A possible area of concern might be that, given that the exchange is always really full and chaotic during lunch, there might be so many people that following the directions on the floor will become difficult simply because there's so many feet!

I also think it might be confusing for people for one line to turn into two lines--how will they know which line to break off into for what? If it's crowded they might not be able to tell. Is there something you could add to make that more apparent?

I agree with others that floor lights might be difficult to see around people's legs and feet. It might also cause people to stare at the floor and miss when the workers behind the counter are trying to catch their attention. Maybe some kind of overhead display would be better, since people are looking up at the menus and such anyway.

It will definitely be difficult to constantly stare at the floor to determine whether or not there are people up in front. I agree with Kim with having an overhead display because staring at the floor could distract most of the people on the line and possibly cause more traffic. Maybe you could have a combination of both the overhead display and floor lights to make sure people aren't staring at one area for too long. But I do like your idea of splitting up the line so people don't get confused.

Thanks for the feedback! I do agree that looking down might be difficult or inconvenient in the midst of a large crowd. However, the intent for footprints were mostly to guide the first customers to the lines; as we observed, once a line or two forms, humans will naturally follow from social cues. That said, an overhead display is a fantastic idea. Perhaps we could improve the idea by moving the LED colors up, with additional text to guide customers or let them know how full each of the lines is.

@Kim_Lister @Eunice Oh

I definitely see how the crowded feet may impede the functionality of the LED lights. However, I thought it was interesting that you both mentioned that the use of a display might have been helpful. One thing we observed (and that we probably should have mentioned) is that many people are not really paying attention to the menu at all until it is close to the time that they have to order. Instead many people are on their phones or socializing with the people online. Now that you mention it, perhaps we should also look into a way to get people to pay attention to the menus instead so that the conversation between the server and the customer is better so people aren't spending time making decisions as they give their order.