Innovating touchless ordering for a changing world
Adapting to a changing
and uncertain world
PepsiCo saw a need for fewer germ-spreading surfaces and developed a touchless kiosk, launching a beta test in KFCs across Warsaw.
While touchless screens can detect hands, this project demanded more refined gesture recognition to interpret clear user intent. Customers needed to explore menus, customize orders, and check out — all without touching the screen. The experience also had to feel intuitive, effortless, and enjoyable.
Video onboarding
The interactions we needed users to do in order to use the kiosk correctly were not immediately intuitive. We designed a very clearly visible video onboarding so that users could understand how to successfully place an order.
Language support
Given the kiosk's location in Poland, we needed to design the signage in Polish to cater to native users. The visuals were crafted to accommodate longer wording and phrasing that aligned with common expressions.
Clear wayfinding
The kiosk's frame resembled a typical touch screen, but since it was a new function, we needed clear signage to guide usage. Both floor and hanging wayfinding was used, as well as signage depicting correct and incorrect usage. We also translated the wayfinding onto the kiosk itself.
Recognizable UI
While the interaction was unfamiliar to users, the UI was not. Apart from the lack of touch functionality, the kiosk followed the same patterns and flows as standard touchscreens, providing users with a familiar interface to engage with.
Features of the final kiosk & experience
The prototyping and user testing needed to be supported by an understanding of its placement in the store, how users would engage with it, and how we could design the experience around those interactions. We digitally simulated scenarios and created heat maps to predict where customers would most likely gather.
Using existing testing and insights
I was brought in to lead the service design and customer insight part of the engagement – the team (Felix Ros and Dan Robson) has already begun creating prototypes and testing. Due to lockdown restrictions, the team could only test with small groups in order to understand the usability of (at that point) a pretty new type of interaction.
Impact
To assess the kiosk’s impact, we analyzed interaction and transactional data. This helped us understand how customers engaged with the kiosk, compare basket sizes, and break down transactions by food and beverage across all kiosks (both touchscreen and touchless) and the counter.
Read more about the project.