UX Sandwich - Finding good UX in unexpected places
So this past weekend was filled with traveling for me, which of course included much time in cars and airports. At one point my fiancée` and I were hungry and decided to grab a bite to eat at a sandwich shop in Atlanta airport. We ordered our sandwiches and sat down to eat. After finishing each order, in the wrapper we noticed something neither of us had seen before:
In the sandwich wrapper was a pickle. Simple enough. Except, notice that the pickle was actually wrapped on its own, within the same wrapper for the sandwich. In doing so, they essentially prevented error in ‘using’ the sandwich, which is an oft-followed usability heuristic. This is actually fantastic design if you think about it, even if it is a mind-numbingly simple thing to do. Consider this; you order this sandwich in a great hurry to catch your connecting flight. If said pickle was wrapped with the sandwich itself and you didn’t sink your teeth into it until mid-flight, you would be greeted with a rather unappealing, soggy sandwich. At which point, you may (likely) blame the maker/company who gave it to you.
By having the forethought in design to prevent this on the go meal catastrophe, they have not only provided you with a fresher product, but have saved credibility in the process. I know for me, they’ve gained my repeat business if I were to find myself in need of non-sogginess while in ATL airport.
Moreover, the elegance of the solution was impressive to me. After discussing it a bit further with my fiancée`, they could have easily had the pickle in another wrapper all together and gave it to me separately. This would have caused me to have to carry more than one additional item on top of my already luggage-filled hands. Quite smart if you ask me. On the same note, by using the sandwich wrapper in this way, you have also reduced cost from using a separate container or wrapper for the pickle.
As I finished my sandwich and sat there reveling in the well-executed experience I had, an interesting question was raised. Being that neither of us had noticed the extra item within the wrapper until after we’d both finished the sandwich, was it still a good experience? I personally saw it as a playful surprise (aside from the points mentioned above) while my companion mentioned that she was disappointed to find it after finishing her sandwich, noting that “I would have like to have had it along with my sandwich”.
So I now pose the question as to whether or not this was well executed design. Did the benefits of preventing the pickle from creating a soggy sandwich outweigh the drawbacks of the possibility of not finding it until later, if at all? What do you think?
