Line at KAF

UI / UX

A mobile application for Dartmouth students that displays the number of customers waiting at Baker Library’s King Arthur Flour café. The application visualizes data collected by cameras using a deep-learning algorithm to count the number of customers standing in line at the café at any given time, allowing Dartmouth students to plan their visits to the café accordingly. A project at Dartmouth’s Dali Lab.

2018

Partners: Cosan Lab’s Jin Cheong & Eshin Jolly
Developers: Jane Lee & Teddy Ni
Designer: Anne Muller

Students at Dartmouth College frequent a café in Baker-Berry Library that is operated by the King Arthur Flour company, known to students as ‘KAF.’ The café is located in the center of the library and has two windows, of which only one is open during lighter-traffic times of the day. As a consequence, students often gather around the second (closed) side during anticipated busier hours, knowing that it will soon open and they might be able to snag one of the first spots in line. Often, both windows have lines in excess of 20 students. Wait times are sometimes too long fit between classes, yet many students try to squeeze in a coffee anyways.

Design Features:

Color System

Familiar colors convey vital information at a glance.

GREEN: short or nonexistent line; a visit to the cafe will be very efficient.

YELLOW: A medium length line; perfectly fine if you’ve got a few minutes to spare.

RED: A long line; not the best time to visit KAF if you’re in a hurry.

Landmarks

Representing the length of each line in real space by using well-known landmarks.

ORDERING WINDOW: A coffee cup represents the café ordering window - effectively, a line length of zero. The distance between this landmark and the subsequent landmarks gives the user an idea of the line length in relation to the physical space of the café.

WINDOW ONE: Students already use the door at the back of the café’s first window as a metric of line length. For example, if you’ve got class in five minutes and the KAF line is out the door, you can be certain you won’t be on time for class if you try and squeak in a coffee on the way there.

WINDOW TWO: In order for the line at the second window to fit in the library lobby, it makes a 90º turn around a signpost. This bend in the line is the only recognizable landmark of Window Two.