Communication and Multimedia Design students help improve Dutch postal services
Communication and Multimedia Design students at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (HvA) have been tasked with redesigning the user interface of the new PostNL package and letter machines. Formerly known as PTT Post, PostNL is the most important provider of postal services in the Netherlands.
In October last year, PostNL introduced machines for sending and receiving mail and parcels. The machines, called ‘Pakket- en briefautomaaten’ (PBA – parcel and letter machines), are intended to fulfil the increasing need of Dutch consumers to send and receive parcels from closer to home. So far they have only been installed in the city of Almere where a trial period will run for the duration of one year.
Interface
In order for the Communication and Multimedia Design students to provide their input, one of these PBAs has also been installed next to the HvA’s Theo Thijssenshuis on the Weesperstraat. Specifically, the students have been asked to look into the machine’s user friendliness and to come up with ways to improve the user interface.
Only students will be able to use the machine for the first months after which it will be moved to the Amstel Campus. The CMD-students are expected to remain involved in improving the user interface.
According to the company’s spokesman, it was the students that had reached out to PostNL with the request to install a machine on campus.
