Week 10 Tutorial: Comparing Two Machines

Fieldwork comparing two competing EV charging kiosks for the same service

26 April 2027

Before the tutorial

Find two EV charging kiosks from different operators — in person if you can, otherwise from documentation, reviews and photos.

In the tutorial

We compare notes across pairs of machines rather than single ones this week, which makes it easier to see which friction is universal to the category and which is a specific operator’s choice.

Afterwards

A compare-and-contrast structure like this week’s is a strong model for part of your final teardown, if your chosen category has more than one operator.

Who benefits when the design is bad?

The spec

What you bring to the tutorial. Written so a reader can tell whether it has been met without asking you.

  • you use or closely observe two different charging networks' kiosks
  • you list every point where the two require a different app, account or card
  • you can say which network's friction more clearly benefits that network

Teaching team