Redesigned

The two main areas of focus for a redesign of Simmons Hall's laundry would be the website and signage/communication inside the laundry room. The actual washers and dryers typically function well to serve users' needs, but the overall process is still stressful. This can be easily remedied with a few changes to the other steps in the process.

Website Redesign:

The website where residents can check for available laundry rooms needs updating. Instead of displaying machines that aren't currently in the middle of a cycle as available, the website should provide users with additional information. If machines are out of order, the website should indicate this in addition to a printed sign in the laundry room. If the cycle has ended on a machine, the website should differentiate between "in use-cycle ended" and "available." Using force sensors, machines should be able to sense whether or not clothes are still inside the machine and then should communicate that information on the website. This will prevent residents from seeking out machines that are listed as available only to find that someone else's clothes are still inside. The website should also implement a "claim" feature so that residents can reserve washers or dryers that are currently available. Claims would lock machines to a certain ID number and expire if that ID wasn't used to pay for laundry within 5 minutes. This would allow residents to avoid awkward encounters in the laundry room when 2 or more people are trying to get to a free machine first.

Signage and Communication:

The second area of improvement for Simmons laundry is in the signage and communication inside each laundry room. This should be addressed through several different measures. The lighting in the rooms should be improved so that signs can be read clearly and measuring marks on detergent caps are visible when doing laundry. Signs should be corrected and consolidated. The posters and signs that are around the room should match the labels on the washers and dryers instead of providing contradicting information for different models. Since many people have switched to using detergent pods, signs should clarify that pods go inside the washer with clothing whereas liquid detergent goes into the dispenser. The dryers should be unstacked in order to match the setup of the washers and allow shorter residents to be able to use either dryer. All machines should be able to accept both quarters and TechCash. If machines only accept one or the other, they should be clearly labeled as such. Finally, the numbering of machines should be from left to right instead of from right to left. This will reduce errors due to typing in the wrong number and save residents time and money.

Conclusion:

Due to Simmons' unique architecture, the dorm's laundry system is quite different from standard residential buildings. However, with a few simple improvements to the underlying infrastructure, the laundry experience can be drastically improved for users. Even without moving machines to a localized room in the building, the process of finding available washers and dryers can be made much easier. Improving the website will allow residents to more accurately identify which machines throughout the building they can use at a given time. Clarifying the signage within each laundry room will make doing laundry an easy and stress-free experience.