Design for Daily Friction: Adapting Dispensers to the Urban Rhythm

Urban life comes with small frictions: queues, limited hours, confusing interfaces, or out-of-service machines. Designing for daily friction means identifying and minimizing them through automation and user-centered design.

Typical frictions

• Limited hours and rush-hour congestion.
• Availability: prevent “out of stock” via proactive restocking.
• Physical and cognitive accessibility for everyone.
• Unnecessary interactions in simple processes.

uPorta design strategies

• 24/7 operation and contactless payments (NFC/QR/wallets).
• Smart inventory with cloud telemetry to restock on time.
• Intuitive interface (HCI): fewer steps, clear icons, multilingual.
• Self-diagnostics and preventive maintenance to reduce downtime.
• Universal accessibility: heights, audio, contrast, Braille, voice control.

Expected impact

A smooth, reliable experience aligned with urban pace, with shorter waits and higher user autonomy.