Client:
7-ELEVEN
Year:
2022-2024
Role:
Industrial Design, UI/UX Design
The COFU (Coffee of the Future) machine revolutionizes how 7-Eleven customers experience coffee.
Combining state-of-the-art brewing capabilities with a user-centered interface, the COFU machine delivers an unprecedented range of coffee options with a single tap. My role encompassed research, tactical industrial design, and UI/UX development. By focusing on customer needs, operational efficiency, and 7-Eleven’s bold branding, the machine became a standout feature in the convenience store landscape.
It needed to stand out in the bustling environment of 7-Eleven while maintaining harmony with its surroundings.
The design achieves this balance by combining bold geometric lines with subtle curves, creating a silhouette that feels inviting yet authoritative.
We began with an environmental audit of 7-Eleven’s existing store formats—both traditional c-store layouts and the more elevated Evolution Store concept. From there, we defined key design principles the machine would need to embody: clean geometry, clear branding hierarchy, and modularity across different store footprints.
Initial sketch exploration focused on defining COFU’s silhouette and proportions. We looked at height-to-width ratios, door symmetry, and how the screen layout would guide user attention from ordering to pickup. Some early forms played with sloped rooflines and visible hopper elements to create a “barista counter” effect, while others emphasized symmetry and containment to feel more like a vending appliance.
A major focus during this stage was how to balance approachability with sophistication—inviting first-time users while still feeling considered in higher-end retail contexts.
Monolithic Elegance: The machine’s seamless exterior blends metallic finishes with 7-Eleven’s signature colors, ensuring it feels both premium and familiar.
Transparency in Design: Exposed brewing components celebrate the craft of coffee-making, showcasing freshness and quality to the user.
Compact Footprint: Despite its feature-rich functionality, the machine maintains a small footprint to accommodate diverse store layouts while still serving up to 12 users simultaneously.
Anti-Scratch Surfaces: Durable finishes maintain a polished appearance even under constant use.
Ergonomic Interaction Points: Intuitive placement of cup guides, spouts, and interactive panels simplifies usage for first-time users
We also prototyped and tested various hopper configurations and drink retrieval zones, working to find a form that made mechanical logic feel intuitive. This included testing door spacing, shelf depth, and the user’s line-of-sight to both screens and drink progress. Special attention was paid to the “belt-and-door” pickup mechanism—how visible it should be, how motion would be conveyed, and what type of door interaction would feel confident but sanitary.
User Interface: A Journey to the Perfect Cup
The COFU machine transforms a simple coffee order into a seamless and interactive experience:
The screen experience is split across three display zones: a large, portrait-oriented A Screen for ordering, orientation, and idle messaging, and two B Screens for queueing, tracking drink progress, and accessing pickups. Each screen type had a specific job, but they had to feel unified as part of a single interaction flow.
We mapped out 28 complete drink flows that supported current and future menu options. These ranged from simple brewed coffee to highly customized cold foam lattes with multiple milk types and flavorings. Each screen was designed to make these options feel accessible without overwhelming the user. Flows prioritized clarity and movement—every action had a visual follow-through, every pause or pulse had a reason. Idle screens reinforced instructions and marketing content. Countdown timers and animated progress bars kept users engaged while they waited for drinks to finish. I worked closely on screen logic, button hierarchies, and drink card animations to ensure the experience remained fast and fluid, even with a queue of multiple users.
We also tuned every element for ADA accessibility. Screen heights, touch target zones, and color contrast ratios were stress-tested to ensure all customers could interact comfortably, whether standing or seated.
Step-by-Step Guidance: A streamlined interface guides users through choosing drink type, size, and customizations like flavor, milk, cold foam, and sweetness levels.
Live Progress Feedback: Animated visuals keep users engaged, showing each stage of their drink being prepared, from grinding beans to pouring the final product.
Idle Attraction: When not in use, screens display vibrant coffee imagery and menu highlights, drawing attention and sparking curiosity
The machine’s design also prioritizes the needs of store operators:
Daily cleaning, weekly sanitization, and ingredient restocking all happen through the same digital interface—just on a separate path from the customer experience. I worked on designing and mapping these service flows to feel just as guided and intuitive as the ordering process. Every task was broken into manageable steps with clear visuals and status feedback.
Daily workflows include milk line flushing, general wipe-down prompts, and garbage clearing. Weekly flows add deeper sanitization tasks like brew group cleaning. Restocking was visualized by zone: bean hoppers, flavor syrups, dairy compartments, cups, and cold brew concentrate. These guides mirrored the machine’s physical layout so that tasks could be completed quickly, even by new employees. Fail-safes and interstitial lockouts were built in to prevent errors and ensure food safety compliance.
Service Screens: Tailored interfaces guide staff through cleaning, refilling, and diagnostics, ensuring smooth operations even during peak hours.
IoT Connectivity: Remote monitoring allows for proactive maintenance, minimizing disruptions and enhancing efficiency
The COFU machine underwent extensive iterations based on feedback from prototype testing and in-store trials:
We developed the machine through multiple rounds of physical and digital iteration. On the industrial design side, early sketch work explored proportions, footprint, screen placements, and cup visibility. Shelf depths, door swing paths, and pickup ergonomics were tuned across pilots and internal reviews. These studies helped ensure the unit felt intuitive to approach and could accommodate multiple users interacting in parallel.
The user interface followed a similar trajectory—starting from static wireframes and evolving into full motion prototypes. Stakeholder feedback and field testing informed how progress was visualized, how door assignments were communicated, and how timeouts were handled if a user walked away mid-order. As new drink types were added—like nitro cold brew and seasonal mochas—we built out new paths and submenus without compromising clarity.
Visual branding and CMF were also refined in-market. We observed how lighting conditions affected paint finishes and how high-touch areas aged after weeks of use. Final adjustments included moving to more durable coatings, revising border treatments around screens, and tuning accent colors for print accuracy and contrast.
Optimized Flow: Screen layouts and physical design elements were adjusted to reduce bottlenecks and improve the customer journey.
Enhanced Accessibility: ADA-compliant touchpoints, screen heights, and intuitive user flow ensured the machine served a diverse range of users.
Ingredient Customization: Iterative updates to the UI allowed users greater control over their drinks, enhancing personalization and satisfaction
The COFU machine has transformed coffee service at 7-Eleven:
For Customers: A barista-quality coffee experience with intuitive customization options, delivered in seconds.
For Operators: Streamlined maintenance processes, durable design, and IoT-enabled diagnostics reduce workload and downtime. Clear, step-by-step guidance for cleaning and refilling reduces training time and supports faster task completion and fewer service calls.
For the Brand: COFU elevates 7-Eleven’s position as an innovator, bridging convenience and quality in an increasingly competitive market.
