Following a recent media feature that included insights from our CEO & Founder, Ravi Sawhney, this perspective expands on the implications of automation in fast food and retail environments. As brands introduce self-service systems to increase efficiency, the underlying value exchange is shifting, with customers taking on more responsibility while expectations continue to rise.

This article explores why efficiency alone does not define a successful experience, how subtle changes in effort and interaction impact perception, and where trust begins to erode. It highlights the importance of designing not just for operational performance, but for human response, where adoption, satisfaction, and long-term value are ultimately determined.

When Automation Breaks the Experience: The Hidden Risk of Self-Service Design

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The Shift Customers Feel Immediately

Automation isn’t the issue.

The issue is how it changes the experience.

A recent article featuring Ravi Sawhney highlighted a growing shift in fast food: customers are being asked to do more, while paying more.

At first glance, automation promises efficiency. Faster ordering. Shorter lines. Lower operational costs.

But that’s not how people evaluate experiences.

They evaluate value.

As Ravi noted, “What’s changing here is the value exchange. Customers are doing more of the work while paying more. People feel that immediately.”

The Shift Most Companies Miss

Most automation strategies are built around optimization, focusing on speed, throughput, and cost reduction. These are measurable and easy to justify from a business perspective, but they are not how customers actually experience a system.

Customers are not thinking about operational efficiency or evaluating labor models. Instead, they are asking a much simpler question:

Does this feel worth it?

That judgment is not analytical; it is instinctive. It is formed quickly based on how much effort is required, how clear the process feels, and how the interaction makes them feel overall.

When customers are asked to navigate more steps, make more decisions, or take on tasks that were previously handled for them, their perception of value begins to shift. This can happen even if the system is technically faster or more efficient.

Effort is not neutral. People feel it, and they factor it into how they evaluate an experience.

When effort increases without a corresponding increase in perceived value, something begins to break. Not at an operational level, but at an emotional one. That is where friction builds and trust starts to erode.

When Convenience Stops Feeling Convenient

There is a point where convenience crosses a line.

What once felt simple and intuitive begins to require more attention and effort. Ordering becomes navigating through screens and options. Speed becomes dependent on self-service. Ease shifts into responsibility.

Individually, these changes may seem minor. Together, they reshape how the experience is perceived.

At that point, the interaction no longer feels like a benefit. It starts to feel like work.

As Ravi explained, “At a certain point, convenience stops feeling convenient and starts feeling like responsibility.”

That shift is subtle, but it is critical. It marks the moment when customers begin to reassess the value of the experience, not based on efficiency, but on how it feels to engage with it.

This is where trust begins to erode, often without companies realizing it is happening.

Automation Without Meaning

Automation can make experiences faster, but speed alone does not determine whether an experience is better.

In some cases, automation removes the very elements that made the experience work in the first place. While those elements may seem small or inefficient from an operational perspective, they often carry meaning for the customer.

Human interaction is not just functional. It signals attention, care, and a sense of being understood. Even brief moments of interaction can reinforce trust and create a feeling of value that extends beyond the transaction itself.

When that layer is removed, something needs to replace it. The experience must still communicate clarity, ease, and a sense of consideration for the user.

If nothing replaces it, the interaction can begin to feel impersonal or incomplete. Even if it is technically faster, the experience lacks meaning, and efficiency alone is not enough to compensate for that loss.

The Real Design Challenge

The question is not whether to automate. Automation will continue to expand across industries, driven by efficiency, scale, and technological capability.

The real question is what is being replaced, and what is being added back.

Every element that is removed from an experience, whether it is human interaction, guidance, or a sense of ease, carries meaning for the customer. If that meaning is not intentionally replaced, the overall experience begins to degrade, even if the system itself is more advanced.

Companies that succeed will not be the ones that automate the most. They will be the ones that understand how the experience feels from the customer’s perspective and design accordingly.

Because adoption is not driven by capability alone. It is driven by perception, trust, and whether the experience feels valuable in the moment it is used.

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How does L.A.’s cultural diversity drive unconstrained design and innovation?

For decades, Los Angeles has been cradle to some of the most innovative designs and designers in the world. Their names resonate with both designers and non-designers alike: Raymond Lowey, the father of Industrial Design itself, Charles and Ray Eames who changed the course of furniture and design, Frank Gehry who broke the mold on architecture, and Saul Bass, who drove Graphic Design to new heights. Then too, lest we forget about Walt Disney, a creative genius with a vision he designed into reality and changed the world.

Diversity Drives Design

The breadth and depth of this creative output has no doubt been driven by cultural diversity that is unique to Los Angeles. In fact, L.A. is home to many communities whose populations are larger outside of their home countries, including Korea, Iran, Thailand, Mexico, El Salvador, etc. Nearly half of L.A.’s population is Latino, 11 percent is Asian, and 10 percent is African-American. Because LA is so large and diverse, it is decentralized; a series of interlinked communities and cultures that harmonize but not necessarily with any shared mission, vision or brand statement. This diversity has also driven incredible economic success. With a GDP of over 1 trillion dollars, makes it one-third of California’s overall ranking as the fifth largest global economy. L.A. and its Southern California surrounding communities have 24 million residents with 70 Universities of Higher Education.

Designing the Future

At the western edge of the United States, Southern California has always been a leader in design. Starting in the 1950’s, NASA and JPL began testing rockets in the clear blue skies over the vast California desert. This endless progress of flight and pursuit of space travel established an industry that attracted the world’s leading designers and engineers. Rocketdyne, McDonnell Douglas, Lockheed Martin, Boeing and many others pushed the envelope of design and technology on a daily basis, and attracted yet more designers and engineers to the region. The trickle-down effect spawned an unparalleled wellspring of local design ingenuity that continues to this day.

Car companies have long recognized the cultural relevance of Los Angeles’ multicultural residents. Mazda’s Tom Matano famously designed the game-changing Miata sports car in California, and recognized the cultural tapestry of L.A., observing that, “if it works in Southern California, it’ll work anyplace.” And it did. Volkswagen’s “New Beetle” was designed in Simi Valley, California and its new Design Center is located in nearby Oxnard. Volvo currently has a design studio in neighboring Camarillo and BMW—along with its Mini and Rolls-Royce brands—has its design studio in Newbury Park, ten miles up the road.

The future, like the present and past, is incredibly bright. General Motors is investing $71 million to expand its automotive design center in Pasadena…a stone’s throw from Art Center College of Design, possibly the most prolific womb of automotive and product design in the world. Aspiring designers in myriad fields—especially automotive and consumer products—converge on this campus from across the seas to bask in the California sunshine and the unparalleled design magic for which the Art Center is renowned.

In the last decade, major technology companies have either grown in the Southern California sun, or relocated major business units. Snapchat was founded in Venice on the beach, and Electronics Arts was founded only a stone’s throw away. Google, Amazon, Apple, and Sony all have major design and innovation divisions in LA.

These future shapers of our world share a bright, diverse and motivational environment that speaks of what is possible…where, if you design it today, you see it on the road tomorrow. The endless inspiration and creativity generated in a place where play is as important as work contributes to the essential connection between great design and the consumer.

Growing Our Roots in Fertile Land

Design is not one thing, but many things. Design is multimedia and cross-pollinating and includes Fashion, Film, Music, Architecture, Branding, Advertising, etc. Many designers, including RKS principal Ravi Sawhney, landed here not by their own choice, but were thrown into the back of a station wagon and driven here cross country by their parents getting way from the cold and looking for the multicultural promise of acceptance that LA made. But then, many (if not most) of the brightest minds in design and creativity came here by choice, to be close to other designers, and the warm Southern California sun that seems to drench and seep into cracks of every Angelino’s soul.

Our story, RKS, started in industrial design. Being here in L.A., we found that the cultural and business diversity unique to LA became our playground. And as we became more integrated in our community, we found our work extending far beyond the borders of making beautiful products. We now work in UX, UI, software development, and design strategy.

Our Future

It wouldn’t be fair to say that Southern California has a monopoly on great design, but few would argue that it has any real rivals with its diversity and cross-pollination of different art, film, architecture, technology, and design disciplines. L.A.’s secret is that it lives in the building of today and the designing of tomorrow. We spend our time reflecting on what we have learned, what we can do, and how we bring tomorrow to life in new refreshing ways that reinvent us and everything around us. It’s a mindset. All we know is that L.A. was, is, and will continue to be an increasingly important cradle for good design and a beacon of design diversity around the world.

We’re happy to be here.