Project timeline

September 2019 - December 2019

Research Methods

Interviews, journey map, observational research.

Role

UX Lead

My Role

Throughout my four months on this project, I was the UX researcher for the first half and aided in the UI design portion in the final stages of the project. I went into this project blindly, not knowing how to approach the problem statement, but I think it came out just as how we all envisioned it in the end!

Some of my responsibilities included:

✍️ Writing user research plans, conducting interviews with key stakeholders and analyzing this research during our weekly sprints.

🔍 Filtering research to establish key findings in order to being ideating.

🗒 Collecting both generative and evaluative research.

🗣 Presenting design recommendations during weekly sprint demos.

Process

For the purpose of this project, I will highlight my process in week 2, Week 4 and Week 5. I have simplified the timeline below as 2 weeks for each sprint.

Research outcome

My research resulted in…

• A discovery of user pain points.

• Understanding of limitations for train service providers.

• Prototype that is currently being built (both a physical component and digital component to accomplish its functionality).

Field study

The purpose of this study was to collect observational research, and pose questions to passengers to uncover additional information. This data also helped to create personas. Our team split into three sections, to cover different cities in varying population. The three stations that were chosen were, Toronto Go Station, Kitchener VIA Rail station and Stratford VIA Rail station.

Key Insights

Based on primary research conducted, I concluded that user pain points were mainly from…

• Unpredictability

• Lack of control

• Lack of Transparency

These factors became a major cause of anxiety for passengers. Upon further investigation, I came across the Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs for passengers. This was later validated through one-on-one interview with Kevan Marshall, the lead for public engagement for the ION light-rail in the city of Waterloo.

Based on the brief that was chosen, the book “Joyful” by Ingrid Fee Lee was recommended. It was clear that there were many elements that one could use to experience this. Additionally, our secondary research concluded that the use of colour, light, and aspects of the environment can evoke particular emotions. One element that was integrated into our final solution, was the element of surprise.

Interviews and Journey Mapping

As mentioned above, I conducted an interview with Kevin Marshall, the lead for public engagement for the ION light-rail in the city of Waterloo. The purpose of the interview was to consult with an expert in the field, as the system was recently implemented.

While discussing the implementation of the light rail in the system, Kevan had a wealth of knowledge about surrounding and existing train service providers. One key takeaway was about VIA Rail’s limitations. Kevan explained “The CEO of VIA Rail made it clear that based on their service, they are unable improve the trains, unable to control delays, however, the one things VIA rail aims to do, is to improve customer experience.

It was clear based on our pre-existing information that experience cannot be achieved, if the essential tiers are not accomplished. This played a huge role when we began to solution. Alongside this, I decided to start mapping out different user types, which we labelled as “musters” and “lusters”. Musters being the users that may rely on the train on a frequent basis. Lusters are occasional or recreational users.

Solution

Our team decided that it may work in our benefit to focus on building upon a pre-existing invention. Based on unanimous decision, we decided to narrow our focus to seating. Our team decided to engage in creative activities such as crazy 8’s. This helped us brainstorm ideas, and integrate them into our final product.