Design step 2 - Parallel design

For the second part of the design step we split into two groups, we were given the same pain point with the goal to create a design centered around it. The chosen pain point was: Being unsure on what exit to take. We gave it about 40 minutes before sitting down to compare the designs. To our surprise, both managed to create very similar designs, both featuring an application with some modification to the station.

Low-fi prototypes of both designs

Both groups had used the existing SL-app as a base for the design and then expanded on it. With the pain point being what exit to take, we had the idea of colouring or assigning a letter to the exit so that when looking at your planned route, you could easily see what exit to take. Using colours to distinguish between the exits allowed us to use the already existing "T" that people are used to seeing. As it is something familiar to the user and as such, takes little getting used to.

When it came to making changes to the actual station we were basically on the same page yet again, changing the signs to reflect what exit they point at (pink, grey, blue, A, B). One group also had the addition of arrows on the ground that you could follow to the exit. The visibility and if it's easy to find your arrow when there's a lot of exits or on a crowded platform is something to consider.

Detailed exposition of the design progress in group 1

First we considered the situation when a traveller arrives at a platform, and tries to figure out where to go.

We noted that there are signs at the ends and in reasonable intervals along the platforms. These signs describe the exits by street name and occasionally also by important locations in the direction of the exit. Unfortunately these are often insufficient e.g. if the traveller is heading to a parallel street or further away.

The most straightforward improvement would be to add a longer list of streets and locations for each exit. It occurred to us that sometimes travellers don't know any of the nearby street names but only which general direction they want to exit. It therefore seemed appropriate to have maps rather than signs naming streets.

Each of these maps would show all the exits and the nearby surrounding area. Nearby streets and important locations could also be named in the map.

The exits marked in the maps should be colour-coded, perhaps using textures or multiple colours each to make them unique and distinctive. These distinctive colours could then be used to mark or point to exits throughout the station.

Distinctive arrows could be put at each intersection, or lines could be drawn all along the floor. It was noted that floor lines could be obscured during rush hour. It was also noted that coloured arrows could be confusing if seen by themselves without a map, but this did not seem like a major issue since maps would be at all entrances and at intervals on the platforms. Furthermore, in places where there's no place for a map, where today there's only a sign that names the street the exit opens up to, in those places the same street could be named in addition to the colour coding of the sign.

Next we considered the situation before a traveller arrives at a platform — ideally they want to exit the train onto the platform nearby to the exit they want off the platform, and for that they need to know where they should position themselves in the train well before arriving at the platform. The best time to make use of this information is before entering the train, while waiting for the train to arrive.

It seemed unreasonable to have all this information displayed statically at each station, i.e. all stations having the map described above for their exits, as well as those maps for every other station on the line (and connecting lines). It did however seem possible to have this information in a dynamic application.

To investigate this we looked at an existing SL schedule app. The app, much like the SL webpage, lets you input start and target destinations, along with planned starting time for the journey, and then it shows you a chronology of evens: Walking to the nearest relevant station, what line to take, when the train will arrive, how long the journey will be, which station to exit on.

In the existing layout of the app it seemed fitting to add a suggested wagon to board (i.e. which end of the train, or sometimes middle). Another good addition would be on the exit station to say which colour-coded exit to head for.

The app lets the user see more detailed information about some items in the chronology by tapping an expansion arrow on such items. Continuing this interface the indication for which wagon to take could be an iconified train with three wagons (as seen from the platform), with the recommended wagon to take marked. For new users who don't understand this icon an expansion arrow could be tapped to show an explanation.

If there was a way to measure real-time seat-availability and/or general crowding in the wagons, this information could be used to improve the wagon recommendations.

We realised that navigating by colour-codes rather than Swedish street names would be especially useful for tourists. Unfortunately tourists would be especially unlikely to have an SL route app. This could be solved by having tourist information at station entrances together with WiFi enabled downloading of the app, or by placing touch-screen interfaces to the app on stations.