Travel San Juan
A Data Driven Environmental Display for travel around the San Juan Islands in the Pacific.
How can a transportation environmental display offer high-readability for travelers while facilitating on-the-go decision making?
Click on image to view full prototype
Why is this a problem?
Users currently have too much overhead in planning trips. There is also a lot of stress associated with finding connections when they are supposed to be on vacation, or need to get to work.
How do we fix this?
Our design helps package travel information while enabling decision making. Travel San Juan display for the Atlantis Transportation Hub:
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Packages travel information based on destinations, and displays it to you to help you plan your journey on the go.
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Highlights that it is easy to navigate, find connections and visit the islands through the PTF pass.
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Targets new customers by inviting them to the display.
Here's what we created
Design Process
Exploring and Structuring the Data
The first step to our design process included analyzing a sample set of transit hub data. We went on to research and identify two types of user personas that would best represent the majority of the users of the display.
Curated for our Personas
We modeled the raw data to list the needs of individual users, to figure out what data they cared about the most. We imagine typical days and needs for our personas and curated the display data based on that.
This was followed by a consolidated model of the categories that highlighted the priorities of our stakeholder and users.
Consolidated Data Model
Sketching and Prototyping
The next step was making quick sketches of how we could represent the data and quickly iterate over multiple ideas. We chose the categories that our clients cared about, and leveraged that as the organizing principle for each of our ideas.
This display would let the user easily visualize their journey. They can view how their needs map to the availability of travel options between destinations.
Based on the user's need of knowing travel times between locations, and a preference for shorter travel times, we arranged travel packages in increasing order of duration.
In this third model, we show how several modes of transportation can be used in concert with one another to get to your preferred destination. We also intended to add a map on the side, to help visualize routes better.
Digitized Sketches
We converted our ideation phase ideas into digital sketches. The three varying ideas gave our stakeholders a framework for constructive comparison. They were able to visualize the data in several different forms and analyze which approach would work the best. We ultimately borrowed elements from these different directions for the final design.
Iterating over digitized sketches
Our next two iterations kept the map in the background, and had cards in the foreground showing convenient routes to nearby islands from their current location. These cards combined with the modes of transportation could be a great way to help visitors navigate the islands.
Final Concept
On further analysis of our design, we realized that our map wasn’t serving a purpose for our display anymore. In our final iteration, we created a card-based representation to show packages in the next 3 hours for each location. The cards move in a carousel style to display all available options. We also decided to add touch interaction as a control to our display.
Digitizing our final design
Taking the geography into consideration, we realized that there is a major opportunity to capitalize on the small location. We modeled the display around destinations, and package ways to get to each island through the flexibility of the PTF pass.
Our display intends to highlight PTF pass journeys, showing the ease of finding connections and make journey decisions through PTF pass. We intend our display to be a planning tool for people looking to find connections and packaged trips.
The alternate gray and white rows on each card shows the packages in the next 3 hours. Each card will move to the center of the display in a rotating style, enlarge, and show detailed information. Users are free to interact with the display to bring up specific locations, and check information.
Branding and Visual Guideline
We designed the logo for the display, and created a clear point of entry for the users. We highlight that the display is intended for PTF pass travel only. Placing the destination on top of each card allows users to easily navigate through and browse for the location they want to go.
Designing a Logo as a Point of Entry
Color Palette
Semantic Zooming
We realize that it is hard for users to read small text on a public display. Showing different representations for different spatial spaces allow the natural processes of human vision to determine focal and peripheral views. Using the concept of semantic zooming, when the cards move away from the center, users see a different representation of the data.
The smaller cards are a minified version of the information on the center card, while still highlighting destinations, connections and modes of transportation. This also plays in with progressive disclosure, and how more information is displayed as cards come into the line of vision.
Animation and Control
The location buttons, the carousel animation, and the change in sizes of the cards as they zoom in and out work together to inform the users that they can interact with the display by either swiping or pressing the buttons.
When pressing the location button, for example, Roche Harbor, the card showing packages to get to Roche Harbor comes to the center of the display.
Click on image to view full prototype
Final Thoughts
We intended to give the design a warm and welcoming feel. This helps attract users to the display in a busy transit hub. Even people who weren’t aware of the PTF program earlier are now educated of how easy it is to plan their trip to the San Juan Islands.
Our design helps increase revenue through attracting a new user base, while pre-packaged travel routes remove the hassle of planning a trip across various modes of transportation. This allows the user to enjoy their trip.