Sound Transit
Everett Link Extension
Client:
Sound Transit
Role:
Lead UX Designer
Project length:
4 weeks
Brief:
Design an online open house website to provide updates on outreach activities and what the Everett Link Extension's team heard. Also provides an opportunity for people to give feedback on alternatives currently under consideration.
The Everett Link Extension (EVLE) will provide fast, reliable connections to residential and job centers throughout the region. The project will travel through the communities of Lynnwood, unincorporated Snohomish County, and Everett.
Overview
I had the opportunity to work closely with the development team and project managers for 4 weeks as a lead UX designer.
My role was to design an online open house website using participate.online - EnviroIssues's online engagement platform to provide people updates about the EVLE project. I planned my own research, created several custom design drafts based on the default template, collaborated with another designer for the creative process, led several meetings with the project managers, and presented the work to the client.
Goal
The main goal of this project was to help people understand the EVLE project and invited them to contribute and give feedback on the alternatives currently under consideration.
Challenge
Because the project has just started, it is not known to many people, so a lot of information needs to be delivered to the users. How might we encourage users to interact and give feedback? and how might we allow users to easily engage and manage their experience on desktop?
In addition, the pre-established template is not very aesthetically pleasing and there are not many options for developing new layouts.
Constraint
Competitors
Solution
To understand community outreach in different contexts, I analyzed the interaction model of other community outreach platforms like Seattle Department of Transportation, Community Transit, and other Sound Transit's community outreach websites.
Identified whom I was designing for helped me understand the needs of proficient users who frequently interact with the site.
While drafting for design solutions, I paid attention to user flows, the connection between content and visuals, and potential UI components to ensure consistency and clarity.
Mind mapping
Style guide
Process
I wanted to design a website where users can learn about upcoming projects that can affect their lives. I explored various design approaches to finding opportunities to make outreach easier.
With those priorities in mind, I created a list of questions that helped me analyze pain points to help shape my ideas. Questions focused on:
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How might I give people high-level information about the project without overwhelming them? and how might I use the UI elements to support the outreach campaign.
I created a number of drafts that I shared with my design team for feedback and also shared updates with my project manager during our weekly check-in and presented my progress at client meetings.
Rough sketches
Form's sketch
Expandable tab's sketch
Wireframes
Final design
Final design
Final design
Final design
Result
I explored a variety of design treatments to find opportunities to make engaging easier.
We received positive feedbacks from people about how informative the site was and they had no trouble navigating around the site.
Lessons learned
It was a great project to help me tackle designs quickly in a short timeframe.
I appreciate the space and flexibility the team has given me. It was a challenge for me to turn an existing template into a more aesthetically pleasing page.
I learned about the importance of giving early and frequent feedback.
I learned to look at the big picture of the project before going into the details. Also, learn from competitors- take what they don't do well to improve them on my site.