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Reimagining disruption communication: The journey from Nexus Alpha to the Rainbow Board

Reimagining disruption communication: The journey from Nexus Alpha to the Rainbow Board

Reimagining disruption communication: The journey from Nexus Alpha to the Rainbow Board

04 min read | Last updated: 04 August 2024

My Role

Lead UX designer

Timeline

5 months

Status

Shipped

What I delivered

User research | UI/UX design | Prototyping |
Usability testing | Strategy sessions

Introduction

If you’ve visited the website of any UK train operating company, such as Avanti West Coast, GWR, SWR, or Gatwick Express, you might have encountered a component like the one shown below. We used to call it “The Nexus Alpha”. Usually found in the top of the navigation. The name comes from the API, Nexus Alpha, which provides the data for this feature. The idea was simple…

Give users a high-level update on the disruptions happening in the network that day.

User pain points

Contextual Confusion: Nexus Alpha component caused confusion due to lack of context. For example


If there is a major disruption in Glasgow, the Nexus Alpha would show red alert even if the user is traveling to Manchester which is a different route and that journey is unaffected by the disruption in Glasgow.


Frequent False Alarms: Due to common daily disruptions in the UK railway, Nexus Alpha frequently displayed red or yellow indicators on the homepage, even when most trains were running on time. This led people to believe that Avanti West Coast always had disruptions.

I spent two days at London Euston station to ensure the efficacy and user-friendliness of this feature, I identified several issues with the Quick Buy feature..

1. User Understanding and Satisfaction: While most users recognise Quick Buy as a simple ticket purchasing option, they require detailed information such as ticket type, travel time, and price before finalising their purchase.

2. Control and Customisation: Users want control over travel details, including the number of travellers, adding railcard, and seat preferences.

3. Price Assurance: Price-conscious users are hesitant to use Quick Buy without confirmation that it offers the cheapest or most suitable option, leading them to compare prices manually.

I spent two days at London Euston station to ensure the efficacy and user-friendliness of this feature, I identified several issues with the Quick Buy feature..

1. User Understanding and Satisfaction: While most users recognise Quick Buy as a simple ticket purchasing option, they require detailed information such as ticket type, travel time, and price before finalising their purchase.

2. Control and Customisation: Users want control over travel details, including the number of travellers, adding railcard, and seat preferences.

3. Price Assurance: Price-conscious users are hesitant to use Quick Buy without confirmation that it offers the cheapest or most suitable option, leading them to compare prices manually.

Initial Solution

So we decided to remove it from our homepage with the hypothesis that our new Live train times & travel information component will be enough for people to know about disruption based on their journey.

I spent two days at London Euston station to ensure the efficacy and user-friendliness of this feature, I identified several issues with the Quick Buy feature..

1. User Understanding and Satisfaction: While most users recognise Quick Buy as a simple ticket purchasing option, they require detailed information such as ticket type, travel time, and price before finalising their purchase.

2. Control and Customisation: Users want control over travel details, including the number of travellers, adding railcard, and seat preferences.

3. Price Assurance: Price-conscious users are hesitant to use Quick Buy without confirmation that it offers the cheapest or most suitable option, leading them to compare prices manually.

I spent two days at London Euston station to ensure the efficacy and user-friendliness of this feature, I identified several issues with the Quick Buy feature..

1. User Understanding and Satisfaction: While most users recognise Quick Buy as a simple ticket purchasing option, they require detailed information such as ticket type, travel time, and price before finalising their purchase.

2. Control and Customisation: Users want control over travel details, including the number of travellers, adding railcard, and seat preferences.

3. Price Assurance: Price-conscious users are hesitant to use Quick Buy without confirmation that it offers the cheapest or most suitable option, leading them to compare prices manually.

Stakeholder pain points

Upper management expressed concerns about removing Nexus Alpha from the homepage. They emphasised the importance of transparency about disruptions and the potential issues that could arise from not being transparent which was a valid point.

However, we didn't want to create another version of existing Nexus Alpha, similar to the numerous variations of Deadpool. Therefore, we decided to reimagine Nexus Alpha ✨

I spent two days at London Euston station to ensure the efficacy and user-friendliness of this feature, I identified several issues with the Quick Buy feature..

1. User Understanding and Satisfaction: While most users recognise Quick Buy as a simple ticket purchasing option, they require detailed information such as ticket type, travel time, and price before finalising their purchase.

2. Control and Customisation: Users want control over travel details, including the number of travellers, adding railcard, and seat preferences.

3. Price Assurance: Price-conscious users are hesitant to use Quick Buy without confirmation that it offers the cheapest or most suitable option, leading them to compare prices manually.

I spent two days at London Euston station to ensure the efficacy and user-friendliness of this feature, I identified several issues with the Quick Buy feature..

1. User Understanding and Satisfaction: While most users recognise Quick Buy as a simple ticket purchasing option, they require detailed information such as ticket type, travel time, and price before finalising their purchase.

2. Control and Customisation: Users want control over travel details, including the number of travellers, adding railcard, and seat preferences.

3. Price Assurance: Price-conscious users are hesitant to use Quick Buy without confirmation that it offers the cheapest or most suitable option, leading them to compare prices manually.

Final Solution

Spoiler Alert: This is that kind of solution that was not born in an office table.

While commuting on the London Underground, I noticed how the route map uses colour-coded lines to indicate disruptions clearly. Inspired by this, I realised Avanti could adopt a similar approach to provide clearer information to users.

Based on our route map we divided routes into 6 which goes to major cities. All 6 routes are named by the cities and will be colour coded for people to easily recognise the lines. When we presented the concept to upper management they loved the idea so much with love they called it, “The Rainbow Board”

As the rainbow board should be positioned in the top fold of the homepage we agreed upon combining rainbow board with the Live Train Status component making it more useful than ever. This allows people to see overall disruptions in the network and they also can search for specific routes and times to see if their journey is effected or not.

Early testing

With 200 respondents we conducted an online usability test and asked them what do they think about Rainbow board. We were particularly interested in knowing did people understand Rainbow Board in one glance, is it catching their attention, is the information useful.


Usability test insights

  • The overall feedback was positive.

  • 89% of people understood what the heading and the information inside the drop down mean.

  • 79% of people knew what to do next, if they couldn’t find the destination they are looking for inside the drop down.

  • 40% of people felt the text was small on mobile, so we increased the size from 14px to 16px on mobile.

Impact

Rainbow Board originally launched as a web project, as the solution itself was loved by so many people and stakeholders. Due to its success, Rainbow Board will be integrated into the ARRAKIS app, allowing frontline staff to use it for informing people about disruptions.

Additionally, Rainbow Board will be featured across various web platforms, mobile apps, and even on screens inside Avanti West Coast trains.

Individuals within the sample performed tested two core functionalities (Quick Buy and All Destinations) of the TVM and through the administration of a questionnaire, insights and feedback were collected alongside their emotional, cognitive and behavioural responses.

By re-designing Quick buy feature in Avanti’s ticket vending machines across UK, Avanti achieved the following,

  1. Customer satisfaction of 4.3/5

  2. System Usability Scale 84/100

  3. Quick Buy feature is approximately 8.3% better in usability compared to the All Destination Search

  4. By commuters 83% rated AWC's TVMs as better or significantly better.

Individuals within the sample performed tested two core functionalities (Quick Buy and All Destinations) of the TVM and through the administration of a questionnaire, insights and feedback were collected alongside their emotional, cognitive and behavioural responses.

By re-designing Quick buy feature in Avanti’s ticket vending machines across UK, Avanti achieved the following,

  1. Customer satisfaction of 9.1/10

  2. System Usability Scale 84/100

  3. Quick Buy feature is approximately 8.3% better in usability compared to the All Destination Search

  4. By commuters 83% rated AWC's TVMs as better or significantly better.

More case studies

Quick buy redesign for ticket vending machines led to customer satisfaction of 4.3/5

The improvements focused on user control, detailed information, and a seamless experience, significantly enhancing usability and user trust

Read case study

Avanti expects 55% boost with Train Time Table redesign

Redesign includes color-coded status, key info highlights
and more

Read case study

Interested in working
with me?

nithin103@gmail.com

If you loved my work please feel free to contact me through my email. I usually respond within a day.

LinkedIn

Instagram

Dribbble

Made with music and loads of chai

Back to top

Interested in working
with me?

If you loved my work please feel free to contact me through my email. I usually respond within a day.

nithin103@gmail.com

LinkedIn

Instagram

Dribbble

Made with music and loads of chai

Back to top

Interested in working
with me?

If you loved my work please feel free to contact me through my email. I usually respond within a day.

nithin103@gmail.com

LinkedIn

Instagram

Dribbble

Made with music
and loads of chai

Back to top