We worked closely with the city’s transport agency to develop a customer experience strategy that would encourage a car-centric culture to engage with alternative modes of transport.
The key mission of this project was to better connect Aucklanders with their city and each other through public transport, walking and cycling. To inform its many newcomers on how to explore, and to encourage adventures within it.
The design process we undertook had two key stages: to firstly understand how Aucklanders navigated the city across all modes of transportation, and then secondly the development of a portfolio of customer experiences from physical spaces to digital tools that would attract new users and enhance existing users experience of exploring and travelling across it.
A series of research interviews with customers, staff and stakeholders allowed us to land on a set of key learnings, from which we translated into an opportunity portfolio for enhanced customer experience.
To create a sense of a coherent public transport system we developed the banner AT Metro to be used across all PT services and touchpoints. This intentionally distanced the PT service from other AT services and gave the PT service a distinctive identity and voice.
The new information system was built of five key elements: a navigational model of the city that was simple and easy to remember; a city-wide naming convention that borught clarity and consistency to a previously fragmented naming convention; a unified cross-city, cross-agency mapping resource that enabled all users to source a map that meet their agency needs from ‘one’ master mapping database while simultaneously delivering consistent mapping language for all users; a recognisable wayfinding graphic language convention across all touchpoints to simplify user comprehension and a range of physical and digital assets to ensure the system is present within the environment and always within hands-reach of all users.
We identified that in order for AT to connect with its customers, we needed to really delve into what Aucklanders were experiencing at that time. Through a wide range of interviews, field observations, shadows, public workshops and self-set travel missions, we created a set of powerful user insights.
These insights informed an end-to-end customer journey strategy and framework, with pain points and opportunities identified. To bring this to life we developed a set of assets that helped AT better understand and connect with the wide range of users in an engaging way including clear user profiles that we could size and communicate simply.
Armed with these new insights, we were able to design a holistic information architecture and system with the tools and artefacts needed to enable better navigation across all modes of transport throughout Auckland.
We created a branding system that integrated all modes of transport under the banner of AT Metro so as to better communicate to Aucklanders that there was an integrated public transport system they could use. Prior to this, the system was delivered by independent branded operators.
A key part of that information system we created was a wayfinding language and system that integrated the different travel modes of car, bus, train and ferry into a strongly recognisable language including iconography, a central mapping database, colour, typography, form factor, location, scale and hierarchy which could deliver consistent guidance to the right users in the right context at the right time.
Through rounds of in-context user testing and design iteration, we were able to test the thinking, reduce risk and codify a system that better connected Aucklanders with both their transport services and place – from bus stops, train stations, ferry terminals to cycling and pedestrian pathways.
The system has now been rolled out across the city and now is the foundation of city-wide navigation and public transport user experience.
We engaged the public through a series of co-creation workshops to better understand the current mental models they have along with the wayfinding strategies they used to navigate their city.
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