Train tickets – a user-focused redesign

Posted on September 2, 2011 by Nell Johnson

A recent article by the talented information designer Richard Hempsall got the UX team thinking about where exactly User Experience begins and ends. Many would say that UX should focus on computer interactions but after seeing Richard’s article we’re thinking otherwise.

The subject of said article is the humble train ticket – something that we’ve all taken for granted and probably no longer realise what a sorry excuse for information design it really is.

Richard decided to redesign the ticket and approached it in a user-centric way. The rationale was to make the information on the ticket more useful to the customer and separate it from the information that is useful to rail staff.

The result is something that is simple, useful and usable by all. This project perfectly illustrates how user-focused design isn’t necessarily restricted to the online space.

AFTER the redesign