NSB Ticket Machine
NSB (Norwegian State Railways) has transitioned from staffed to non staffed stations on all but the biggest stations. This move leaves the NSB ticket machine as the only way to buy tickets if you do not own a smartphone. At the time of this change the ticket machines were hard to use and did not offer the level of user experience that NSB wanted to offer their travelers.
As lead designer I have been responsible for concept development, information architecture, interaction design, UI design, prototyping and user testing.
2012–2013 in collaboration with Uniform.
Sketching and user testing
As a way to quickly experiment, test and iterate I start the project by working with pen and paper. It enables you to see the big picture and not get caught in the details. When the basic concept and structure is landed I quickly made prototypes to test it out on users to se what works and what needs work. We collaborated with Norges Blindeforbund to make sure that contrast, layouts etc. would make the machine more accessible for people with reduced vision.
By testing in the busy environments where the machines are used we made important discoveries. One example of this was that stressed users struggled to find the various openings for ticket, coins etc. By adding animations as the one below we got vastly beter results.
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By testing in the busy environments where the machines are used we made important discoveries. One example of this was that stressed users struggled to find the various openings for ticket, coins etc. By adding animations as the one below we got vastly beter results.
More screens, less choice
The biggest and most important change we did was to move away from the idea of less clicks = better. By going for the complete opposite we were able to create a streamlined and focused interface that guides the user. In stead of a interface optimized for power users the new interface enables people with low computer skills to operate the machine with confidence.
Old flow
Fewer screens with many options to analyse and choose from on each screen.
Fewer screens with many options to analyse and choose from on each screen.
New flow
More screens, but focused on one task at the time.
More screens, but focused on one task at the time.
Before/after
In 2014 the Ticket machine received the Award for Design Excellence.
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