Toronto Pearson Information Kiosks
User Research
Accessible & Inclusive Design
Product Design
Information Architecture
600K+
pageviews Oct 2022-2023
90,000
sessions Oct 2022-2023
3
person design team
Overview
Toronto Pearson's existing wayfinding kiosks had reached their end of life, and the Greater Toronto Airport Authority (GTAA) had multiple goals for new kiosks. Our 3-person team needed to expand the user experience beyond wayfinding, by driving traffic to shops & services, enhance the customer support experience with video and audio calls to Passenger Support Reps, provide travellers with customized flight information, and allow GTAA the flexibility to deploy new capabilities over the next 5 years.
You are always incredibly thorough and come to each session solution and client oriented. I always appreciate how you have considered all possibilities and come prepared to present your opinion and provide us guidance as we work through pros and cons of each possible outcome.
Research Phase
Covid-19 impacted on our ability to perform the user research that would be completed for a project of this complexity. Reduced passenger volume, social distancing, and concerns about distorted data required creative solutions by our team.
With no direct access to travellers, we explored every avenue to collect qualitative information on people who had interacted with the airport. Online reviews, news articles, and social media posts identified pain points around wayfinding and other areas that we could address within the kiosk.
We were very lucky to discover a treasure trove of existing research that had been completed for torontopearson.com. Our team was able to leverage that user research to help fill in gaps that Covid obscured. Additionally, we met weekly with GTAA stakeholders, and combed online feedback to help discover pain points along the passenger journey and apply that knowledge to our information architecture.
Existing Site IA
As torontopearson.com would form the basis of the content used for the kiosk, the team began by creating a detailed information architecture of TorontoPearson.com which would form the base Information Architecture (IA) for the new kiosks. That IA allowed us to develop a detailed picture of the requirements broadly referenced in the business requirements and to highlight the incredible complexity of this project.
The first hint of the complexity we were going to encounter. The Toronto Pearson IA.
The business objectives were to provide an enhanced kiosk which would provide customer support, along with wayfinding, detailed flight information, additional information about airport services and processes. We also integrated with the Sitecore platform allowing GTAA to maintain the website and kiosk from a single source. Any edits made to shared content would be instantly reflected on the website and kiosk.
Personas
As Covid-19 prevented us from collecting direct user feedback, we incorporated 7 traveller archetypes previously developed for torontopearson.com. We understood that end-users of an airport can be anyone, so we developed an additional 3 personas which focused on edge cases. This allowed us to repeatedly consider the impact of our decisions on these rarer traveller's personas. The team's experiences with airports also proved helpful and helped us to avoid biases in our assumptions. I had travelled regularly, where one of my teammates had never flown.
Our 3 personas; Julia, Lily, and Naresh.
Design Principles
Our design principles were defined from business requirements, stakeholder interviews, and torontopearson.com itself. These were helpful in discussions with GTAA, where referencing the design principle would help us explain our thinking to GTAA.
Visually consistent with the website, but designed for the medium.
Encourage browsing with No dead ends
No personal information or transactions.
Increase visibility to retail, food, and other services.
Aim for an omnichannel experience
Remember the ergonomics and accessibility.
Research Synthesis
The business requirements set a very broad scope for the projects goals. Our research allowed us to narrow this down to 12 key flows that would be carried over from torontopearson.com to the kiosk.
With a tight timeline, the team held workshops with GTAA to better prioritize the individual components of key pages as well as the broader flows. From these sessions we broke the project into 2 phases, prioritizing key passenger features such as flight information on a shorter timeline. Secondary flows such as detailed POIs, video/audio calls would be released later. While a difficult discussion with stakeholders, this allowed us to deliver the initial release in the original timeline.
One of the 12 flows implemented on the kiosk.
Ideation Phase
Wireframing
The team individually explored ideas, encouraging divergent concepts. From these concepts we developed a unified wireframe concept working in conjunction with GTAA stakeholders.
Design System
Given the large number of screens that needed to be designed, across two orientations along with English and French. Developing a shared design system was necessary to reduce errors and minimize manual updates. As our first experience with Atomic Design methodology, it allowed our team to efficiently update multiple components thanks to its in-built modularity.
One issue we encountered was determining if a one-off element should be included in the design system. As we worked through the design, those one-off elements would regularly be reused elsewhere. This required rework once we created the shared component and replaced the old instances with the new. Multiple Adobe XD plugins were tried to automate this process, but none worked well or consistently enough to be used.
A sample of the kiosk's design system.
Accessibility and Ergonomics
The physical nature of the kiosk informed multiple design decisions throughout, as we worked to ensure that ergonomics and accessibility were a key component of the user experience, especially with a large 55" display. Passengers shouldn't have struggle to interact with the primary navigation, so we placed key elements in the eye line and easy reach of an average traveller. For passengers using wheelchairs, the height of the 55" would make the UI impossible to reach. To address this, we designed a reduced height mode where the UI is displayed below 1.2 metres, This allows people in wheelchairs or of short stature to be able to reach all the user interface elements of the kiosk on either the 55" or 32" kiosks.
A multi-touch capable infrared touch frame allows passengers with prosthetic limbs (and gloves) to easily interact with the displays. Blind and visually impaired users were supported with a screen zoom function along with a built-in screen reader with an accessible keypad for navigating. Every interaction with the kiosk was supplemented with a visual and audible confirmations of their successful touch or interaction.
Our design team worked closely with the developers to design and implement an accessible interface that met over 120 regulated requirements.
Reduced height mode activated.
Conclusion
The development of Toronto Pearson's new passenger information kiosks has been a journey of creative problem-solving, collaboration, and dedication to enhancing the passenger experience. Despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, our 3-person team successfully navigated through the complexities of this project, working closely with GTAA stakeholders to meet a multitude of objectives.
Our team's dedication to innovation and user-centered design has culminated in a kiosk experience that not only meets the diverse needs of Toronto Pearson's passengers and delivered 600k+ page views with 90,000+ sessions for the 12-month period ending in October 2023.
Toronto Pearson's new kiosks are more than just a tool for navigation; they are a gateway to a seamless and inclusive travel experience, reflecting the commitment of GTAA and our team to elevate every step of the passenger journey. We are excited to see the positive impact these kiosks will have on travellers, providing them with essential information, support, and convenience as they embark on their journeys.
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