Are virtual holographic assistants of value?

Our local station, Kings Cross, now has one of these holographic assistants reminding people not to take heavy luggage up the escalators but to use the lift instead.

You will note that just to the right, at the bottom of the escalator, is a sign giving the same message. That sign has been there since the station reopened and, we can assume, has not had any impact on people carrying luggage on the escalators and presumably on accident rates.  So they have decided to add to it with this more visible solution.  (this was also picked up by The Guardian)

These holographic assistants have become more common place since we first saw them at Luton Airport a few years ago.

We think the lessons for their use are much clearer now. The main point that they are not a replacement for a real person and should never be used as such.

What they do provide is a different channel to communicate information in a way that can attract attention. In this case, and the same when used to prepare passengers for airport security areas, they deliver information in a way that makes us notice it...at least for a while. This is good in places where static signage is not very noticeable, perhaps because of the complexity of the environment, and is clearly ignored.

The design challenge is probably reflected in the need to regularly vary the way in which this same information is presented as we become desensitised to each approach.

This should include the use of more playful solutions, which we have highlighted a number of times on this blog.  Although designed as a promotion for the Simpsons movie*, you could argue that this was a great way to draw peoples attention to the end of the escalator and improve safety.

* actually it looks like this was never used as an actual advert and the escalators in the movie was created by a street artist in Frankfurt.

The Olympics and designing for the visitor experience

Visiting the Olympic Park and other venues for the Olympics and the Paralympics, a clear winner was how brilliantly managed they have been from the visitor perspective.  What lessons might be learned for airports, railway stations or other public spaces?

The main pitfall that was avoided was long queues.  There was much in the press before the games about the likelihood of long queues at venues (and at the airports!) especially for security.  But those fears were unfounded.  The uncomfortable truth for other organisations is that this was because of the level of human resources that were deployed at manning gates and security areas etc.  With lots of gates and lines in operation, the throughput of people has been sufficient to have almost no queing.  The Olympics were obviously able to draw about a vast army of volunteers in the wonderful Games Makers as well as the armed forces (and G4S!) for the security areas.  More commercial organisations do not have these resources which is why there is currently a drive in airports, supermarkets, etc for self-service.

However the second truth is that the experience for visitors in using the venues has been enhanced by the fact that the security areas and gates and other points of potential congestion have been manned by real people. As visitors, we often don't actually want to interact with a machine (whose usability has probably been poorly designed anyway) - kiosks and other devices offer a second best option.

The other key for the Olympics is that those people have been enthusiastic, welcoming, happy and a joy to interact with.  Again, this is difficult for operators in airports etc: the Games Makers and other Olympic staff were highly motivated, part of an experience themselves and only had to maintain their levels of positivity for a few weeks.

But both of these show the difference that can be made to the passenger/visitor experience if there is still interaction with real people and those people are positive and helpful.  A real challenge for a day-to-day service delivery.

Railway stations as a destination

At the recent Railway Terminal Conference in Vienna, the focus was on what can railway stations learn from airports and how can the passenger experience be enhanced?  It is clear that railway stations, at least the mainline stations, have come a long way from being the dirty, unattractive places of years ago.  With the opening of St Pancras International and the new King's Cross concourse in London, the integration of iconic architecture and historic buildings are providing wonderful spaces to start or end journeys.

But many of the speakers at the conference suggested that the next step was to make railway stations a destination in their own right rather than just part of a journey.  Making them more meaningful in terms of their place in the city - something that airports can't achieve.  The intent is to bring more people into the station who actually don't get on a train.

But there was little insight into how this improved the passenger experience.  Making stations a "destination" seems to translate into different and varied "commercial offers" - i.e. shopping.  Whether its eating and drinking or buying stuff, this seems to be what the operators want (you can see the financial rationale!).

What this seems to fail to acknowledge is that this adds little value to the travelling passenger.  In fact the risk of all these shoppers and retail outlets cluttering up the stations seems to be significant.

What was totally absent from the discussion, was how you enhance the door to door experience of the railway passenger.  Not much has changed in this area other than being able to buy tickets in advance on-line.

Where is the innovation?  Next door at the airport Passenger Terminal Expo, everything was about changing the experience of for the passenger.  Sure there was plenty about retail but loads more about self-service check-in, bag drop,  security, boarding etc.  In other words doing things differently.

So what can the railway industry do to enhance the passenger experience other than designing majestic stations?

Cable Car for London

Naked promotion of one of our current projects but we thought some might be interested to see the videos of the cable car that is coming to London next year





We have been appointed to provide human factors to the Mace design team under URS/Scott Wilson

New uses for railway stations

We've talked in this blog and in press articles about the potential for using station buildings or buildings near station for community or commercial uses - in part to promote better security by having more activity going on in or around the station.

And here is a great example from Edge Hill station in Liverpool where a disused building in the station has been put to use as an art gallery: www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-10937574

Our Top 10 Station Hates

Working on a number of station design projects prompted some lunch-time discussion at CCD on what we hate about stations - remembering we are all commuters as well as designers!  So here is our Top 10 hates about stations.

1. The way the design of stations means that groups of people congregate, with all their luggage, in the same place as the main flow of people moving through the station. A difficult issue to sort!
 
2. The location of equipment, in particular ticket machines and information boards, that encourage people to stop and gather again blocking some of the flows of people. This is avoidable.
 
3. The dreadful usability of some ticket machines - they are slow and the touchscreens unresponsive; they use non-QWERTY keyboards making entry of destination information etc harder
 
4. Why do ticket machines give so little information on things like fare types? Saying "this ticket has restrictions" is no help to anyone.  A simpler fare structure would help too.
 
5. Queues for ticket machines and windows - more ticket machines are helping but doesn't stop us hating the queues
 
6. We understand that ticket gates are necessary for revenue protection but their reliability, especially at peak times, is a hate - the frequency with which tickets are not accepted raises the annoyance factor for all and is really embarassing for those stuck with the dud ticket.  A stress we could do without

7. Why is signage so often unhelpful for those not in the know?  For example, signs directing you to either an eastbound or westbound service assumes some knowledge of the local geography
 
8. Where the revenue from advertising and retail comes before wayfinding - sticking adverts in front of information signs is a biggie; or sticking useless signs telling you to "take care" just where you can trip over them.
 
9. Toilets that are poor quality AND you have to pay extra to use - the new minimum standards should help this
 
10. Why is the level of information provided when things are going wrong so poor? Operators try hard but it never seems good enough - and a pre-recorded apology doesn't do much to help. Better ways to disseminate information AND more meaningful information please (no more "operational difficulties")

 
Now, we'd like to think that we're a bunch of people who want to look positively and get involved in the solution not just rant about problems for others to sort - the discussion suggested we've got some work to do!

What do you think about UK stations and what needs fixing?  Or better still, what do you love that we need to do more of?

It's the small details that count as well in good station design

To work, stations must provide key elements such as a layout that allows passenger flow and facilities to an appropriate standard.  However, to deliver passenger satisfaction it is also the small details that count. 

King’s Cross Station is currently being redeveloped and CCD are involved in providing the human factors support to the programme.  When going to the King's Cross project offices on site we have to walk past Platform 9¾ as made famous by the Harry Potter series of stories and films.  Fans of the series will know that Platform 9¾ at King's Cross is the point where Harry Potter and his friends can board the Hogwart’s Express to attend Hogwart’s School of Witchcraft and Wizadry.

While the series and platform are fictional, a real life sign and trolley has been installed in the station close to the entrance to the real Platform 9.

Providing this, and ensuring that it remains in place during the development (it has been moved and there are signs directing visitors to its new location), is a small detail but one which will enhance the use of King's Cross for thousands of tourists and visitors to the station.  

Stand near it for any length of time and you'll see just how many fans come to have their photograph taken as they too run through the wall.

How will HS2 impact on station design?

The announcement by the Government to proceed with High Speed 2 and place its main station at Euston raises some interesting questions about how the station will be redesigned to accommodate this.

The masterplan being developed by Terry Farrell / Arup will be looking at how to deal with the huge trains coming and going but one of the main issues will be how will the station manages the numbers of passengers moving through the station.  It is said that HS2 will deliver the equivalent of a 747 jumbo jet's worth of passengers into and out of Euston every 90 seconds!


This will require a radically different approach to wayfinding and moving passengers - possibly separating arrivals and departures as happens as airports.


The design will also have to consider how to move this volume of people to and from the station in this central location - something no railway station in this country has had to manage to date.  This will include the Euston & Euston Square Underground stations and the surrounding street network. 


It's going to be fascinating to see how this massive project can deliver an inspiring station that is still easy to use and welcoming for passengers.

 Terry Farrell & Partner's Masterplan for Euston station