SMRT’s in-train screens are ineffective. Here’s our redesign.

Look, we’ve been here before. Anyone who’s been interested in UX in Singapore has read at least one of the articles dissing the SMRT-operated MRT in-train screens. (If you haven’t, you can read some here, here, and here.)

All this is very well and good, but we’ve decided to go a little further. If the SMRT in-train screens are so ineffectual (which we have to prove), then what would be better? What are the screens that people really need?

Our process

Rather than take the usual “from-designer’s-point-of-view” approach into designing the screens, we tried to understand the needs of commuters through user interviews and contextual inquiry.

In that way, we can understand user needs and better facilitate our decision-making process.

Our users’ environment.

Contextual inquiry/heuristic evaluation

We decided that the best way to start our investigation was with contextual inquiry. This means to actually be a commuter and to see the screens from the commuter’s eyes.

We took the train up and down the North South Line to observe a few things:

• How users react to the screens
• How readable and usable the screens actually are

To answer the second question, we made use of usability heuristics. These are rules of thumb, gathered from previous research and experience, that help us judge quickly if a product is usable. (Nielsen’s ten usability heuristics are probably the best known of these rules.)

User interviews

Heuristics show what we think. But what do the people think?

To find out, we carried out six user interviews. As the MRT is a key transport mode for foreign visitors, we made sure to talk to them too. As they know the least about Singapore, the screens should cater more to their needs.

Some findings

User needs

Our redesign

How it works : From Somerset to Marina South Pier stations