Briteyellow had the technology. What they needed was product direction.
Briteyellow had developed sophisticated indoor positioning, AR navigation and dynamic routing technology, with ambitions to transform how people navigate train stations. But the product was being shaped primarily by what the technology could do, rather than what passengers actually needed.
I stepped in as Head of Design, taking responsibility for design direction across the product, build capability and helping the team move from a technology-first mindset to a human-centred one aligning the tchnology with real user needs.
My role went beyond designing the interface. I challenged product decisions, shaped the experience strategy, coached a technically strong team in user-centred design, brought in external expertise where needed, and led the team through four rounds of research with older adults.
The result was a clearer product proposition, a redesigned end-to-end experience and a stronger foundation for commercial adoption, contributing to six commercial bids with Transport for Wales and a further ten stations in the UK pipeline
*This project began as part of the RCA Design Age Institute programme, where I supported five organisations to build design capability and make better product decisions. Briteyellow was one of the companies where I stepped in more deeply, taking on the role of Head of Design.
Outcomes
• Secured six commercial bids secured with Transport for Wales
• Ten additional UK stations in pipeline for rollout
• App redesigned, end-to-end across full-day research workshops
• Future design and research budget formally allocated within the Briteyellow team
• Praised for inclusivity and innovation within a traditionally conservative industry
What I did
• Set design and product direction across the app and service experience
• Stepped in as Head of Design, providing senior design leadership across three collaborating teams
• Challenged product and commercial decisions where technology, brand or business priorities were getting ahead of user needs
• Built user-centred capability within a highly technical team through coaching, workshops and research
• Led four rounds of user research with older adults and translated findings into product decisions
• Directed external design support, including agency selection and specialist AR/UX capability
• Defined the experience architecture, MVP priorities and design principles
• Managed design risk and dependencies against accelerated commercial deadlines
Briteyellow's strategic business goal was to get their solution adopted nationwide by every operator. The first objective, was to build a business case for the Department of Transport Wales, and the Rail Delivery Group.
The challenge wasn't the technology. It was what we were building around it.
Briteyellow had strong technical capability and an ambitious proposition. But several things were pulling the product in different directions:
• The experience was being driven by technical possibilities rather than user needs.
• Three software platforms created inconsistent interactions and competing patterns.
• Stakeholder relationships were strained and decision-making was becoming fragmented.
• The commercial opportunity created an accelerated timeline.
• The team had limited experience in UX, user research and inclusive design.
I needed to create enough clarity for the team to make good product decisions quickly, without slowing down the commercial opportunity.
Designing to improve lives of the older adults and the vulnerable
Briteyellow were keen to move fast. Together we drafted a project plan covering contractual milestone deliverables, design activities, allocated budgets, and signed agreements, giving both RCA & Briteyellow teams the clarity to move quickly without losing sight of what we were trying to achieve. To succeed, we needed to gain momentum fast in the first four weeks.
Briteyellow had strong engineering capability, but limited experience in product design, user research and brand.
I was responsible for identifying what capability was missing and finding the right external support. We issued six briefs and interviewed three agencies.
The team initially favoured an agency with a strong brand strategy focus. I challenged the decision.
The immediate problem wasn't how Briteyellow looked. It was whether the product worked.
I argued that product experience, usability and accessibility needed to come first, with brand development following from a stronger product proposition. The team agreed, and we adjusted the scope to bring greater UX focus into the programme while adding specialist AR capability later.
This was an important shift in how design was perceived: from a layer applied to the product, to something that should shape the product itself.
Assembling Team Roles
With time used to get external support signed and on board, we were now under tighter deadlines! To help, our approach included both face-to-face and online interactions, alongside prescheduled design and user research workshops. I implemented weekly catch-ups across all three teams and continuous dialogue to ensure progress.
Project Plan
The technology was ahead of the experience
Before designing anything, I audited the existing product and mapped the experience from the passenger's perspective.
The technology was impressive. The experience wasn't.
Technical language, fragmented navigation and inconsistent interactions made the product difficult to understand. For someone already anxious about navigating an unfamiliar station, the experience added cognitive load rather than reducing it.
Initial testing confirmed this. People described the experience as “technical” and “unusable”, with some worried they would get stuck during their journey.
The problem wasn't a missing feature. The problem was that the product had been designed around the system rather than the person using it.
I didn't want to bring users into the process simply to validate decisions we'd already made.
I coached the team through four rounds of research, teaching them how to ask better questions, observe behaviour and separate what users actually experienced from what we assumed they wanted.
A few developed questions driven from the coaching included:
• Tell me a typical situation/scenario where you would want or need to use Briteway?
• What kind of features or key activities would you like the product to prioritise?
• What did you think of the process of using AR?
• How did you find your experience of finding and navigating through all the features?
• Why did you make that action, what was your intention or expectation at that time?
• What barriers do you foresee in using this app more frequently?
Each workshop had a specific purpose:
01 — Understand emotional needs
We explored what older adults needed to feel reassured, empowered and supported when travelling. (This later fed into the brand and product strategy work)
02 — Validate the experience structure
Testing showed the new architecture was clearer, but also uncovered missing information around platform changes, accessibility and journey timing.
03 — Understand audience complexity
We discovered that “older adults” wasn't one homogeneous audience. Independent travellers, people with limited mobility and those travelling with older relatives had very different needs.
This forced the team to make a more deliberate decision about who the MVP was actually for
04 — Test against technical reality
The final round exposed inconsistencies caused by integrating three platforms and reinforced the importance of reliable step-free routing and proactive journey alerts.
The research didn't simply validate the design. It changed what we thought the product needed to be.
With four rounds of research behind us, I moved the team from insight into decision-making.
I introduced a set of practical tools that gave everyone, design, engineering and commercial stakeholders, a shared view of the product.
Personas
I helped the team segment the audience around behaviour rather than simply age, creating a clearer picture of who we were designing for.
Tailored segmentation:"
• Attitude towards travelling & exploring new places
• Home bound VS independent (limited mobility or restricted health)
• Comfort and exposure to new technologies
*Details intentionally blurred
Customer journey mapping
I mapped the journey from planning at home through to navigating the station. This quickly became a shared reference point for identifying risks before build and prioritising the MVP.
*Details intentionally blurred
MVP prioritisation
I facilitated a MoSCoW workshop to separate essential functionality from future opportunities and give the commercial team a clearer phased product story.
*Details intentionally blurred
Experience architecture
I restructured the app around two fundamental user needs:
• Planning a journey
Researching, preparing and understanding the journey before leaving home.
• Making a journey
Navigating the station and responding to changes in real time.The architecture gave the team a much clearer foundation for design and development.
*Details intentionally blurred
The biggest risk wasn't whether we could build the technology. It was whether the different parts of the product would work together for someone using it under pressure.
I used the customer journey, site map and research findings as tools to make these risks visible early. This helped the teams identify:
• Inconsistent UI patterns across platforms
• Duplicated or conflicting information
• Ggaps in accessibility
• Unclear ownership between teams
• Technical dependencies affecting the user journey
• Features that were valuable but not essential to the MVP
Rather than trying to eliminate uncertainty, my role was to make the important risks visible early enough for the team to make better decisions.
The redesign wasn't about making a sophisticated technology easier to understand. It was about making the passenger feel in control.
The new architecture separated journey planning, from real-time navigation when making a jouney, giving users a simpler mental model and a clear starting point. (Pic below).
Across the experience, we introduced:
• Larger touch targets
• Clearer typography
• High-contrast interfaces
• Familiar interaction patterns
• Consistent UI across AR and digital experiences
• Contextual journey information
• Accessibility-focused navigation
• Clearer support and emergency pathways
The visual language also moved away from stereotypical representations of ageing.
The product needed to feel contemporary, capable and trustworthy, a companion rather than a tool for “old people.”
"This is a step forward, a vast improvement on the previous version".
"The whole thing is 100% better and much more user-friendly."
"This feels like a higher standard product."
- Participant quotes
Briteyellow had strong technology but needed a clearer proposition and positioning.
I worked with the leadership team to clarify what Briteyellow stood for, who it was for and how the product should be positioned in a market increasingly focused on accessible and inclusive travel.
This work connected product strategy and brand strategy, ensuring that the proposition we communicated was grounded in the experience we were actually building.
Defining the proposition
During the user workshops, we explored the needs of older passengers alongside the needs of transport operators, balancing the human value of more accessible journeys with Briteyellow's commercial proposition.
This helped shift the narrative from “technology that helps people navigate stations” towards a broader proposition around "confidence, independence and more inclusive travel".
Developing the brand
I guided the development of the brand strategy and visual direction, challenging the team to avoid stereotypical representations of ageing and accessibility.
The identity needed to feel contemporary, optimistic and inclusive, positioning Briteyellow as a technology company creating better experiences for passengers, rather than a product specifically “for old people.”.
Connect brand → product
The brand wasn't designed separately from the product experience.
The principles we established for the brand became a reference point for the product:
- clear rather than technical,
- reassuring rather than paternalistic,
- inclusive without making accessibility feel like an afterthought.
This gave the teams a shared foundation for decisions across the app, AR experience and wider service and helped ensure that what we were promising commercially was reflected in what we were actually designing.
Commercial
6 commercial bids secured with Transport for Wales, with 10 additional UK stations in the pipeline.
Product
An end-to-end redesign of the app and service experience, informed by four rounds of research with older adults.
Team
A technically strong team developed greater capability and confidence in user-centred design, with design and research budget allocated for future work.
Strategic
The product moved from being primarily a demonstration of Briteyellow's technology to a clearer proposition built around the needs of passengers and rail operators.
Stepping into a Head of Design role on a technology-led product reinforced something I now see as central to design leadership:
The most important design decisions often happen before anyone opens Figma.
The real work was creating the conditions for better decisions, challenging assumptions, bringing the right people into the room, giving the team evidence, and creating enough structure to move quickly without losing sight of the user.
Briteyellow didn't need another person to make screens. They needed someone to connect technology, user needs, design and commercial reality, and give the team the confidence to make decisions.
That was my role.
