CATEGORIES
Thesis
Product Design
UX/UI
Mobile App
ROLES
UX Researcher
Interaction Designer
Visual Designer
TOOLS
Figma (FigJam, Figma Design)
Google Forms
TIMELINE
September 2025 - April 2026
(8 months)
TEAM
Individual
Context
For many Gen Z commuters in the GTA, the hardest part of taking transit isn't the commute itself; it's the relentless uncertainty that comes with it. Standing on a platform, wondering if you're in the right place. Cross-referencing different apps or websites because you don't fully trust any of them. Arriving somewhere, already mentally exhausted. This project set out to understand why that happens and design something that actually helps, not by making transit faster, but by making it feel less like something you have to survive.
Transit apps get you from A to B, but ignore everything you feel in between.
Public transit in Canada is built for efficiency…not for the people riding it. Apps like Google Maps, Citymapper, Transit, and the GO Transit app/websites focus entirely on logistics: routes, schedules, and arrival times. None of them address the emotional experience of the journey. None of them tell you you're okay. Accurate data, it turns out, is not the same thing as feeling in control.
What the data shows
44.1 mins
Average public transit commute. The longest of any mode of transportation in Canada (Statistics Canada, 2025)
ZERO
Existing apps that address emotional comfort or uncertainty during the transit journey
3+ apps
What most commuters use simultaneously, because no single source can be trusted
But...what if the journey felt different?
How might we design a transit experience that empowers commuters to feel in control, calmer, and mentally supported throughout their journey?
Introducing HOPON: a reassurance first navigation app for GTA transit commuters.
Not just another transit app. HOPON is built around the idea that confidence during commuting doesn't come from better data.
It comes from feeling guided, seen, and supported at every step of the journey. The app combines real-time navigation with proactive reassurance, community-driven updates, and safety tools, all designed for the emotional reality of daily transit.
Key Features of HOPON
HOP - Virtual Assistant
A proactive chat assistant that gives human-toned prompts throughout your journey. A chatbot that also acts as a guide. "You're on the right track! Head towards the Burger King across the bus stop."
Photo-based Navigation
Real photos of station entrances and transfer points, overlaid with directional arrows and step-by-step guidance.
Community Page
Real-time delay reports from other riders. Human-verified, faster than automated schedules, and trusted more than any official source.
Safety Feature
A discreet, always-accessible button available on every screen. No hunting through menus in a stressful moment. Designed to feel like a quiet anchor, there when you need it.
Rewards System
Points (HOPS) earned for every completed trip, redeemable for real-time rewards, including transit fares and partner brands. Making your journey more rewarding.
DISCOVER
Starting with a broad question: what does commuting actually do to people?
I started this project with a wide lens, not on public transit apps, but on transit people. I wanted to understand the mental and emotional weight of commuting before jumping to solutions. This meant reviewing the data, reading the literature, listening to what commuters were already saying online, and gaining insights through surveys.
Understanding the problem before reaching for a solution.
The tools exist. The experience doesn't.
A detailed competitive analysis of transit tools GTA commuters use, including Transit, Google Maps, the GO Transit website, and the GO Transit app. Each tool manages logistics well. None of them addresses what happens emotionally when those logistics fall apart.
No reassurance when a platform changes, or acknowledgment of uncertainty. Only basic accessibility features, like VoiceOver and text scaling, are offered, but there is no support for riders who get nauseated from screen viewing or need alternative formats. This analysis pointed to an underlying issue that went beyond technical features.
The gap wasn't a missing feature. It was a missing perspective entirely.
To understand what that perspective should be, I needed to hear directly from the people living it.
A survey of 14 GTA commuters confirmed what the research suggested, and sharpened it. The primary stressor wasn't delay or distance.
Commuters weren't struggling because transit was slow. They were struggling because they were never quite sure they were doing it right. This single finding reframed the entire design question and pointed directly toward what needed to be built.
10 out of 14
Respondents identified unpredictability and lack of control as their primary sources of stress, not the length of the commute or overcrowding.
DEFINE
Getting in front of real commuters and having my assumptions challenged.
With a clear direction established, the next step was primary research with real transit users. I conducted semi-structured interviews with 11 GTA transit users across two rounds, running card-sorting activities and concept evaluations to pressure-test early ideas. Results were synthesized through thematic analysis, and affinity mapping.
I wanted to validate the research's findings. More importantly, I wanted to find out where I was wrong.
Where my key assumptions fell short
The first round of interviews surfaced something immediately: the mental toll of commuting wasn't primarily emotional; it was cognitive. The relentless effort of managing timing, transfers, and upcoming stops was consuming the mental energy commuters needed for everything else. One participant described their ideal commute as simply being able to "turn off my brain."
The card sorting activity revealed something just as important. Every single participant rejected the idea of a fully guided, all-in-one assistant that would manage their journey for them. Instead, what they wanted was autonomy with a safety net, features they could choose to use when needed, not a system that chose for them.
A second assumption broke just as cleanly. I had expected tools like breathing exercises, ambient sounds, and mindfulness prompts to be the app's core value. However, participants ranked these lowest and instead prioritized safety, real-time situational awareness, and community-generated updates. This revealed that users value practical support over wellness features.
With that realization about user priorities, everything shifted. HOPON would not be a wellness companion, but a confidence-building navigation system.
"I would be too overwhelmed if everything was together." ~ Transit user in GTA
Inspiration behind my design principles
My inspiration came from The New York Times Upshot feature "Can You Stop an Outbreak of a Contagious Disease?"
I was drawn to the way it blended interaction, narrative, and data into one seamless experience. From this, I identified five design principles to guide World of Superstitions:
Scroll-Based Storytelling
Clear, progressive narrative that guides users through insights as they scroll.
Blended Interaction & Narrative
Interactive elements, storytelling, and data work together seamlessly.
Accessible Visuals
Simple, clear visualizations that don't overwhelm users.
Reflective User Experience
Encourage users to pause and reflect on how the data relates to their own beliefs and choices, making the experience personal.
Visual Consistency
Maintain cohesive typography and colour choices across the product to build a unified, professional editorial feel.
So, HOW will users navigate the editorial?
DEVELOP
Colour Palette
Before jumping into the final design, I explored the colour palette to ensure it was both visually cohesive and accessible. I ran the main purple through a contrast checker, which flagged it as inaccessible against a dark background, so I swapped it for a lighter, softer shade that passed.
I repeated this process for the typographic colours as well, ensuring every element met accessibility standards before moving on to the high-fidelity design.
Typography
For both header and body, I chose sans-serif fonts to reflect the modern, editorial feel suited for a Gen Z audience. Greater Theory was selected as the display typeface: a bold, high-contrast all-caps font that pairs well with strong design colours. For body text, I used Outfit, a geometric sans-serif known for its clean lines and balanced structure.
GREATOR THEORY
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVXY
1234567890
Outfit
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
1234567890
Iterating on the Hero Section
During this process, I refined the logo, moving away from "WS" (World of Superstitions) to a separate studio name, "AS", to give the editorial a more authentic, independent feel.
Introducing participant superstition levels through an interactive bar chart
This chart gives users a quick overview of superstition levels, setting the tone for the experience. It was exported from Tableau as an SVG into Figma, where colours, tooltips, filters, and a supporting hover fact were added.
Because Smart Animate did not perform as expected, hover overlays were used to simulate the bars updating in real time.
Exploring participant choices in "Would You Rather" questions through interactive pie charts
This chart highlights trends in participant choices, with filters that update the chart on hover, and a supporting fact that appears when hovering over the emoji.
While feedback suggested using bar charts for clarity, time constraints prevented the update, which I would revisit if given more time.
Adding a Follow Up Prompt
To enhance the experience, I added a reflective prompt immediately after the "Would You Rather" questions, encouraging users to consider how they would have responded.
This created a more personal connection to the data, shifting the experience from passive viewing to active reflection.
Encouraging users to reflect on whether they feel lucky, cursed, neutral, or unsure
I added an emoji filter to make the interaction playful and intuitive. Hovering over each emoji reveals how many participants selected that option, along with additional context and a supporting fact from an external source.
Closing the experience with a call-to-action that encourages reflection and sharing
To end the editorial, I added a CTA section (footer) giving users the chance to reflect on what they explored and share it with others.
DELIVER : FINAL DESIGN
Finally, what did I takeaway from this experience?
Tackling a New Challenge - Tableau
Learned to use an unfamiliar tool to create data visualizations. While it was initially more challenging than familiar design tools like Figma and Adobe, this experience strengthened my ability to work with dynamic data, and translate it into clear, engaging visuals.
Support Exploratory Learning
Focused on creating an experience where users can reflect and discover patterns themselves, avoiding oppressive conclusions or exaggeration.
Design With Purpose, Not Decoration
Minimized unnecessary visual enhancement, ensuring every element supported understanding, and did not distract from the data.
Present Data Responsibly
Designed visualizations to reflect opinions and behaviours rather than definitive facts, using clear labelling, consistent colours, and credible sources to maintain accuracy and trust.
Prioritize User Comprehension
Emphasize clarity and accessibility through clean layouts, strong colour contrast, and a friendly tone to accommodate different levels of chart literacy.
Any next steps?
Refining the Chart Choices
Moving forward, I would invest more time researching which chart types work best for different datasets. If I was given more time, I would replace the pie charts in Chart 2 with a more suitable chart type to improve clarity and better serve the data.
