An ADA accessible railroad icon for Kansas City Southern Rail
Summary
The KCS locomotive planning tool was not ADA accessible, so I redesigned their application leading to many user benefits.
Process
Research → Analysis → Team Alignment & Understanding → Iterate Designs → Deliver New Icon
Research
Stake holder interviews and product demos, revealed the icon was difficult to use.
- Icon failed ADA compliance.
- Icon data wasn't consistently reliable often resulting in additional phone calls.
Every railroad has their own locomotive icon. We were lucky enough to view another locomotive icon that is used regularly. Many of the details it contains have equivalents in the KCS icon.
Analysis
Color Contrast
Where does the current icon fail color contrast?
Icon Deconstructed
The image below breaks down the icon and shows what color combinations are possible in each part of the icon.
Team Alignment and Understanding
User and stakeholder interviews and workshops were conducted to understand how the icon was used.
Synthesis
Prioritize Insights
An activity was preformed to sort different aspects of the icon and how they might be automated, integrated, or preformed manually.
Brainstorm Icon Designs
Our users were very determined for the icon to not change. I designed 3 different icons that were increasingly progressive.
But we don't want a new icon! It works great!
Narrowing the Icon Design
Reducing Visual Complexity
Our users were so thrilled with the most progressive design that they wanted to see more that were more accessible. The following icons build upon the style of the 3rd version presented, but are more visually dense and utilize only 3 colors: green, yellow, and red.
Defining New Capabilities
New capabilities surrounding the icon were explored such as additional details about the locomotive being stored in a modal. This modal solves a few things, but first and foremost it will lead to less phone calls for users double checking the locomotive's status.
If a user clicks the events button on the icon, a modal opens with a detailed list of everywhere the locomotive has been and what event occurred. This can be as simple as a service event or an inspection.
Realization
Axure Prototype
View the final design used for active consist management and planning.
Final Icon Versions
There are 3 different versions of the icon for their varying statuses. In many cases, green means the locomotive is lead qualified and ready to be used. Yellow often indicates that certain sensors or statuses need to be manually checked or confirmed. When a locomotive is in status red, it means that the locomotive has many known issues, is not lead qualified, and probably needs to go to the shop or be inspected. The direction of the locomotive is indicated by the placement of the Lead Qualified (LQ) sector.
New Icon Deconstructed
Unlike the old icon, the new icon utilizes ADA compatible colors and text to clearly communicate the varying statuses of the locomotive. Unlike the old icon, the new icon communicates more in a more clear and scannable way.
A planned shipment has many statuses to indicate its state. This got updated with the new styling. In the icon below, departure time, total number of cars, length, weight, tons covered, etc. Are all clearly communicated to the locomotive planning team.
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