Elevating the Experience: The Redesigned Escalator for New Users and Senior Citizens(Design Thinking Project)

Have you ever been in a situation where you felt embarrassed/anxious about moving onto the escalator 😑? If not you, then definitely any of your family members, especially grandparents, might encounter this situation.

From my encounter, My Mother👩‍🍼 never wants to move onto the escalator. We often tried her forcefully to come escalator😶. she rather tries the steps than the escalator🫡.

Final Prototype

So I want to solve this problem using a design thinking process. The Design Thinking📑 process contains the following steps.

1. Empathise
2. Define
3. Ideate
4. Prototype
5. Test( It might be difficult in this situation, We can ask users for feedback showing the design)

Research

Let’s have a small history class to know about the Escalator 🤣🤣🤣!!!

It was Seeberger who created the name “Escalator”, from the word scala (Latin for steps), and the word elevator, which was already in general use in the US by this time, and registered it as a trademark for a moving stairway.

Scala(steps) + Elevator(which helps in moving up and down) = Escalator.

There is a phobia called “Escalaphobia”, It is the fear of escalators and is surprisingly common. If you have an escalaphobia, you may feel trapped when you are at the top of the escalator and feel like you might fall or tumble down the escalator. You may also have a rapid heartbeat, a hot flushed feeling, shortness of breath, and sudden trembling when trying to step onto the escalator.

image from https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/

To know whether the problem faced by many to solve, I conducted both Field and Quantitative Research.

Observation and Insights from Field Research

I had done my field research, and one of the good things I had in this research part. I stand more than 4 hrs at a railway station to obverse the user’s behaviour🥲. As it is the most crowded escalator at Secunderabad railway station. More than 1000 –1100 members🫡 are using the escalator in the span of 4 hrs from ages of 0–60 years(age is just an assumption). After my field research, These are my observations

1. out of 800–1000 users, more than 75 users were not comfortable with using the escalator.
2. From my observations, more than 50–60 users are women between 40–60 age.
3. Mostly these users are used 1–3 times only and from observation, I think they are housewives and from the towns( Note: just seen by eyes, I am assuming this)
4. If they are not conformable, they are using a lift or steps to go upstairs.

At Railway Station

I had a conversation with the escalator guide🤝(Sunitha Mam) at the Secunderabad railway station. She was very kind enough to tell the problems faced by the users. Insights from the Sunitha Mam.

1. Many users had issues with escalators.
2. They were not listening to the guide.
3. Most senior citizens had problems with escalators.
4. Mostly there was a starting problem stepping onto the escalator.
5. In some conditions, people fell from the escalators due to sophistication and haziness( This might be escalaphobia)

image from wikihow.com

Observation and Insights from Quantitative Research

I had done Quantitative Research using the insights from the Field Research. I got even backfired on these questions from other designers because my questionnaire isn’t well structured. I had very less time for Quantitative Research. So those questions went wrong. I will work on it further😁.

Questions

1. Your Name Please
2. What do you feel before moving onto the escalator?
3. Is there anyone you know who is not okay with the escalator?
4. Are you/they afraid of starting or standing on a moving escalator?
5. Do you/they feel any difference while moving from downstairs to upstairs or upstairs to downstairs
6. If yes, please add your feelings
7. Please add anything that you want to share

Reasons to ask these questions

1. Most of my audience is at age 20–30 years old, using escalators regularly. So It might be biased.
2. Reason for 3rd Question: I learned that field research affects senior citizens and kids the most.

Results: A total of 22 audiences can complete the form in the span of 24 hrs. Thanks to them🙏.

Insights from Quantitative Research

1. More than 5% of users felt unhappy😑 while using an escalator.
2. For more than 11 users, Their Grandmothers and Mothers were uncomfortable🤨.
3. For more than 8 users, stepping onto the escalator is more difficult than standing on the escalator.
4. Most of the users have no difference while moving from downstairs to upstairs or upstairs to downstairs.

Vector from freepik.com

Define

Storyboard

Scenario🤗: A woman named Kumari comes to the railway station and wants to go to platform no:4.

Problems:

1. Users have a fear to move onto the escalator without any fear.
2. Senior citizens are not able to use the escalator.
3. New Users are not able to use the escalator.
4. Some users have escalaphobia which sometimes causes serious injuries.

We are focusing on the escalator while moving from downstairs to upstairs for Senior and New users.

Ideate

At this stage, I started ideating using the HWM method.

How Might We?

1. How might we move onto the escalator without any fear?
2. How Might we make using an escalator easy for senior citizens?
3. How Might we make using an escalator easy for new users?
4. How might we teach the to use an escalator?

Ideas for each question:

How might we teach the to use an escalator?

1. Having a banner on the side before the escalator
2. Having a Guide near the escalator

How Might we make using an escalator easy for senior citizens?

1. Having a Guide near the escalator.
2. Having a switch at the side to stop the escalator and then start it after stepping.
3. Adding a timer at the escalator and then it stops for some time at regular intervals

How Might we make using an escalator easy for new users?

1. Having a Guide near the escalator
2. Having a switch at the side to stop the escalator and then start it after stepping
3. Adding a timer at the escalator and then it stops for some time at regular intervals
4. Having a banner on the side before the escalator.

Ideas

Decoding the ideas by metrics🫡

1. Having a Guide near the escalator is costly and somewhat there are some railway stations where there are guides but still, there are people not able to use the escalator
2. Having a switch at the side to stop the escalator and then start it after stepping will make it very time-wasting for the remaining one and also people might use it unnecessarily.

We are going with the idea of “Adding a timer at the escalator and then it stops for some time at regular intervals” because most people are scared about stepping onto the escalator and also it is a one-time investment.

Prototyping

“Adding a timer at the escalator and then it stops for some time at regular intervals”

During the prototyping, I got doubts about how much time will be escalator stops and the intervals between the two stops.

1. From my field observation, the user takes at least 1–2 seconds to step.
2. At least 3–4 persons will face escalator issues every 4–5 mins.

Iterations

Prototype

Prototype

Explaining about Prototype

1. I used a box or desk-like design for the Timer to be visible for types of ages.
2. 4 minutes timer countdown is placed on the top centre of the box design.
3. Given information about the use of this escalator for new users.
4. Used different languages used in Telugu states as I am in Hyderabad.
5. I used red for all the information to get users’ attention.

Prototype Video

Vimeo link: https://vimeo.com/807104893

Test

I explained my prototype to the users and who gave insights during quantitative research.

Insights from User Testing

When I talked to senior citizens and explained the prototype, they could relate to the problem and liked the solution.🤗

User Interviews

Insights😶

1. Users are questioning about the waiting time of 4 mins is not good.
2. 4 seconds time is enough for senior citizens. It will be very difficult, If had any luggage.

Suggestions🤗

1. “Change the “Move” word with the “Step” word on the language boards”
2. “It is better to have 3 minutes intervals and 6–8 second stops.”
3. “There might be a timer at the top also before stepping out of the escalator.”

Revised Prototype😊

Revised Prototype

From the recommendations and issues, I revised the prototype. there is always an iteration for the designs. Some major changes are

1. I changed the time intervals from 4 minutes to 3 minutes. There will be a decrease in waiting time.
2. I changed the stop time from 4 sec to 8 sec. there will be no hurry/panic for the elders.

Future Scope🤔

Design thinking is a continuous process of iterations and revisions. As a designer, We all want our designs should help users, and delight users. we may get a lot of criticism for the design when the design gets into the market. Assuming them and I would like to suggest below changes or features that might be future scope.

a) Decreasing the box size to some extent decrease the space it occupies.

b) Having a time stop while stepping out from the escalator.

Key Learnings

1. We can solve any problem using the design thinking method from designing a pin to designing an aeroplane.
2. Empathising with the User is the most important quality for a designer. This project helped me in understanding the user.
3. Don’t love your designs, just love the process. So that we can iterate the process as many times as to get better output.

Thank you for taking the time to read through my design thinking project. I hope you found it informative and useful. Please share any feedback.

Connect with me

You can connect with me through LinkedIn and reach out to me at Gmail beeramteja123@gmail.com

Future Nostalgic!!!