IDEO
Created a pilot program encouraging Bay Area commuters to take alternative modes of transit instead of single-occupancy vehicles.
IDEO is a design and consulting firm, known for innovating in challenging spaces. One of IDEO’s focus areas is transportation: How can we empower people with access to safe and affordable transportation? How can we make the entire transportation ecosystem healthier and more sustainable?
While at IDEO, I helped design a new program encouraging commuters to choose more sustainable transit options, such as public transport or carpooling, instead of driving solo. The Bay Area has a huge traffic problem—traffic has increased by over 80% since 2010, because of the way our modern work and transportation needs are evolving.
We created a 8-week pilot commuter program for a 200-person startup in the Bay Area, with the goal of encouraging employees in that startup to take alternative methods of transport to work instead of driving there alone. We tailored the entire experience to guide employees through the process of understanding what a more sustainable commute looks like (just a few examples: personalized starter kits for public transit, a new app to help people track and change their daily commutes, and an in-person rewards station).
To inform how we ran the program, I helped the team conduct user research sessions with employers to figure out what they wanted from a potential benefits program for employees' transit options. As a team, we unpacked the research insights and even studied behavioral psychology on how to break patterns—all to better understand how to convince people to take more sustainable forms of transportation to work.
As an interaction design intern, I was responsible for the visual identity and experience design of the pilot program, as well as supporting the user research process. I created the visual design assets for all parts of the program, ranging from in-office posters to the packaging for chocolate-covered coffee beans. I also designed the in-person experience of the program—from helping introduce the program in-person to the startup, to creating activation events to reward employees for participating in the program.
Our program changed the landscape of commuting at that startup: At the start of the pilot, almost all the employees had been driving alone to work—and by the end, a majority of them had either tried out or actually switched to more sustainable commutes.
