JR East Project (Part 3): The Lesson to Learn & The Future to See
Before reading this article, I suggest you read part 1 & part 2 of this topic first. Thanks!
Well, I roughly started my JR website redesigns from the last year. Then it has been (almost) a year since then. From the purpose of redesign only (and the one thing that pushed me to create the “Design Reimagined” brand), until I choose to up my game by making them as use-cases. Coincidentally, I designed the JR websites, including this one, parallel with my college project so I could integrate the project in school with my works even though I might’ve killed myself by taking a suicide mission like this.
But working with my projects made me learn something. Not much, but not a few either. I can say that I’m trying to integrate some knowledge that I’ve got from the college, as well as from the place where I took my internship. This article will talk about some lessons that I learned from my project, as well as what my project would be if the work were implemented for real.
I learned something…
When I took a course about Interaction Designs on my campus, Universitas Indonesia (Faculty of Computer Science), I learned about methods of designing or redesigning a website. To be honest, the redesigning method that I used for this project is a bit unusual. Referring to the document, I wrote my explanations with terms that commonly being used at The System Analysis & Design. In detail, terms related to the use-case, like use-case diagram, use-case specification, activity diagram, sequence diagram, and behavioral state machine, (AFAIK) are not usual in Interaction Design.
But that doesn’t necessarily a bad thing. I mean I did realize that I might’ve used some unusual methods here. I did also learn the steps of redesigning during my internship period last year. The steps that I’ve learned and used back then were:
- Creating a Design System Manager (DSM),
- Designing the User Interface,
- Adding motions/transitions,
- Design Governance, and
- Evaluations.
The only step that I did in this project was only designing the user interface. Additionally, I created some use-cases from my designs, after the designing process. To be honest, that flow is illegal. My teachers didn’t teach me that way. Even if we assumed that this is a legal project, also, if we talked about project flow, the flow that I’ve learned parallel during working with this portfolio project was:
- Planning (Project Plan),
- Proposing (System Proposal),
- Specifying (System Specification),
- Implementing, and
- Evaluating.
Even I didn’t do any formal data gatherings, wireframing, and so on, I can say that the method that I chose is somehow quite illegal, yet appropriately working. In the end, this was only a personal portfolio. And to know that I’ve managed myself doing this project parallel with my last college project and created a whole document about this is an achievement for me. But I wonder whether there’s a formal lesson regarding the development of design methods. If there’s one, I would like to know.
What’s the future of this project if it implemented?
The project explained that people may book their tickets or passes from a website. But there’s a possibility that a mobile application might be developed next. I’ve created some interfaces for JR East, JR Central, as well as JR West Mobile Applications to imagine the respective possibility. The designs are very similar to each other as a part to minimize the user’s adaptation between each application.
To support this possibility, I made a mockup for a mobile train ticket based on Apple Wallet’s airplane ticket design. The designing process was coincidence with the JR East plan for a new fare gate design that supports QR code readings. According to their press release in December 2019, the new fare gate was supposed to be implemented at their new Takanawa Gateway Station. But as I google the details during writing this article, they’re still using the current fare gate system for the new station.
There’s also another possible scenario that a JR Pass holder might reserve their ticket without the need to go to the physical ticket office. Either with the website, mobile application, or even the ticket vending machine, the holder of JR Pass could reserve a seat for their Shinkansen or Limited Express trip. But this possibility needs to be supported by the change in the JR Pass System.
Moreover, if this project is being implemented in the future, there will be a possibility for the Digital Station to be a base for the JR Group ticketing system. The good impact of this integration, I believe, can be felt within societies. People might purchase, or reserve their ticket (like I’ve said about JR Pass earlier) without the need to move from one company portal to another. But on the gray side, I don’t know whether some people would see this as the resurrection of the now-dissolved Japanese National Railways or not. If so, I don’t know whether people would see that as a bad thing or not. I have no idea about this.
Anyhow, it this is being implemented, I dare to say that this might be a big change for the JR Group, as well as the Japanese Society itself. And God knows the best for sure.
