Developing Novel Services for the Railway Station Area through Experience-Driven Design

Abstract

Supporting end-users’ practical and emotional needs is an important goal in the design of novel smart services. We present a design research study with the experience-driven design approach to create concept ideas for smart city services. We present current challenges in the context of use and results of a two-phased user study of traveler experiences in the railway station area of the city of Tampere. Results show how experience-driven approach utilizing playful experience (PLEX) cards enables users to ideate experience-oriented concepts. As an outcome of the study, we describe one of the concepts selected for development, the smart community info wall concept. Our findings on the use of PLEX cards show that PLEX cards work with the amateur participants and support their idea generation. Furthermore, with the help of the PLEX cards, users were able to think on the subject more extensively and presented ideas on the experience-oriented categories.

Keywords

• Smart city
• Urban space
• Citizens
• Travelers
• Ubiquitous services
• Experience-driven design
• User experience