Legible London Wayfinding - Making London more walkable

With the aim of cutting tube journeys and to encourage walking, Legible London was a pioneering project led by Transport for London, Westminster City Council, New West End Company, Crown Estate and the Mayor of London.

The most enduring question during this project was ‘How do we get the user to trust the map?’ and ‘Will they know how to use it?’

Designers often hazard a pretty good guess at what will work for users and what not, but never have the budget to conduct proper UI and UX testing. The Legible London wayfinding project necessitated in-depth user testing due to the scale and importance of the project.

During my time at applied I was a part of team conducting extensive user testing by engaging with members of the public directly outside of Tube stations, and by observing and recording people using the maps. The research was then collated and fed back to the Design Directors who would implement changes if necessary.

While I never became a map maker, the approach at applied thought me that my opinion as a designer or strategist is just that, an opinion.

Read more: Legible London The birth of modern city wayfinding