Train Timer

At-a-glance rail information for Apple Watch, iPhone and iPad

Designing and developing a minimalist app to help regular commuters catch their trains quickly, smoothly and easily.

What we did

  • Concept
  • Identity
  • Design
  • User testing
  • Animation

After the success of our Rail Commute app, we felt there was still a gap in the market for a lower cost rail app that just displayed key information for the busy rail user.

Produced in partnership with our friends at Boluga, Train Timer is designed to quickly show the information you need. 

No bells. No whistles. No selecting stations or scrolling through routes. Just what you need to know – fast.

The Train Timer icon was designed to be multi-purpose: as a descriptive logo, an app tile, loading animation and menu button

With several members of our team at William Joseph being train commuters, we were well versed in the key information people look for when rushing for trains. After our initial user research to confirm which travel details would be most useful, we prototyped user journeys with a number of different features. 

At the heart of this process was the consideration that everything needed to work while a person was rushing through a crowded station first thing in the morning.

A number of design iterations saw features gradually being stripped back to ensure the user experience was as fast and functional as possible. 

Using a traffic light colour-coding system to identify on-time, delayed and cancelled trains quickly proved to be a useful visual shortcut which informed the basic features of the app. We then designed the way key information was displayed, being sure to prototype and test each iteration to make sure we were on the right track.

Early designs show features being pared back to keep interaction to a minimum, aiming for all information to be accessible with a one-handed swipe.

Keeping the interaction streamlined means the design works much harder to display content with varying levels of importance, saving the user time and effort to get the information they need.

This app does one thing, and does it very well… it is so quick and clear that it easily out-performs fuller train journey planners for commuters.

App Store review

A functional and attractive app, the best of the bunch if you just want arrival/departure times. The Apple Watch app is fast, clear and extremely easy to use.

App Store review

To promote the app we created an animation featuring genuine train-announcer voice-over.