UX Delights and Duds from My Trip to Shanghai

When you’re in a place that’s completely foreign to you, where people don’t speak your language and the culture is different to anything you know, you really rely on urban UX.?

I was recently in China’s biggest city and a global financial hub - fashionable, bustling, Shanghai. Skyscrapers, neon lights, electric vehicles and modern buildings, it’s like taking a trip to the future.?

Flow of human traffic

With over 26 million people, it’s densely populated. It’s not surprising crowd flow is commonly addressed in simple and small ways all over the city. Starting with the airport. Beyond the regular ceiling signs, there were informational squares and directional arrows on the floor. Like this one, letting people know which side of the terminal to walk on for optimum traffic flow. For the most part, people adhere to the arrows and signs, making the flow of people feel easy and frictionless.

Time in a queue

Good UX is about properly managing expectations. At first glance, I was impressed with this line across the immigration queue. I took it to mean that I would be near the front of the queue in about 15 minutes. 45 minutes later we finally got through the gates. This floor sign is a pretty permanent commitment to make. It seems queue flow timing isn’t always within airport staff’s control. A projection onto the floor, or something that could be adjusted and updated would do a much better job at managing the expectations of people in the queue.

Paying for train tickets (and everything else)

Navigating the Metro (or underground trains) was less complicated than anticipated, especially as there was an option for English transitions on ticket stations, and most people who work in the stations spoke English fluently.?

The ticket machines did take cash though most people pay with WeChat or Alipay. We opted to use Alipay simply because it was recommend to us by a friend who lives there.

You choose your destination and number of tickets, and the machine totals the cost and presents a payment QR code. You scan the code with your phone, confirm the payment with your bank and the tickets are issued.

WeChat or Alipay is used to pay for most things in China. It's relatively convenient though in some occasions you scan the merchant's QR code and in other occasions they scan yours; and sometimes it's not clear if you need to present a QR code or scan one.

Colour and lines to show direction

Using colours show which lines to follow, clear, uncluttered signs (with English translations) and arrows, it’s very easy to work out which stop you’re currently at, which direction the train is going, where it came from and which stop is next. It also indicates where the passengers will leave the train and which direction you should approach to get on it. With affordable tickets and trains running every few minutes, it’s a great way to travel the city. The only downside is you don’t get to see much of the city while you travel through it.

Green and red are universal

Inside most metro trains, you’ll see a light map showing which stops the train has been to, which stops are coming up, at which stops you can transfer lines, and which direction the train is going. The use of green and red are pretty universal and instantly easy to understand. The lights also flash in the direction the train is going, making it easy to spot when your stop is coming up.

Time to cross the road

Being such a densely populated city, you’d expect it to be deafeningly loud with the abundance of cars, busses, scooters, bikes, trucks flowing through the wide city streets. But with most vehicles being electric, the city is eerily peaceful. You can hear the chatter and footsteps of passing people and the beeps and buzzing of the traffic lights.?

A lot of people walk the streets so the city is pretty pedestrian friendly.? Light signals in green let you know how many seconds you have left to cross the road and signals in red let you know when you can start walking across.

The countdown traffic light eliminates uncertainty and in doing so reduces cognitive stress because you're not closely monitoring the signal while wondering if you should stay or cross the road.

I would go there again

The urban UX makes navigating this city far simpler than I first thought. With its beautiful gardens, impressive buildings with artful neon lights, good food and interesting people, Shanghai is well worth experiencing.?

There's nothing quite like travel to bring you out of your comfort zone and into a world of inspiration and perspective shifts.