My complete overhaul of Apple's internal web app for its private employee transit system.
EST. USERS
150,000+
My Role
Principal designer
User research
Product roadmapping
UX Design
UI Design
The bay area commute
The original platform, over 10 years old at the time, was in dire need of a redesign. Employees had shifted to mobile-first behaviors, the site required prerequisite knowledge of the Commute program to be deciphered, there was little interactivity, and the layouts were bloated with fluff content. Not to mention, it was so ill-updated that it was still using the Apple Aqua visual design language.
I love a throwback, but… yikes.
Apple engaged me to refresh the site to better support commuters and administrators, improve accessibility, and to help employees reduce reliance on cars overall.
It was time to speak with the users.
A real user struggles to find their route. Planning your commute should not require esoteric prerequisite knowledge!
Insights from commuters & administrators
After identifying a spread of diverse user types, from first-time riders to private car VIPs, I travelled to Apple Park in Cupertino, where I conducted interviews on 10 commuters and 7 administrators, ran usability testing on the current web app as a thought-provoking exercise, and gathered program customer service request data from the past year.
– Ultra-Busy VIP Occasional User
What I discovered:
• Users wanted trip planning instead of memorizing route codes.
• Terminology and labeling were confusing (“intercampus” vs “on demand”).
• Accessibility was inconsistent (dense content, hard with screen readers).
• Admins wanted better communication tools, data integration, and ticketing.
• People typically used web for advance planning, not quick “now” actions – however, notably, the web app was not mobile friendly at all!
These insights and others were compiled into a User Study Report that informed our product roadmap and gained us buy-in from Apple.
The redesign
Actionable product roadmap in hand, it was time to dive in.
I began with a sitemap defining structure and navigation and moved on to low-fidelity wireframes defining the content and layout of key areas of the app. Considering the on-the-go nature of commuting, it was important that the web app was mobile-first, so the app was designed to be fully responsive.
Once the app was planned out, I fleshed out the UI of the main feature areas, with the most interaction design work focused on the brand new and much-requested Trip Planner.
Most Apple web app UIs are based on the Apple Standards design system, which defined some but not all of the UI components required for the features I needed to design, so I had the opportunity to design my own components. Most notably, I created the "Switcharoo" component seen on the Trip Planner, a From and To box with a button to swap the inputs. This was later adopted into Apple Standards.
Robust, end-to-end trip planning for now or in the future
Interactive, visual schedules with live ETAs
Improved navigation with added context
Searchable system-wide route map
My redesign for Apple Commute was launched in early March 2020.
Then, the funniest thing happened.
With actual commuting curtailed greatly by COVID-19, what resulted was effectively a soft launch. I continued to work on the web app, rapidly adding new features to support COVID safety, as well as honing existing features based on user feedback.
The new Apple Commute is a future-ready web platform that went on to be used daily by tens of thousands of employees. It mirrors the polish of customer-facing Apple web apps, and is optimized for enterprise-scale use. I continued to work on the project through 2023.
-34%
Reduction in CS tickets over the following year
7/7
Administrators interviewed said the redesign addressed their concerns
10/10
Commuters interviewed said the redesign addressed their concerns
Reflections
This remains one of my proudest. The Apple Commute project really proved how early field research and a strong roadmap led to a redesign with features that actually served the people commuting.
If my work here made one person's commute suck less, it would all be worth it. However, Commute serves every Apple campus on the planet, and if the overwhelmingly positive response on Apple Slack meant anything, I helped a whole lot more people than that.
My version of Apple Commute is still used by all internal Apple employees today.
