May Chiang
2023
Designing a beloved feature for bus rides
Challenge
Increase users' trust of Citymapper's bus arrival and traffic predictions, and make journey planning feel more dynamic and engaging.
Problem
Citymapper users complain often about their bus journeys and didn't trust that the app with accurate arrival times. We had an existing similar feature but it could not be accessed from core flow.
Outcome
+7% user retention
+12% completed journeys
The product experience was improved by the addition of dynamic and live content on the map. As the first app on the market to show live locations consistently in London, it quickly became a highly beloved feature. This also became a key selling point for B2B partnerships.
2022
Citymapper's first payment feature
Citymapper wanted to add taxi booking to its public transit app. As lead designer, I had to create a zero-to-one experience that let users plan, book, and ride.
The core challenge was managing information overload. Taxis require users to see driver details, vehicle information, ETA, and cancellation options, information that is a lot more complex than hopping on the metro.
As payment integration was new to our engineering team, I had to work closely with them to understand technical constraints and build a design that accounted for real system behaviour.
The feature (including payment integration) was shipped in 3 months for a major B2B customer. Users could confidently book and track rides despite the increased complexity. The new components built for the taxi experience expanded our design system for the team to use on subsequent launches.
2026
Monoprinter
Try version 1 here.
Monoprinter is a generative web piece that turns a random image into a grid of graphic shapes and colour, heavily inspired by the work of Karel Martens.
I designed the shapes, and used Claude to provide measurements and calculations for adjusting the shapes into 15 evenly spaced tones.
2021
I designed the UI and branding of To Be You, an interactive fiction game that seeks to cultivate empathy amongst Singaporeans.
The team worked with community organisations, researchers, and writers to create compelling fictional stories based upon real accounts from Singaporeans.
Within the first 12 months, the game saw >20,000 playthroughs from 5000 players and a 10% engagement rate.
2021–Ongoing
Building the Citymapper brand
I oversee all aspects of Citymapper's branding and consumer-facing communication. This includes working with a small marketing team and contractors to create illustrations, animations, and written content for the app and social channels.
Citymapper continues to resonate with a global community of over 5 million Citymapper users and counting. The app maintains 4.9★ rating and was featured as an Editor’s Choice on iOS App Store in 2023.
2017–21
Spatial UX and information design for navigation
Wayfinding design is a field I like to describe as UX for the physical environment.
At Applied, I worked in small teams with urban planners and industrial designers to design wayfinding systems that help millions of people navigate complex urban environments such as cities, campuses, and museums.
Besides on-the-ground testing and stakeholder/user engagement, my remit included 2D and 3D maps, iconography, accessible typography styles, colour palettes, documentation and production oversight.
Clients included Google, Metrolinx Toronto, Imperial College London, and Sentosa Island Singapore.
