MTA Away is a subsidiary website of MTA, a public enterprise responsible for transportation across the New York metropolitan area. The platform promotes public transportation by connecting users to local attractions, deals, and events. With over 56,000 annual users and 109,200 homepage views, the site functions as a high-traffic discovery portal within a large enterprise ecosystem (ticketing, maps, event partners).
The original request was for minor cosmetic updates. However, during early conversations with the Product Manager and stakeholders, I identified deeper structural issues.
Problem:
No clear product vision or defined success metrics.
Overwhelming content with limited personalization.
Fragmented user journeys across MTA systems.
Unmaintained design system and component library.
No instrumentation to measure feature performance.
Instead of executing visual updates, I partnered closely with the Product Manager to reframe the engagement as a strategic reset.
Solution:
Clarify the product’s value proposition.
Improve discoverability and usability (especially mobile - 67% of users).
Define measurable success criteria and a future roadmap.
Unmaintained design system and component library.
No instrumentation to measure feature performance.
This shifted the engagement from tactical execution to strategic product thinking, resulting in a project extension.
I led research, design audit, and UX strategy, specifically:
Facilitated discovery conversations with stakeholders.
Translated research into prioritized opportunity areas.
Rebuilt the component system for scalability.
Defined UX improvements aligned to measurable outcomes.
Co-created the Phase 2 roadmap with the Product Manager.
Over 7 weeks, we worked in a dual-track agile approach:
Discovery Track (PM + Design)
Stakeholder interviews
Competitive analysis
Current-state IA audit
Analytics review (device usage, page patterns)
Persona creation (7 personas)
Journey mapping
SWOT synthesis
These artifacts informed feature prioritization and roadmap decisions.
Delivery Track (Design + Engineering)
Design system audit and cleanup
Component restructuring in Figma
Responsive behavior documentation
Interaction specifications
Edge case documentation
Structured handoff to engineering
This reduced ambiguity, improved scalability, and prepared the product for long-term growth.
I began by documenting the current state through sitemap audits and identifying friction across the content-heavy portal experience. Through research, I identified:
Decision fatigue due to overwhelming options.
Low discoverability of relevant content.
No filtering logic.
Infinite scroll performance issues.
Limited differentiation from competitors.
By mapping 7 personas and their journeys, we identified which behaviors aligned most with MTA’s mission: encouraging public transportation usage tied to exploration. These insights directly informed prioritization for both Phase 1 delivery and Phase 2 roadmap planning.
All these were described in a digestible SWOT Analysis that summed up general trends. That deliverable was one of the elements that synthesized core issues.
After discovery, I moved into system-level improvements and conducted a design system audit. The existing file lacked scalability and documentation. I rebuilt reusable components, connected variants, standardized responsive patterns, cleaned obsolete styles, and documented usage logic.
Enterprise impact: Reduced design debt and improved implementation efficiency.
UX Enhancements Shipped in Phase 1:
Introduced search.
Added filters for personalization.
Implemented tabbed layouts for content density.
Replaced infinite scroll with pagination.
Renamed “Articles” to “Guides” to align with exploration intent.
These improvements focused on improving time-to-discovery and reducing cognitive load, particularly for mobile users.
Above: Updated deal cards.
On the left: Browsing and filtering within the Guides.
Above: Updated deal cards, browsing and filtering within the Guides.
Based on discovery, we co-developed a future-state roadmap:
Problem:
No organic content or social proof.
Low retention mechanisms.
Fragmented cross-platform experience.
Solution:
Organic content: User reviews and peer-generated insights.
Profile creation: Saved itineraries, favorites, and visit history.
Integrated maps: Stronger ecosystem integration across MTA services.
Each recommendation was tied to measurable impact, such as increased engagement, improved retention, and reduced drop-off across systems.
Although formal usability testing was not resourced in Phase 1, I worked with the PM to define how success should be measured moving forward. We recommended event tracking for items such as search queries, filter interactions, guide engagement, or downstream ticket navigation.
Strategic clarity
Delivered 5 key discovery artifacts:
7 personas
Competitive analysis
User journey
SWOT analysis
Site maps
Result:
Clarified product vision and gave stakeholders a roadmap for investment.
Experience Improvement
Improved browseability for 67% mobile audience.
Reduced cognitive overload via filtering + pagination.
Strengthened system consistency.
Result:
Elevated usability and scalability of the platform.
Product Growth
Established measurable success criteria.
Defined instrumentation approach.
Delivered Phase 2 roadmap.
SUCCESS! Project extended into Phase 2 based on strategic recommendations.
This project demonstrates how a small tactical request can evolve into an enterprise-level product impact when approached strategically.
If resourced further, I would:
Conduct usability testing to measure task completion time.
Establish SUS or CES benchmarks.
Track return sessions and feature adoption.
Run A/B tests on filtering and navigation improvements.
Most importantly, this project reinforced how working closely within a product trio and aligning discovery insights with delivery execution creates durable product outcomes beyond visual redesign.
