Hudson Yards Kiosk

Improving spatial navigation by making maps user-friendly

Imagine walking into a massive, beautiful building with soaring ceilings and shining glass, only to feel completely lost within minutes. That’s what visitors were experiencing every day at Hudson Yards Mall. The space was visually impressive, but for many people, simply trying to find a store or a restaurant turned into a frustrating maze.

During my first visit to the mall, I observed something telling: visitors would approach the kiosk, tap around the map, then glance up at their surroundings with hesitation — as if none of the directions quite “matched” the physical world in front of them. Some would give up and walk in the wrong direction entirely.

The product team initially believed the main issue was the map instructions themselves. But I wanted to understand the problem from the visitor’s perspective — not just the kiosk’s.

Researching the Human Problem

I interviewed 15 mall visitors on-site and asked them to walk me through how they tried to navigate:

• “Tell me where you’re headed and why.”

• “What was the hardest part about figuring out where you were?”

• “Has there ever been a time when navigation felt easy? What made it feel clear?”

Across the board — regardless of age, familiarity with the mall, or comfort with technology — the same frustration emerged:

• People didn’t know how to orient themselves.

• They couldn’t connect the map to the real environment around them.

"I mean the map direction says walk 153 feet. That's sounds so arbitrary"

At the same time, stakeholder conversations revealed another issue: the kiosk directory was maintained manually and often contained outdated store information, which further weakened trust in the mall’s luxury brand image.

Key Insights

What visitors needed was not just directions — they needed orientation.

Designing for Real-World Grounding

I shifted the design approach from focusing on map detail to focusing on spatial clarity and confidence.

We redesigned the wayfinding experience to include:

• A 2D map view that's easier to scan

• Street and entrance labels that anchor visitors to their surroundings

• A larger, clearer map display for visibility at a distance

• Step-by-step previews that reduce cognitive load

I also designed two personas to ensure inclusivity:

• A visiting tourist navigating the mall for the first time

• A wheelchair user who needs clear paths to elevators instead of escalators

This shaped our user flows and ensured that every navigation path could adapt to the visitor's needs.

System + Visual Design

Because engineering constraints required us to use a pre-existing kiosk template, our early designs looked too similar to installations used in other malls — and the client disliked that.

To solve this, I built a custom design system — typography, spacing, iconography, touch target patterns — that could be applied quickly across screens. This allowed us to maintain:

• A unique Hudson Yards visual identity

• Fast iteration during client feedback cycles

A Critical Breakthrough From Testing

We tested 30+ builds:

• First in the office

• Then on-site inside Hudson Yards

Testing in the real mall environment was essential. When people tried using the kiosk while physically surrounded by the building, their reactions were authentic.

One user said something that changed everything:

“I need street names or something. I need to know where I am before I can follow the map.”

This insight directly led to emphasizing orientation first — not just navigation steps.

Outcomes

Beyond Navigation: Analytics Dashboard

After improving the wayfinding experience, I also redesigned the kiosk analytics dashboard. I interviewed mall operators and business leads to understand what “useful” data looked like to them.

The dashboard now supports:

• Daily monitoring of kiosk usage and foot traffic

• Business insights on which stores receive the most attention

• Technical maintenance visibility to prevent kiosk downtime

This helped the kiosk become not just a navigation tool, but a business intelligence tool.

Reflection

This project taught me how to bring structure into a client-driven environment where decisions were often made reactively. I became an advocate for process, clarity, and user perspective, ensuring that every design direction remained grounded in real human needs — not just stakeholder requests.

Most importantly, I helped transform a moment of frustration for visitors into one of confidence and ease.