Amtrak (National Railroad Passenger Corporation)
Rebuilt Amtrak's navigation around how travelers actually think
Restructuring Amtrak's navigation and information architecture so the answers travelers need sit where they expect them, one obvious step away instead of three uncertain ones.
TIMELINE
Feb – May 2026 (3 months)
July – XX
July – XX
Role
UX Researcher and Designer
Team
4 Designer (Me, Shelly, Katherine, Betty)
Skills
Interviews, Qualitative Research, Card sorting, Affinity mapping, Tree Testing, Usability Testing, Prototyping
00 · context
Amtrak's website is where a trip gets planned, not just booked.
Amtrak is the national passenger rail service in the US. Its site sells tickets, but it also holds everything around the ticket: what you can bring, how the station works, what accessibility services exist, and what to do when a plan changes. That second job is the one we looked at.
Who we designed for
Travelers who can already book a ticket and now need everything around it: planning the trip, getting ready to leave, and handling changes once they're on the way.
01 · problem
You're packing tomorrow, and the menu won't lead you to what you can bring.
Categories don't reflect how users think about their trip
Information groupings and labels don't match user expectations, forcing users to browse multiple sections before finding what they need.
Critical information is buried too deep
Content requires too many clicks or sits behind vague, unindicative labels that give no hint of what's inside.
Labels don't reflect the actual content of the page
Ambiguous wording leads users to look in the wrong place entirely.
The content was there. The structure never let anyone reach it.
Information groupings and labels don't match user expectations, forcing users to browse multiple sections before finding what they need.
Overview
What should OpenAI build as their first AI device?
As a team of 3 product designers, our goal was to land on a clear vision within 7 weeks.
Product Strategy
Thinking broadly about OpenAI,
the AI landscape, and exploring
widely in the solution space. Prototyping & Testing Going wide in ideation and rapidly
testing concepts with users. Iterating with Feedback Continuously iterating on concepts
and validating product decisions. Problem ChatGPT is at the top of the of the stack. ChatGPT is an app, at the top of this technology stack. That’s a risky place to be because it means leaves
OpenAI at the mercy of the lower layers, like the platform, the operating system, and the hardware.
Apple and Google are building their own consumer AI ecosystems, but with the advantage of being able to
control the entire stack. However, OpenAI is currently dominating consumer AI, and Apple has recently dropped the ball on their Apple
Intelligence integrations. This creates an opportunity for OpenAI to build an AI device and capture consumers in
their own ecosystem. Opportunity Memory as the core of OpenAI’s device ecosystem. Memory should be OpenAI’s new moat. LLMs are becoming commoditized, but personalization and context are
the new differentiators. With hardware, OpenAI will benefit from: Independence No longer at the mercy of the
lower layers Ecosystem lock-in Capture users with a tightly-
integrated experience like Apple
does today New input modalities A device that can see, hear, and
remember in ways an app can't
the AI landscape, and exploring
widely in the solution space. Prototyping & Testing Going wide in ideation and rapidly
testing concepts with users. Iterating with Feedback Continuously iterating on concepts
and validating product decisions. Problem ChatGPT is at the top of the of the stack. ChatGPT is an app, at the top of this technology stack. That’s a risky place to be because it means leaves
OpenAI at the mercy of the lower layers, like the platform, the operating system, and the hardware.
control the entire stack. However, OpenAI is currently dominating consumer AI, and Apple has recently dropped the ball on their Apple
Intelligence integrations. This creates an opportunity for OpenAI to build an AI device and capture consumers in
their own ecosystem. Opportunity Memory as the core of OpenAI’s device ecosystem. Memory should be OpenAI’s new moat. LLMs are becoming commoditized, but personalization and context are
the new differentiators. With hardware, OpenAI will benefit from: Independence No longer at the mercy of the
lower layers Ecosystem lock-in Capture users with a tightly-
integrated experience like Apple
does today New input modalities A device that can see, hear, and
remember in ways an app can't
Overview
What should OpenAI build as their first AI device?
As a team of 3 product designers, our goal was to land on a clear vision within 7 weeks.
Product Strategy
Thinking broadly about OpenAI,
the AI landscape, and exploring
widely in the solution space. Prototyping & Testing Going wide in ideation and rapidly
testing concepts with users. Iterating with Feedback Continuously iterating on concepts
and validating product decisions. Problem ChatGPT is at the top of the of the stack. ChatGPT is an app, at the top of this technology stack. That’s a risky place to be because it means leaves
OpenAI at the mercy of the lower layers, like the platform, the operating system, and the hardware.
Apple and Google are building their own consumer AI ecosystems, but with the advantage of being able to
control the entire stack. However, OpenAI is currently dominating consumer AI, and Apple has recently dropped the ball on their Apple
Intelligence integrations. This creates an opportunity for OpenAI to build an AI device and capture consumers in
their own ecosystem. Opportunity Memory as the core of OpenAI’s device ecosystem. Memory should be OpenAI’s new moat. LLMs are becoming commoditized, but personalization and context are
the new differentiators. With hardware, OpenAI will benefit from: Independence No longer at the mercy of the
lower layers Ecosystem lock-in Capture users with a tightly-
integrated experience like Apple
does today New input modalities A device that can see, hear, and
remember in ways an app can't
the AI landscape, and exploring
widely in the solution space. Prototyping & Testing Going wide in ideation and rapidly
testing concepts with users. Iterating with Feedback Continuously iterating on concepts
and validating product decisions. Problem ChatGPT is at the top of the of the stack. ChatGPT is an app, at the top of this technology stack. That’s a risky place to be because it means leaves
OpenAI at the mercy of the lower layers, like the platform, the operating system, and the hardware.
control the entire stack. However, OpenAI is currently dominating consumer AI, and Apple has recently dropped the ball on their Apple
Intelligence integrations. This creates an opportunity for OpenAI to build an AI device and capture consumers in
their own ecosystem. Opportunity Memory as the core of OpenAI’s device ecosystem. Memory should be OpenAI’s new moat. LLMs are becoming commoditized, but personalization and context are
the new differentiators. With hardware, OpenAI will benefit from: Independence No longer at the mercy of the
lower layers Ecosystem lock-in Capture users with a tightly-
integrated experience like Apple
does today New input modalities A device that can see, hear, and
remember in ways an app can't