The Challenge
Window Seater was an early-stage startup aimed to enriching passenger transportation journeys with engaging, location-based narratives about the landscapes they traversed. The challenge was to create a new type of user experience that used mobile phones to curate location-accurate and captivating audio content that would resonate with a diverse audience and encourage more people to choose train travel over less sustainable options.
After building and market testing early iterations of the product, the Window Seater team secured £150k of funding from Innovate UK to refine the product and scale-up the company in the United Kingdom.
The Solution
With the help of xCelery, the Window Seater team refined a scope of the build and market launch that would utilise the Innovate UK funds. Utilising agile methodologies, the team then iteratively re-designed the app's UX and UI to better meet user needs and expectations based on their market research, particularly with Great Western Railways as a test customer. Then, VD Web Engineering was engaged to build out the new designs, addressing the challenges of having varied GPS services of different makes of phone and mobile operators, and the patchy mobile network coverage in rural areas, to build out an app which delivered a consistent user experience.
The Outcome
Window Seater successfully completed the build, and launched at an event at Bristol Temple Meads station and covering 10 different lines in the Great Western Railways network. It delivered engaging content to train passengers, gaining user traction, and national press attention. In 2023, it was honored with a Community Rail Network award for innovation, and has grown to be a notable player in travel technology space, showcasing the power of combining technology with storytelling to create unique travel experiences.