Interview Questions › Product Design

Design a multilingual subway ticketing kiosk for foreign tourists

Design an intuitive touchscreen ticketing kiosk for a major international metropolitan subway system (e.g. Tokyo, Paris, or New York) specifically optimized for non-native foreign tourists.

Context

Foreign tourists face complex zone fare maps, foreign currency confusion, long queues behind rushed locals, and language barriers.

Clarifying questions to ask first

• Can tourists tap their phone directly at fare gates (OMNY/Oyster), or do they require physical transit cards/tickets? (Both contactless cards and kiosk ticket issuance).
• How many languages must be supported? (15+).

How to approach it

1. Understand Tourist Stress Points: Unfamiliar with zone pricing, do not know station names (know landmark: "Eiffel Tower" or "Times Square"), jetlagged, carrying luggage in crowded station
2. Design Tourist-First Kiosk Hardware & Interface:
3. 1. Instant Visual Language Selection (large country flags + top 15 languages with voice support)
4. 2. "Search by Famous Landmark" instead of obscure station names (e.g. Tap "Louvre Museum" -> kiosk auto-calculates correct route and fare)
5. 3. "Tourist Unlimited Pass" 1-Tap Quick-Buy (1-Day, 3-Day, 7-Day passes prominently featured)
6. 4. Contactless Tap-to-Pay Credit Card & Apple Pay (no foreign currency cash conversion needed)
7. 5. QR Code Receipt: Scan to transfer live subway map and transfer directions directly to smartphone

Framework: Tourist Mental Model & Transit Anxiety -> Landmark-Based UI Architecture -> Multilingual & Universal Payment Flow -> Mobile Phone Route Hand-Off -> Throughput Metrics

Sample answer

• Tourists know the landmark they want to visit, not the municipal station name; landmark routing eliminates 80% of kiosk hesitation time
• Pre-packaged 1-Day/3-Day tourist passes reduce transaction time from 2 minutes to 20 seconds

1. MVP: 24-inch anti-glare touchscreen, 1-tap language switch, visual landmark destination search, 1-tap multi-day pass purchase, and NFC contactless card reader

Executive design: A welcoming tourist transit kiosk featuring landmark-based routing, instant multi-day pass purchasing, multilingual voice guidance, and mobile QR directions.

What interviewers look for

• Landmark-Based Destination Navigation
• Language Accessibility & Visual Simplicity
• Transaction Speed (Target <30 seconds per user)
• Tourist Pass Packaging & Mobile Map Hand-Off