Designing an digital experience for World Cup ‘26 Tourists in Atlanta
PARTNER
MARTA
Atlanta’s Transit System
ROLE
UX Designer & Researcher
TOOLS
Figma, Qualtrics, MAXQDA
DURATION
4 months
Aug - Dec 2024
Overview
Making Atlanta’s Transit System World-Cup Ready
During the first semester as a MS-HCI student at Georgia Tech, my team and I worked with MARTA to design a Progressive Web Application (PWA) for tourists coming to Atlanta for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Our goal was to make public transit easier to navigate and more appealing for first-time riders.
Background
MARTA is Atlanta’s public transit system, consisting of 4 train lines and 38 stations, serving tens of millions of riders annually. The system faces a plethora of challenges such as low funding, aging infrastructure, and limited track capacity. These issues are expected to be particularly pressing during the 2026 FIFA World Cup, when Atlanta will host 8 matches—including a semi-final—at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. With this in mind, our team set out to ideate and develop a solution, grounded in extensive research, that could make MARTA more intuitive, engaging, and dependable for both residents and visitors.
Problem Statement
How might we incentivize and encourage MARTA use during the 2026 FIFA World Cup?
Our Solution
A brand new refresh of the MARTA app, focusing on new users
Design an intuitive, accessible and effective PWA that mitigates the need for multiple MARTA mobile applications that frequent and novice users alike can rely on for their Atlanta-traveling needs.
User Research
To ground our design decisions in real-world needs, we conducted a multi-phase user research process that included feedback sessions with MARTA employees, MARTA accessibility committees, and transit users with diverse use-cases. We gathered over 100 survey respondents and conducted 10 semi-structured interviews with consistent MARTA users, riders with disabilities, FIFA fans, and other primary group stakeholders. We analyzed these findings through the creation of pie charts, bar graphs and word clouds as well as affinity diagrams from our interviews.
Additionally, we engaged in multiple ethnographic observation sessions where we sought to observe and understand passengers' actions and touchpoints throughout their journey on the MARTA system. We supported this research through observing CCTV footage to fill any potential gaps in our field work observations. We analyzed this data through the use of a bubble maps and color-coded visualizations, we identified patterns in feature usage, mobile reliance, and time spent at key touchpoints. Comparing solo and group travelers revealed critical differences in wayfinding challenges and areas of dependency.
This research directly shaped our design priorities—pushing us to simplify user flows, improve accessibility, and tailor the experience to both everyday riders and international visitors during the 2026 FIFA World Cup.