Zines for Seattle's Light Rail Neighborhoods
ROLE
User Research
Illustration
TEAM
4 Designers
TIMEFRAME
Jan – Mar 2026
3 months
TOOLS
Procreate
Illustrator
OVERVIEW
Off-Rail: uncovering the hidden spots of Seattle's light rail neighborhoods
Turning the "logistical tax" of commuting into an opportunity for social discovery
Off-Rail is a series of zines showcasing third places in different Seattle light rail neighborhoods. The project encourages those in Seattle to break the "Seattle Freeze" and build deeper connections with the city’s informal gathering spots.
CONTEXT
Why does exploring a new city and finding community feel so exhausting for Seattle’s young professionals?
Seattle is a growing city of transplants who feel isolated and disconnected from the city
We chose to focus on this space because young professionals want to build community, but they struggle to overcome the initial barriers of effort, cost, and time required to explore an unfamiliar city.
INITIAL RESEARCH
Cracking the "Seattle Freeze"
Interviewing eight participants, a mixture of long-term Seattle residents and recent transplants
I led our team through a series of eight semi-structured interviews to better understand our demographic and their key challenges.
Key participants
Boba
Seattle resident of four months, works hybrid
Cake
Seattle resident of 10 years, works remote
Coffee
Seattle resident of 20 years, owner of small business
Tomato
Seattle resident of two years, works hybrid
What we discovered
Because I have to account for transit time, I'm less willing to just do things on the fly. If I don't already have plans made, I'll just stay home.
The barrier to go out and explore a third space has to be incredibly low,
Interviewees expressed a desire for novelty and community, but between the effort of planning around transit schedules, financial burden of going out, and pressure of initiating conversations, staying home became the easiest choice.
It became clear that our solutions needed to be low-pressure, seamlessly integrate into their existing daily routines, and lower the barrier to shared neighborhood exploration.
SYNTHESIS
Defining our solution space
Three insights to help us determine our design solution
I identified three insights and developed our solution statement to reflect these findings.
How might we design low-pressure, shared third-place experiences that help Seattle residents overcome the barrier of exploring their city and build local belonging and meaningful connections?
IDEATION
Brainstorming high-level concepts
We rapidly sketched 60+ possible solutions, focusing on creativity and concept
We then grouped similar ideas together by theme, evaluating ideas through the lens of insights and pain-points we identified through our original contextual inquiry.
DOWNSELECTION
From 60 ideas to 1 core concept
Emphasizing with our users and designing the solution they'd want
Our first concept was a Tamagotchi-style keychain that nudged users to connect with their friends. One user stated the "cute" form factor and nudging would annoy them after a long day of work. This feedback pushed us to empathize strongly with our demographic, even if we were more biased towards an idea.
We decided to go with our concept of Off-Rail as it directly addressed the issue of convenience and accessibility, utilizing the existing transit system in place in Seattle while also helping foster social connections.
USER FEEDBACK
Creating rough prototypes of the zine
Exploring different form factors like brochure/pamphlet and refining the experience
Our participants preferred the zine as it was more pocket-sized, discreet, and community-oriented. We also received valuable feedback on considering seasonality, as many Seattle activities depend on the season.
THE SOLUTION
Zines centered around neighborhood exploration and shared experiences in Seattle
The overarching Off-Rail brand and advertising campaign, along with two branded zines for the International District and Capitol Hill
Credits to Ceci Ayres and Tracy You for the overall branding of Off-Rail, and Liliya Ustinova for the Capitol Hill zine!