Usability Test

Prepared by M. Pospisil, Oct. 21, 2015

Usability Test for UnionStation.org

Test Preparation
To prepare to conduct the usability tests, I visited UnionStation.org on my HP EliteBook
laptop using Google Chrome for my browser. I walked myself through each task and noted what
happened as I tried to complete them. Those notes are below.

Task 1: You are bringing your grandmother to Union Station for a Sunday afternoon
outing. She cant walk more than about 50 steps at a time. Determine whether or not there
will be a wheelchair available for her to use during the visit.
I initially clicked on Plan Your Visit in the main navigation. This brought me to a page
with admission information, hours, maps, parking information, and amenity information. The
section titled Amenities and Transportation was closest to what I believed I was looking for. It
was at the very bottom of the page. I am concerned this may deter visitors from finding the
information. The information under this section is very brief, providing a link to another more
detailed page. Wheelchairs are mentioned, but in just one word and in the middle of the
paragraph. Visitors could easily miss that crucial word. Clicking on the link Guest Amenities
took me to a page with more information on things like ATMs, Lost and Found, and Wheelchairs.
There I found the answer to the task, although it is somewhat ambiguous. It gives the location
where wheelchairs can be picked up but states that wheelchairs are available on a first come
first serve basis for our guests at no extra charge.

Task 2: You want to plan to see an Extreme Screen movie during your visit, so you want to
secure tickets in advance. Determine what is playing on Wednesday, November 25.
From the Guest Amenities page, I clicked on Plan Your Visit. Near the top of that
page, in the Admission Information section, are ticket prices for various parts of the station,
including the Reigner Extreme Screen Theatre. To the far right of the prices is a link where I was
prompted to Buy Tickets. I clicked on this and it took me to a page listing movies. I was
initially unsure of how to find out which movies would be playing on Wednesday, November 25
until I noticed that below each movie section to the right was a timeline of when they would be
playing; for example: 10/13/2015 To 4/2/2016. I determined that Robots 3D and Jerusalem
will be playing on November 25.

Task 3: Go through the steps of buying two tickets for an Extreme Screen movie on that
day. Determine whether or not you can choose the actual seats so that you and your
grandmother will have wheelchair-compatible seating.
I chose to buy tickets for Robots 3D. I first clicked on a button that said Add to Basket
under the Robots 3D picture and description. On the next page, when prompted to enter the date I
wanted to purchase tickets for, it gave me a drop-down list of dates such as Tues 11/3/2015.
This was hard to read and confusing to pick to correct date in a huge list of numbers. After
finding the correct date, I clicked another Add to Basket button which then took me to another
page where I chose how many tickets I wanted. On the next page, I was provided with the total
amount. There was a small button near the top of My Tickets section that said Select Seats
with an icon of a mouse choosing from a row of boxes. I clicked on this and was taken back to
the previous page where I chose the number of seats I wanted. I initially thought I did something

wrong and so repeated this action. However, the same thing happened and I realized this was
simply a misdirection. I determined that users cannot choose specific seats when buying tickets
online.

Task 4: Youd like to spend time walking around Union Station during your visit, but you
want to be sure enough areas of the station will be wheelchair-friendly. Go through the
steps to send an email to the appropriate person/department to inquire about wheelchair
access throughout all areas of Union Station.
It was hard to maneuver back to the home page. Clicking on the logo at the top of the
page did not bring me back home. The site I was on was a separate site from UnionStation.org
with the address BoxOffice.UnionStation.org. I had to reenter the address to get back to the
actual site. After returning to the home page, I clicked on Contact in the main navigation. This
page had the phone number of Union Station and a list of emails for different departments. I was
unsure of which department would be the best to contact. I decided on Visitor Relations. I
clicked on the provided email address and an email message popped up with the address already
entered.

Choosing Participants
Tester 1: Krystal Brier
Krystal Brier is a 19 year old female. Ms. Brier is from Cameron, Missouri, a small town.
She is currently a student at Northwest Missouri State University. She is also a Resident
Assistant in Hudson Hall on campus. Krystal spends an average of 24 hours a week using the
web. She estimates that the split between browsing and social media is 50/50. Some of her

favorite websites are Facebook.com, Buzzfeed.com, and Pinterest.com. She has never visited
UnionStation.org. When asked if she considered herself a high-experience or low-experience
user of the internet, she hesitated but said high-experience. After a moment, however, she said,
Maybe I would be medium? But that isnt an option, so high. Although she self-identified as a
medium-to-high-experience user, based on Krystals previous interaction with the web and her
low experience with the site she is my low-experience tester.
Environment for Tester 1

Location of the test: I went to Ms. Briers residence hall room on the second floor of
Hudson Hall. Ms. Brier spends most of her free time in her room and goes there to relax.
When she is out of her room, she is at class, at meetings, working on school work, or
interacting with residents. Her room is the one place where she can have privacy and
wind down from the day. It is where she spends the most time browsing and web. She sat
in her rocking chair while I conducted the test, as that is the spot in her room she most

often uses her computer.

Physical environment: Ms. Briers room was not messy and well-lit. The test was
conducted in the afternoon and all the blinds were open so the sunny day lit the room
well. She thought perhaps her air-conditioning was broken because the room was
uncomfortably warm. Ms. Brier had her phone on the arm of the chair at her disposal, but
it did not ring during the test. I suspect, however, that had it rang or vibrated, she would

have checked it.

Technical environment: Ms. Brier used an HP EliteBook for the usability test the one
provided by the university to every student. She was connected to campus Wi-Fi, which
was working pretty well on the day of the test. Campus Wi-Fi has a bad reputation of

being slow. The browser she used was Google Chrome. The only browser add-on was Ad
Blocker. Her screen resolution was 1366 x 768.

Tester 2: Jack Waldo

Jack Waldo is a 21 year old male. He is active force in the Navy and his job title is
Aviation Electronic Technician. He is from Omaha, Nebraska but is stationed in Virginia Beach,
Virginia. Per week, Jack spends approximately 40 hours on the internet. He says 70% of that
time is spent on social media, while 30% consists of browsing the web. Some of his favorite
websites are Google, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. He had not visited
UnionStation.org before, but he remarked that it reminded him of the Durham Museum in
Omaha another train-station-turned-museum that can be rented out for events. He has visited
the DurhamMuseum.org before. Jack called himself a very high-experience user. I agree, and
consider him to be my high-experience tester based on his extensive use of the internet, his job,
the many add-ons he had enabled on his computer, and his knowledge of a similar venue.
Environment for Tester 2

Location of test: The test was conducted at Jacks parents house in Omaha, Nebraska.
Although he technically lives in Virginia, he feels extremely at home in his parents
house. This is where he gets to relax when he is home. Jack sat on a couch in his living

room for the test.

Physical environment: The environment of this test was full of distractions. The TV was
playing Lord of the Rings, his three dogs were roaming around, and people were walking
in and out of the room as the test went on. The TV sometimes made it hard to hear each
other speak, which was definitely an obstacle to the test. I also think this would be a
distraction during his normal browsing experience. He had his phone in his pocket, but

did not check it during the test. He self-identified to me as an extremely plugged-in

person, so I believe in a normal situation he would have checked his phone at least once.
The test was conducted in the early afternoon, and it was a particularly nice day out so

the doors and windows were all open, providing nice natural lighting.
Technical environment: Jack used a MacBook Pro for this usability test. His browser
was Google Chrome and it had multiple browser add-ons. One add-on was Google
Hangouts, a messaging app. Another was Motorola Connect, which allows the user to see
incoming texts and calls through Google Chrome. He also had Google Cast as an add-on
which connects to Chromecast through Chrome. Finally, he had Destiny Item Manager
which is an app for the video game Destiny. Jack was connected to the Wi-Fi in his
house, which he noted is really fast.

Test Results
Initial Site Thoughts

Tester 1 Report: To get to UnionStation.org, Krystal typed union station into the
search bar and clicked on the websites link from Google. The page took roughly 2
seconds to load and Krystal did not comment on the load time. Krystal noted the
following about the site, Wow, colorful. I can look at events, plan to go to the Union
Station I guess, and I could connect with them. I can look at news, like announcements
about Science City and daVinci. I can explore. They have restaurants, thats cool! Oh, I
like these banners that list the restaurants. Thats a cool design. Theres the hours and
maps, thats really nice to have. Theres a lot of information on this one page. But its
mapped out nicely. Krystal took her time looking at each aspect of the page and scrolled
through the whole front page. She scrolled using the tracking pad, which she did for the

entire test. Her facial expressions during this part were pretty neutral, except for a bit of

interest when she noticed the restaurants.

Tester 2 Report: After I read the site name out loud, Jack typed unionstation.org into
the search bar. It took the site 1 second to load. Upon arriving at the site, Jack
commented, Theres a lot of colors. Theres 6 pretty easy tabs up top. At this point I
asked him what he meant by easy and he said, I mean that you know what they will
entail when you click on them. He then continued commenting, saying, Theres a note
at the bottom of the screen that has a note about an upcoming closing. Theres a brief
news section and a brief about us section. It has visitor info with maps, tickets, and hours.
The bottom of the website has generic things that are on the bottom of websites. Its a
pretty decent website. I would say the slide at the top of the site stays too long, though. It
should stay no longer than six seconds since theres no big information being told, just
pictures. I wouldnt have even really known it was a slideshow if I didnt look at it for
long enough. The fonts are easy to read. And the colors are neutral except for the
slideshow up top. Jack used the tracking pad of his laptop to scroll, as he did for the
entire test. The fact that he was already making suggestions proved to me that he was
going to be my high-experience user.

Task 1: You are bringing your grandmother to Union Station for a Sunday afternoon
outing. She cant walk more than about 50 steps at a time. Determine whether or not there
will be a wheelchair available for her to use during the visit.
Tester 1
Krystal immediately started scrolling after I read the task. She scrolled to the bottom and
clicked on the About Union Station link. She scrolled through that page and said Theres

nothing there. She scrolled to the bottom of the About Union Station page and clicked on the
Building Map link. She said was looking for places wheelchairs could go. She asked me to
restate the question, so I did. She was very flustered at this point, squinting her eyes at the screen
a lot. She kept looking at the map for a place where wheelchairs would be located. The said
Well there isnt even an elevator here so I dont know why they would have wheelchairs. She
returned to the home page and said I dont know. I asked her what she would do next if she
was stuck but really wanted to find out and she said, I would probably call them, but as she
said that she scrolled to the bottom again and said, Wait, guest amenities! She clicked on that
link and upon arriving at the Guest Amenities page, looked and scrolled and found the
Wheelchairs section. She read it and said What if we came late and there were no
wheelchairs?

Answer: They do have wheelchairs, first come first serve.

Completed: Yes.

Tester 2
After I read the task, Jack said Oh man, like he was unsure of what to do. But he
immediately scrolled to the bottom and looked at the available links. He hovered briefly over
Facility Rentals but ultimately, and pretty quickly, right-clicked on Guest Amenities and had
it open in a new tab. I asked him if he was considering clicking on another link and he said, If
this doesnt work, I will probably go back and click on Facility Rentals. However, he found
the Wheelchairs section right away on the page and said That was pretty easy, maybe I got
lucky.

Answer: There are wheelchairs to use on a first come first serve basis.
Completed: Yes

Recommendations to improve UX for this task:

Krystal spent a good five minutes browsing the site to find the information she was
looking for. Jack spent less time, but still was unsure if he Guest Amenities would provide the
answer he was looking for. Many users will come to UnionStation.org in search of a specific
piece of information. Due to this, I would recommend UnionStation.org add a search function to
their website. A search bar in the upper-right hand corner of the website would be extremely
useful to users. If a search bar existed, Krystal could have easily typed wheelchair into it and
found the results much faster. A search bar would enhance the heuristic of Flexibility and
Efficiency of Use. It is true that some users might prefer to browse the site and wouldnt mind
spending a few extra minutes interacting with the content. But for the fast-paced user with not a
lot of time, a search bar would allow them to speed up their interaction and ultimately make their
experience more pleasing.
A second recommendation I have is to explicitly say how many wheelchairs they have
available. Giving the user a specific number will allow them to gauge if one will be available
when they arrive. If Union Station only has one wheelchair, the chance of getting one will be
much riskier than if they have ten. I just believe this would be something to be transparent about
in order to help the user even a little.

Task 2: You want to plan to see an Extreme Screen movie during your visit, so you want to
secure tickets in advance. Determine what is playing on Wednesday, November 25.
Tester 1

Krystal said, I remember seeing something about tickets, and went back to the home
page. She scrolled down to the section with banners and under the one labeled Screens &
Stages found the Reigner Extreme Screen Theatre. She clicked on this and found that this page
had primarily general information about the theatre, like features of the screen and projectors.
She said, I dont think theres any ticket stuff here. She clicked on the red button labeled
More Info without really reading the text above it and that took her to a page where she could
request to rent out the theatre for an event. She backed out and tried to click on Events Here
but it was just text. She then clicked on, underneath the Events Here headline, a specific movie
- Jerusalem. At this point, Krystal was getting frustrated. She read the dates it would be playing
and said, Well it doesnt say it wont be playing on November 25. She hit the back button and
did the same for Robots 3D and The Martian. Through this time-consuming and clunky action,
she determined that Robots 3D and Jerusalem would be playing on November 25.

Answer: Robots 3D and Jerusalem will play on November 25.

Completed: Yes

Tester 2
Jack closed out of the Guest Amenities page he had opened on a new page, and back on
the home page clicked on the top tab Plan Your Visit. He scrolled down and determined that
the whole Union Station would be open on November 25. He then said, I dont think I can do
anything else useful here. So he clicked on the top tab Events Calendar. He maneuvered it to
November 25. He initially clicked on Robots 3D, but then said, Well if it shows up here, it must
be playing that day, so he clicked the back button. He then looked at the other movies listed for
November 25 and said, SoRobots 3D and Jerusalem will be playing.

Answer: Robots 3D and Jerusalem.

Completed: Yes

Recommendations to improve UX for this task:

The Plan Your Visit tab is useful for this task, but it was not utilized by either tester.
Jack actually went to that page, but did not believe he could buy do anything on it besides look at
hours, pricing, and some other information. The Buy Tickets portion of the Admission
Information table is far to the right of the table, and the icons that lead a user to actually buy
tickets are a faded gray color. I would suggest making the Admission Information table shorter
lengthwise and changing the button color to red. Below is a very rudimentary example of what
that could look like.

Original Admission Information Table

Revised Admission Information Table

Another recommendation I have for this task to improve UX is to revise the wording of
Plan Your Visit. I understand why they chose that language, but I am not sure that it connects

well with users. Krystal did not once consider it for this task and Jack clicked on it, but was
confused by the content. The wording also makes it seem like the page will have more interactive
features, which it does not. I would recommend changing the name of that tab to Visit Us. This
more accurately describes what the user will find on the page: ticket prices, maps, and hours.
Changing the wording would improve the heuristic Match Between System and the Real World.
It is important to speak the users language. I would not be surprised if UnionStation.org
believed themselves to be doing so by using the wording of Plan Your Visit, but the testers did
not respond to it.
Additionally, Krystal struggled a lot with this task and that stemmed from her initial click
on the link Reigner Extreme Screen Theatre. Her experience would have been much quicker
had that page had a red button labeled Buy Tickets on it. It only makes sense to have that
function available on a page dedicated to the Extreme Screen. Most people will want to buy
tickets, not look at specs.

Task 3: Go through the steps of buying two tickets for an Extreme Screen movie on that
day. Determine whether or not you can choose the actual seats so that you and your
grandmother will have wheelchair-compatible seating.
Tester 1
From the page she was on, Reigner Extreme Screen Theatre, Krystal clicked on The
Martian. She then remembered that she had decided in the last task that that movie would not be
playing on November 25. She backed out and then noticed the Events Calendar tab at the top
and said, Oh, look at that! Jeez, that wouldve been nice. She clicked on it and maneuvered the
calendar to November 25. From there she chose Jerusalem and clicked the red More Info

button underneath it. On the next page, she clicked Buy Tickets. On the next page, she said,
All I can do is add to basket in a puzzled tone, and then asked Do I have to be a member? Oh,
wait, no. I asked her why she thought that and she said because of the gray banner at the top that
said Members must be logged in to see discounts shown in shopping cart. But she clicked the
red Add to Basket button. She was then prompted to enter the date. She scrolled through the
dates and said out loud Eleven twenty-five before choosing the correct date. I asked her why
she said that out loud and she said, Its kinda confusing to have to put it in number form. After
she chose the day, she hit an Add to Basket button again. Next she selected the number of
tickets. Then she said, I guess I cant choose seats, but I prompted her to keep following the
process. The next page was the checkout page. She saw the Select Seats link and icon and
clicked on it. When it redirected her to the page where she chose the number of seats, she said I
guess it doesnt work.

Answer: You cannot choose specific seats.

Completed: Yes

Tester 2
Jack chose Robots 3D from the Events Calendar page. He clicked the red More Info
button and then clicked the red Buy Tickets button. He was prompted to choose the date and he
said, This is annoying. I already told them which date I wanted when I chose it on the
calendar! After choosing the date, he clicked the Add to Basket button and said, I cant
choose my seats. I told him to keep going. So he chose 2 tickets and clicked Add to Basket
again. On the next page, the checkout page, he saw the Select Seats link right away and clicked
on it. He said, Oh, weird. Hold on, let me do it again. It redirected me. He scrunched up his
face in a confused, concentrated face. He actually clicked Select Seats three times just to make

sure it wasnt working and he said, It seems like the website is broken. He then clicked on
Assign Owners to see if that would let him pick the seats, but he determined it would not. He
said, Okay let me try another movie. Maybe because this one is 3D? He went through the
whole process again with Jerusalem but decided it was not possible.

Answer: It is not possible to select specific seats.

Completed: Yes.

Recommendations to improve UX for this task:

The process the testers went through for this test was very clunky. Both Krystal and Jack
had to click a version of an Add to Basket button three times in order to get to the checkout
page. The number could have been reduced if the page the user chooses the date also included
choosing how many tickets they want to buy. This will expedite the users interaction.
Another feature that made this process clunky was that the user chose the date through a
drop-down selection full of dates like Wed 11/25/2015. This made choosing a date not as easy
as it could have been. I recommend UnionStation.org change their drop-down selection to a
calendar selection. Below is an example of a calendar selection used by AMCTheatres.com. This
allows users to easily and visually select the day they are looking for.

I believe adding a calendar function would improve the heuristic of Error Prevention. In a dropdown selection full of numbers, it would be extremely easy to choose the incorrect date. With a
calendar, the visual aspect helps the user see both the day of the week and the actual date.
Finally, the actual goal of this task was to select specific seats that would be wheelchair
accessible. This is not currently possible, as both testers determined. However, the frustrating
aspect is that it seems like it is possible because of a small icon labeled Select Seats. Below is
a screenshot showing the icon, which is circled.

Both testers clicked on this believing it would allow them to choose specific seats. What it
actually did was take them back to the page where they selected the number of tickets they
wanted to buy. They both repeated the action, perhaps believing it was their own mistake.
However, they ultimately put the blame on the website itself, with Jack saying, It seems like the
website is broken, and Krystal saying, I guess it doesnt work. This needs to be changed in
some way. I would recommend first that they do put in a function where the user can choose
specific seats to buy. This will aid people with disabilities and make their site, and theatre, more
inclusive. If, for some reason, this is not possible, then the name of the icon needs to be changed
to something like Select Number of Tickets to accurately represent what will happen when the
user clicks on it.

Task 4: Youd like to spend time walking around Union Station during your visit, but you
want to be sure enough areas of the station will be wheelchair-friendly. Go through the
steps to send an email to the appropriate person/department to inquire about wheelchair
access throughout all areas of Union Station.
Tester 1
To begin the task, Krystal clicked on the Union Station logo at the top of the page she
was on. She realized it was not a link to the home page and so clicked the back button roughly 4
times to get back to the actual site. She clicked on the Contact tab in the top row of tabs. Upon
arriving at the Contact page she said, Whoa, thats a lot of emails. Her initial reaction was to
say, I dont think theres a specific email for this, but after a few more seconds scrolling, she
said, Oh Visitor relations, thats what I would email. She clicked on it and a blank email from
her school account popped up.

Answer: I would email the visitor relations email account.

Completed: Yes.

Tester 2
Jack tried clicked on the Union Station logo at the top of the page once, and then twice
quickly, but saw it didnt link to anything. He audibly sighed and then clicked the back button to
get back to the home page. He scrolled to the bottom of the page and clicked on Contact Us. At
this page, he looked at all options and said, Visitor Relations seems like my best bet. He
clicked on their email and because he didnt have email set up on his computer, it opened up his
email app and prompted him to set up an account. He said he would copy the link and paste it
into an email via his Gmail account.

Answer: Visitor Relations.

Completed: Yes.

Recommendations to improve UX for this task:

The biggest issue I noticed for both testers when trying to complete the task was that the
logo at the top of the page of the BoxOffice.UnionStation.org site did not link back to
UnionStation.org. Clicking that logo was both testers instinct for how to get back to the home
page. The fact that the logo does not link to the home page violates Jakob Neilsens usability
heuristic of User Control and Freedom. This heuristic means that website should give users an
emergency exit for when/if they make mistakes. By not giving the user an easy way to back
out of the BoxOffice.UnionStation.org site, UnionStation.org is inconveniencing them. Clicking
the back button four or five times in a row was annoying to the testers and is a difficult method
to employ when trying to return to a specific page.
Both testers completed this task the quickest and easiest out of the four tasks. However, I
still believe improvements can be made. Krystal struggled the most trying to find the correct
department to contact, making comments like, Whoa, thats a lot of emails, and, I dont think
theres a specific email for this. Even Jack, who found the Visitor Relations email quickly, said,
Visitor Relations seems like my best bet, indicating that he wasnt one hundred percent
positive. I have two recommendations to improve user experience in this instance. First, I would
suggest adding a short description of that department under the department name. This will help
the users understand exactly who they will be emailing, and if that department is the right one to
contact. Second, I suggest that the emails appear elsewhere in the website. For instance, the
Visitor Relations email could appear on the Guest Amenities page. This would simplify the
process for the user. They could go from reading about the availability of wheelchairs directly to

emailing the correct department instead of clicking to the Contact page. It would also ensure
that users are emailing the correct department because the website would put the emails in the
appropriate places. Below is an example of how this recommendation might look, with the
changed section circled.

Testing Conclusions

Completion Rate:
Both Krystal and Jack had a 100% completion rate, completing four out of four
tasks. This is much higher than the average task completion rate of 78%. There are a few
things I believe contributed to this high completion rate. First, I think Krystal would have
given up on the first and third task had I not encouraged her to keep going. I felt that from
pushing her to keep going, I would gather more information from the test and better see
potential areas for improvement on the site. Jack also might have not completed the third
task because he said I cant choose my seats, but I encouraged him to keep going by
telling him to pretend he really wanted to see this movie.

Similarities and Differences:

The two testers were different in many ways. Krystal, when trying to find
information, operated basically off the content of the home page. She did not use the top
tabs or the bottom links, but clicked on items on the body of the home page. Jack mainly
utilized the links on the bottom of the page. That was where he immediately looked when
presented with a new task. I found this discrepancy interesting and believe it shows their
different levels of experience with the web. Krystals method was slower and less
productive than Jacks. He knew the important links would be at the bottom and in used
them heavily in lieu of a search bar.
Additionally, Jacks test was simply quicker than Krystals by about 15 minutes.
He moved around quickly on the site and seemed more comfortable interacting with it.
Krystal was more likely to stumble upon an answer by accident, whereas Jack purposely
found answers by his own actions. Again, I believe this shows the difference in their
experience level.
There were similarities between the two, though. Many of their sentiments about
the website were similar: the fact that the logo on the BoxOffice.UnionStation.org site
didnt link to the home page and that the Select Seats function did not work were
frustrating to both. An interesting similarity between the testers is both of them were
impatient. Krystal, for the first task, did not listen fully and started doing a different task
looking for wheelchair accessibility instead of finding out if wheelchairs would be
available. Jack often would start clicking before I finished reading the entire task; for task
three I had to ask him to wait until I was finished to start looking around. Krystal also
was quick to frustration when doing the tasks and almost gave up multiple times. Jack

faced less frustration as he completed the tasks easier, but he became noticeably agitated
when the website did not work the way he wanted to. Both Krystal and Jack were relaxed
and not in stressful situations during the tests, so I believe their frustration came purely
from the tasks and website. Users have low patience and it is extremely important to
remember that when building and designing websites.

Heuristic done well:

One heuristic UnionStation.org does well already is Aesthetic and Minimalist
Design. The initial reaction of the site from both testers was extremely positive. The
above the fold of UnionStation.org is powerful and eye-catching. Having a slideshow
with large, colorful graphics draws the eye. An example of the slideshow is shown below.

However, even as you scroll down, the aesthetic remains. The website uses a neutral
color pallet of gray, tan, and red. The red is used sparingly, primarily for buttons like
More Info or Buy Tickets. This coloring of the website is appealing to the eye and
does not overwhelm.

The most important aspect of this heuristic, though, is that the content of the site
is necessary and relevant. The Visitor Info section on the home page is a great example
of the minimalist design utilized on this site.

As shown above, this section is extremely helpful to users looking to physically visit
Union Station. It is full of information, including hours, a map, parking information, and
ticket information. However, it does not look cluttered and there is no irrelevant content.
There are buttons that can lead users to other pages that go deeper into the subjects, but
this is a solid, succinct overview on the home page.
Another example of UnionStation.orgs minimalist design can be seen on their
About Us page. It is designed well and shows their personality.

Above is a screen shot of the first section of the About Us page. It is a simple design
that looks clean and professional. The use of a blueprint as the feature picture shows their
strong connection to their history and roots. And the copy underneath is descriptive,
engaging, and simple. It is not necessarily functional copy, but it does work to describe
the environment and experience of Union Station adventurous, historical, and inclusive.
This page is aesthetically appealing but there is also a purpose to everything on the page,
which is why I believe UnionStation.org is already succeeding at Aesthetic and
Minimalist Design.