Design: Like a Traveler's Scrapbook

Once the features were settled, it was time to decide how the site should look.

My first version used a serif typeface and brown tones. It looked trustworthy, but cold — more like an official notice than a travel guide.

So I thought about what had piled up in my bag during the Kagoshima trip: bus tickets, a paper map from the tourist information center, stamps collected at every stop. The information travelers know best lives on paper like that. So I decided to make the site feel like a tabi no shiori, a handmade travel booklet: photos pasted onto cream paper, notes held down with tape, stamps pressed here and there.

But however much it looks like a booklet, it is still a tool for finding your bus. So I set a few rules.

• Information stays straight. Tilts, handwriting and tape are for decoration only. Anything you need to read — stop names, timetables, fares — stays level and in a plain, readable typeface.
• Real data becomes the props. The timetable on the bus stop sign on the home page and the distances on the hand-drawn map all come from the actual route data and survey results. No made-up numbers for decoration.
• Travel objects instead of characters. This service has no mascot. Instead, travel objects — a bus stop sign, a ticket, a stamp — take center stage.
• The map is a tool. The screen where you look for your bus has no paper texture and no tilt. When you're in a hurry, finding things quickly comes first.

For the typeface I chose Zen Maru Gothic, which is rounded and soft. It stays natural even with Japanese, Korean and English on the same screen.

Some rules matter as much as looks. Every text color meets the contrast required by Japan's web accessibility standard (JIS X 8341-3), so the site stays readable for people with low vision and for travelers squinting at their phones in bright sun.