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STart: Sound Transit Art Program
STart is Sound Transit's art program that works to bring local and nationally recognized artists' work into stations and transit centers.
Open calls for artists: Deadline - June 30,2025 Learn more
Home / System expansion / Creating vibrant stations / STart: Sound Transit Art Program
About STart
STart, Sound Transit's art program, features works by nationally known and emerging public artists, many of whom live in the Pacific Northwest. Their work helps welcome and engage riders at stations and transit centers.
Subscribe to news
Artwork Gallery
Explore how local artists shape Sound Transit spaces — artworks that reflect community identity and enhance everyday travel.
View gallery
Public art map
Use the interactive map to find artworks at Sound Transit stations and facilities — discover artists, learn about each installation.
View interactive art map
Open calls for artist
Next deadline: June 30, 2025
Get you artwork featured in the STart program!
View opportunities
Subscribe to email elerts
Discover artworks along our system
STart utilizes 1 percent of construction budgets, as identified in each voter-approved capital initiative, to bring a human scale and thoughtful detail into the large transportation infrastructure that Sound Transit builds.
Learn more below by exploring the Platform blog and our featured work
City Hummingbird and Kitchen Window Curtain - Lynnwood City Center Station
City Hummingbird honors the rich history of neon road signs that once lined Highway 99. Its companion, Kitchen Window Curtain, acts as its backdrop, turning the whole plaza into an enormous...
©Claudia Fitch, 2023, Lynnwood City Center Station
View more
Frequently asked questions
Resources
Contact
Questions about Sound Transit’s art program?
Feel free to reach out to us at
general resources
STart Sound Transit Art Program
Guide to artwork on Link light rail
Guide to artwork on Sounder commuter rail
artist resources
Tips for artists on acquiring insurance
Artist contract
Certificate of liability insurance
Insurance requirements for artist contracts
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Seattle's Transit Art Program Webpage Revamp
Alongside the Video, Editorial, and Design Team at Sound Transit
Timeline
Summer 2025 - Spring 2026
Summary
During my 1 year time at Sound Transit, I revamped and shipped the 7-year old art digital experience that serves 41M+ annual passengers along the Puget Sound transit system. I collaborated with PMs, engineers, editorial teams, and researchers to ship the final design.
My Roles
I was both the Lead UX Designer and UX Researcher of this project. From initial research planning to execution, leading stakeholder meetings to fulfill business visions and tradeoffs, and final design ideation to implementation.
Outcomes
Officially Lunched!
in Q1 2026
44% Increase
In average task completion rate (47% to 91%).
140%
In average system usability score (33 to 89).
Overview
Less paths in confusion, more room for discovery
One website, one point of contact that makes sense to two distinct audiences
The initial ask of the team was a visual refresh to boost engagement for passengers. Yet, I came to realize the true task lies behind the information architecture to unify one intuitive experience for two distinct audiences - artists and general audiences. Here's a sneak peak into the final design!
MENU
EN
STart: Sound Transit Art Program
STart is Sound Transit's art program that works to bring local and nationally recognized artists' work into stations and transit centers.
Home / System expansion / Creating vibrant stations / STart: Sound Transit Art Program
About STart
STart, Sound Transit's art program, features works by nationally known and emerging public artists, many of whom live in the Pacific Northwest. Their work helps welcome and engage riders at stations and transit centers.
Subscribe to news
Artwork Gallery
Explore how local artists shape Sound Transit spaces — artworks that reflect community identity and enhance everyday travel.
View gallery
Public art map
Use the interactive map to find artworks at Sound Transit stations and facilities — discover artists, learn about each installation.
View interactive art map
Open calls for artist
Next deadline: June 30, 2025
Get you artwork featured in the STart program!
View opportunities
Subscribe to email elerts
Discover artworks along our system
STart utilizes 1 percent of construction budgets, as identified in each voter-approved capital initiative, to bring a human scale and thoughtful detail into the large transportation infrastructure that Sound Transit builds.
Learn more below by exploring the Platform blog and our featured work
City Hummingbird and Kitchen Window Curtain - Lynnwood City Center Station
City Hummingbird honors the rich history of neon road signs that once lined Highway 99. Its companion, Kitchen Window Curtain, acts as its backdrop, turning the whole plaza into an enormous...
©Claudia Fitch, 2023, Lynnwood City Center Station
View more
Frequently asked questions
Resources
Contact
Questions about Sound Transit’s art program?
Feel free to reach out to us at
general resources
STart Sound Transit Art Program
Guide to artwork on Link light rail
Guide to artwork on Sounder commuter rail
artist resources
Tips for artists on acquiring insurance
Artist contract
Certificate of liability insurance
Insurance requirements for artist contracts
Step 1, Clearing up the way for navigation
By completely reconstructing the website's IA structure, I build upon the existing design system and created new components for unique information that focus on accessibility and intuitive navigation.
Step 2, A gentle nudge towards discovery
I brainstormed and gained stakeholders buy in to launch 2 new features: Artwork gallery and Interactive art map.
Discovery
A webpage designed for both artists and general audience served neither effectively.
Digging out the true reason behind low engagement
I conducted field studies and semi-structured interviews along 10 stations and 6 potential users, experiencing first hand on users pain points with low engagement and low discoverability of the art program information.
Two distinct audience,
both confused and lost
The critical moment was realizing that the two main target audiences were never defined during the original design, which lead to the result of poor navigation and discoverability of important information.
Design Principles
How can the art program feel lively and exciting to explore digitally?
At this point I shifted my focus from just visual redesign(the skin) to reconstructing the whole structure (the bones) of the website. I decided on 4 design pillars to guide the overall experience.
Discoverability first
Users must find information immediately.
Different audiences, different needs
Artists and riders require different paths.
Art should feel engaging
The website should reflect the experience of public art.
Accessibility is non-negotiable
The experience must work for everyone.
Ideation & Exploration
Exbracing ambiguity in initial ideas
I drew inspiration from world-wide transit systems to understand best practices of transit art page layouts. Although not all explorations were kept, this gave me the opportunity to think outside the box.
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STart: Sound Transit Art Program
Gallery
About
STart is Sound Transit's art program that works to bring local and nationally recognized artists' work into stations and transit centers.
Join as artist
Resource
LOGO
Artwork name
Art in everyday life provides positive experiences for people riding Sound Transit trains and buses, and for people living near its many transit centers. Artists respond to the local character of neighborhoods in artwork specifically created for the stations and facilities the agency operates. STart utilizes 1 percent of construction budgets, as identified in each voter-approved capital initiative, to bring a human scale and thoughtful detail into the large transportation infrastructure that Sound Transit builds.
STart, Sound Transit's art program, features artworks by nationally known artists as well as emerging public artists. Many live in the Pacific Northwest. Their work represents a diverse range of style, scale and perspective that creates welcoming and engaging places.
Art in everyday life provides positive experiences for people riding Sound Transit trains and buses, and for people living near its many transit centers. Artists respond to the local character of neighborhoods in artwork specifically created for the stations and facilities the agency operates. STart utilizes 1 percent of construction budgets, as identified in each voter-approved capital initiative, to bring a human scale and thoughtful detail into the large transportation infrastructure that Sound Transit builds.
STart, Sound Transit's art program, features artworks by nationally known artists as well as emerging public artists. Many live in the Pacific Northwest. Their work represents a diverse range of style, scale and perspective that creates welcoming and engaging places.
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STart: Sound Transit Art Program
Gallery
About
STart is Sound Transit's art program that works to bring local and nationally recognized artists' work into stations and transit centers.
Join as artist
Resource
Initial versions of wireframe explorations
(that were not kept but influenced the final designs)
Design Iterations
Surfacing critical contents at first glance
I lead 5+ rounds of design critic sessions with the PM, UI design lead, and engineers to iterate on the designs. The final version gathered critical information that was scattered in the page during our first version, and presented in a clear at a glance view.
Design highlights
A clear title and simple description is what they need
I minimized the contents and reorganized the homepage information and design layout. This allowed different target users to quickly identify the information that they need.
So, what's new?
I gained stakeholder's buy-in for two new features that would boost functionality and engagement of our target users. Here are the new features:
A clear and comfortable gallery experience
I introduced a refreshed gallery view of all featured artworks, each with a dedicated information page including all the essential contents that a viewer would want to know. The artworks are categorized into filters that support efficient discoverability.
Before
After
And…the Interactive art map!
The interactive map allows users to explore the artworks along the transit lines interactively. While an interactive map scored highly during testing, engineering constraints prevented implementation in the MVP. I secured stakeholder buy-in to include it in the 2026 roadmap.
A visual refresh that focuses on accessibility
I created both web and mobile versions for the webpage. Working with the design style guide and revised 10+ components into accessible assets used across the whole agency's design.
I ensured that every feature is accessible for mobile version to fulfill the mobile-first approach of the design.
I created new web and mobile design components for the agency's figma design style guide.
Validation
The improvements were significant
Creating an artwork website is beyond visuals and aesthetics. I asked internal and external users to experience the new webpage, and these were the results.
Impact
The page is now LIVE for 41M+ audiences!
Leading the redesign of the art page, which has faced low engagement for the past seven years, has been an incredible journey. I'm proud to introduce the new digital presence of our art program and create a more vibrant, engaging transit experience for our passengers!
Learnings
Be curious, collaborative, and creative!
Working with such a diverse group of interns was a blast!
Proactivity drives impact
Reaching out for 20+ coffee chats taught me that meaningful change starts with taking initiative to listen, connect, and build trust
Curiosity is the fastest way of learning
Asking questions and seeking mentors beyond the agency reminded me that curiosity not only accelerates learning but also opens doors I didn’t know existed
Intuitiveness is the ultimate shared language
I realized that when a design feels effortless to use, it bridges backgrounds, roles, and expertise better than any explanation I could give
Bonus self-lead project
How can we engage users in those mere seconds it takes to pay their fare?
In Seattle’s busy transit environment, it’s easy to overlook the simple act to "Tap the card"
Through my own experiences observing fellow passengers, I began imagining ways to enhance the interaction with our payment machines. I crafted the concept and mapped out the interaction flow in Figma. I collaborated with the ideation partner—Claude and Figma Make where vibe coding jumps in. Then I returned to my old friend—ProtoPie hand crafting micro-interactions and refining each motion until it matched my vision.