Walkway
Overview
One winter break in LA, my navigation app told me to walk straight to a bus stop—only to realize it was on a freeway above me, with no stairs or signs in sight. This experience led me to develop Walkway, a navigation app for people who move through cities without cars, because right now, most navigation tools treat pedestrians like an afterthought.
Team
Lead Designer and Researcher // Denisse Mari Aguilar
Designer // Qi Wang
Designer // Kwan Hei Kan
Discipline
UX Research
Product Design
tools
Figma
Useberry
PROBLEM
Most cities weren’t designed for pedestrians—they were designed for traffic
And navigation apps, which only direct you to the quickest route without regards for if sidewalks exist in the first place, reflect this.
SOLUTION
Crowdsourced navigation for safer walking
From the real experiences of pedestrians, so people can flag hazards, mark safe, accessible paths, and share useful tips.
ONBOARDING
Users input both needs and preferences to personalize their walking experience. Needs include non-negotiable requirements like wheelchair ramps or curb cuts—features essential for safe and accessible routes. Preferences cover things like shady paths, quiet streets, or scenic detours—details that make your walks more enjoyable. By distinguishing between the two, WalkWay can prioritize what matters most while still customizing for comfort.
COMMUNITY REPORTS
Let’s say Cheyenne wants to get to a bookstore in Koreatown. Walkway helps her pick a route that avoids unlit side streets and shows which parts of the walk have shade during the afternoon heat. She can also see if anyone else flagged construction on the sidewalk that might slow her down.
Or Daniel wants to meet a friend for lunch. He checks Walkway and sees which nearby intersections actually have ramps, and avoids the route with broken pavement that other users have flagged before. Each step in the app is designed to prioritize what people on foot actually care about—not just what’s efficient for a car.
TURF WARS
We avoided cash incentives to protect data quality and trust. Walkway isn’t a gig app—it’s a civic tool. Our system reinforces participation through access, not monetization.
We designed a lightweight gamification system to encourage user contributions without compromising Walkway’s civic goals. Users earn points by rating routes and reporting hazards, with rewards like transit passes and avatar cosmetics.
We also introduced a local leaderboard system inspired by turf wars—users compete to become top contributors in their neighborhoods by rating routes and reporting hazards. The more someone contributes, the more they "claim" their area on the map, turning walkability into a friendly rivalry. It's like a civic version of Pokémon Go, where improving pedestrian safety becomes a shared (and slightly competitive) community effort.
REFLECTIONS
Working on Walkway pushed me to think more critically about how design intersects with perception, especially when it comes to safety. During our research, I noticed how deeply personal and culturally shaped the idea of a “safe route” can be—and how often those ideas reflect unconscious biases tied to historically redlined or majority-BIPOC neighborhoods. It made me realize that designing for safety isn’t just about UX heuristics or well-lit streets—it’s about questioning whose comfort is centered in the first place.
On a practical level, I became more confident in my ability to organize UI hierarchy, streamline workflows in Figma, and share work-in-progress for feedback—even when things felt messy. Time constraints meant we couldn’t test the prototype in real time, and I sometimes wonder how our tool would hold up against apps already out there. Still, this project helped me grow into a more curious, collaborative designer—someone who’s learning to design not just for ease of use, but for equity too.