Senza Frizioni started from my daily commute and became a question about Europe. Why does crossing it by train still take five apps and three accounts? An exam project for the Digital Visions course at IAAD, designed and built as a prototype you can open in a browser.
The brief
The Digital Visions course at IAAD, taught by Alberto Bonetti, opened with a simple request. Look more closely at what surrounds you, and bring a photo of something from your everyday life that could spark a project. Mine was a steering wheel. Every morning at 7:14 I start the car and drive 28 kilometres to university, not because I like driving but because it is the only option that really works.
Thirty three frictions
Europe has 33 main rail operators. Thirty three systems, thirty three interfaces, thirty three ways to buy a ticket. Going from Turin to Copenhagen means downloading several apps, managing several accounts and hoping the connections hold. Senza Frizioni does not replace the operators, it translates them into one language. One app, one payment, one journey.
Three cards to begin
The onboarding is three cards. One search instead of a national app per country. A trip across Milan, Zürich, Paris and Barcelona drawn as one continuous line. Then you type your name and your Interrail pass turns over, already yours before you have booked anything.
One search, one price
Two cities and one button. The app compares the operators, works out the best combination, applies your pass if you have one and shows a single final price. Results can be sorted by best mix, fastest, cheapest, direct or greenest, and each one shows changes, comfort, how crowded the train is and the CO₂ saved compared with a flight.
The pass in your pocket
No PDF and no manual activation. The pass lives inside the app, shows the days used and left, and has a QR code that refreshes every 60 seconds, ready for inspection. Trips collects the journey in progress, the drafts and the history.
Open the prototype ↗A future, written down
The presentation imagines a 2030 in which a European directive requires every rail operator to join one interoperability platform. It maps the three existing players, Europe's Rail, Interrail and Rail Europe, each solving one piece. And it explains how an operator joins in four steps, connect, map, test and go live, keeping its brand, pricing and rules.
Download the presentation (PDF) ↗Approach & craft
Concept, product design and the full prototype, from onboarding to the pass, plus the presentation.
The outcome
- A working prototype, from the first screen to the pass with its QR code
- One search across operators, sorted by mix, speed, price, direct trains or emissions
- A presentation with a 2030 scenario, competitors and an integration plan for operators