05Case study · Internal innovation

Walk Coach

Reducing the mental load of an unfamiliar delivery walk.

Prototype View the prototype ↗

Walk Coach prototype on a phone, showing the day brief and upcoming stops on a delivery loop, with demo data — Interactive prototype · demo data

My roleConcept, product design & build — solo

TypeInteractive prototype (web)

StackJavaScript · Leaflet · OpenStreetMap

StatusPrototype · concept demo

Independent concept — not affiliated with, or endorsed by, Royal Mail. Every walk, place and figure shown here is fictional.

The problem

While working at Royal Mail, I watched new and reserve posties struggle with unfamiliar walks. Experienced staff move confidently because they already know the sequence; a new starter has to hold parking, bundle changes, crossings, collections and delivery notes in their head all at once.

A manager had spotted the same problem — and had already commissioned a printed map to help with it.

Research

My research was the job itself. I'd walked these routes, so I knew the map wasn't the answer: it tells you where things are, but it doesn't teach you the walk — and the difficulty was never navigation. It was the cognitive load of remembering what to do next.

Handing someone a map is like giving an Uber driver an A–Z in 2026.

So I made the case for something different: not a better map, but guidance — one decision at a time, the way modern tools actually work. Because I'd done the job, I could argue for it, then build it.

The design approach

I designed Walk Coach to reduce mental effort rather than simply display information. It's shaped as the four moments of a delivery day, not one screen:

Day briefPrepCoachMap

The decisions behind it:

Model the real structure of a walk, not a route list

A walk isn't a list of stops — it's sections, banded bundles and runs, with trolley lock-points, deliver-while-pushing stretches, and different rules on a Saturday. Building that structure is only possible if you've actually walked it.

One next action, not the whole map

Experienced posties can hold the sequence in their head; beginners can't. So the Coach view shows one big "do this next" card with what's coming up, instead of a map that assumes you already know the route. Guidance one decision at a time.

Views that follow the shape of the job

A day brief before you leave, Prep to tie off the frame in walk order, Coach out on the round, and a Map to find an address or a mis-sort. Each view is a different moment of the same day, not a menu of features.

Worker-protective by design

The app guides the worker and never tracks or reports them, and the pace estimate stays on the phone. In a workplace tool, that trust matters more than any feature — so it's stated plainly, and every figure in the demo is fictional.

Screens

Captured from the interactive concept demo — every walk, place and figure shown is fictional.

Walk Coach 'Coach' view — a large 'before you leave' brief card and a 'coming up' list of the next stops, marked concept demo, fictional data — **One next action**The "do this next" card — not a map you're assumed to already know.

Walk Coach 'Prep' view — frame prep with bundles tied in walk order, bags and runs — **Frame prep**Bundles tied in walk order before you leave — the real structure of a walk.

Walk Coach 'Map' view — numbered stops on an OpenStreetMap layer for finding an address or a mis-sort — **Find a mis-sort**A map only where it helps: to locate an address, not to teach the route.

Walk Coach 'Day brief' view — route order, bags and bundles, special-delivery cut-off and Saturday-specific rules — **The day's shape**Route order, bundles, cut-offs and Saturday rules — in one brief.

Technical implementation

Walk Coach is a self-contained web prototype — deliberately lightweight, because the point was to prove the interaction, not to build the system behind it.

JavaScriptLeafletOpenStreetMap Static / no backendRuns on any phone browserFictional demo data

The decisions that mattered technically:

A prototype that proves the interaction, not a platform

It's a static web app with no backend, so it loads instantly on any phone browser and needs nothing installed. That let me put the real experience in a manager's hand quickly — the fastest way to argue for an idea is to let someone use it.

The walk encoded as data

Sections, banded bundles, runs and tie-off points are modelled as structured data the views read from — the same source drives the Day brief, Prep, Coach and Map. That structure is the product, and I could only model it because I'd walked it.

Maps only where they earn their place

Leaflet and OpenStreetMap power the Map view for locating an address or a mis-sort — but the Coach view deliberately hides the map. The technology appears exactly where it reduces load and nowhere it would add it.

Outcome

Walk Coach is a working, interactive prototype — a concept I could hand to management to react to, not just a slide. The managers I showed it to responded positively — a reminder that small workflow improvements can have a meaningful operational impact. It hasn't been deployed; the value so far is the proposal, and the proof that the right tool here is guidance, not a map.

What I learned

This project reinforced how valuable domain knowledge can be. Because I'd done the job myself, I could see that the obvious fix — a map — was the wrong tool, and make the case for the right one.

It also taught me that a prototype someone can hold beats a document they have to imagine. Building the real interaction, even with fictional data, changed the conversation.

What it took

First-hand domain knowledgeOnboarding design Route & workflow UXRapid prototyping Operational problem-solving

Walk Coach is an independent prototype — not affiliated with, or endorsed by, Royal Mail. All walk data shown is fictional.