The Challenge

The Context

There are over 15.6M flights that travel across the United States every year. During those flights, customer interactions feel unclean, opaque, and confusing. Airline corporations detract from the excitement of exploring somewhere new. Overall, modern air travel lacks empathy for patrons.

The Problem

Flying is stressful: confusing airports, chaotic security and boarding procedures, poor customer interactions, and rewards programs that seem to never pay off. Passengers have to prepare for delays, and irritated security agents.

My Hypothesis

Imagine an airline app that focuses on the experience of travel and exploration. An airline that streamlines the rituals of flying, from arrival at the airport, to deboarding the plane, solving many pain points travelers face today.

The UX Research

When I started the project, I focused on extensively researching the flying experience, from buying tickets to landing at the gate. Current airlines do this, so analyzing their processes and behaviors I could begin to understand how the pain points of consumer experiences. I then interviewed frequent flyers to better understand their wants and needs as users.

User Interviews

During the interview phase, I learned there are many types of flyers: business, families, and vacations and holidays. Each type of traveler looks for different value in the airline they fly with.

Persona Building & Goals

From the insights I gathered in the interviews I began to form a persona. This persona would look for an airline that focuses on the flying experience and the transitory instincts of travelers. They would want an airline that listens and communicates openly with their travelers, and they would look for new and simple ways to earn and spend rewards.

Usability

Results from the research phase materialized, once I started sketching out ideas. I began by figuring out how certain flying scenarios would work and testing them with users.

User Flows

The boarding process is a common pain point for travelers. I worked out a new user flow that incorporated more touch points for the traveler to have with the airline app that would improve communication, as well as increase the efficiency for the boarding process itself.

Wireframes

The wireframe sketches focused on purchasing flights. I studied how Airbnb managed their booking process and felt that their focus on the destination was a natural fit for this new airline.

Testing Feedback

I then presented these wireframes as a prototype to potential users. The feedback they gave helped influence the design, such as adding checkmarks to signal objective completion.

MVP & Information Architecture

From the insights gained during usability, I was able to to prioritize which features to build first. These features then were mapped to better understand how all of the screens would interact with the user.

IA: Sitemapping

I reached out to a potential user to help me understand how a user might organize the various actions into a set of menus. This exercise influenced the final menu architecture in the final prototype.

Clickable Prototype

What I learned during the research phase, started taking shape once I started sketching out ideas. I started with figuring out how certain flying scenarios would work and testing them with users.

Using Your Itinerary

The Itinerary is where the main interactions with the MVP features occur. Contextual information is presented to the user to make the arduous steps of flying feel transparent and simple to follow.

Finding a Flight

Searching for flights focuses on the destination by using compelling imagery, and single action steps to walk through the purchasing process.

Other Interactions

A messenger feature allows the user to stay up to date on changes to their travel plans, communicate with airline staff, and the ability to message flight attendants directly during flights. This provides perceived individual attention of the user for any needs they might have throughout all phases the traveling process.

Additional Credits

Company: General Assembly
Year: 2018
Kiri Martin - UX Design Instructor
My User Interviewees
All of my UX Design classmates for providing me with honest feedback

FLYy Airlines