The context

Pan American World Airways, commonly known as Pan Am, was the largest international air carrier in the United States from 1927 until its cease of operations in 1991. Pan Am grew to become a major company, credited with many innovations that shaped the international airline industry and a cultural icon of the 20th century.

Called ‘the Ritz-Carlton of Airlines’, Pan Am represents a bygone era, when the passenger experience was cut above the rest. Pan Am made jet travel accessible to a much wider audience, but it kept a premium image by associating itself with an international class of dignified pleasure seekers. It represented the sense of cool and glamour and has been known for setting the standard in aviation.

The solution

By revitalizing a historic airline for the modern world, we can bring in a new era, one that provides the premium experience of old in a time that needs it most. With Pan Am’s iconic history and established brand identity there is an opportunity to restore nostalgic features to the flying experience, such as ample leg room and quality service. By creating a personalized dashboard that gives the passenger unique information and reminders about their flight, we can give a premier user experience. The promise of the Pan Am brand is a promise of an elevated, thought through experience.

The challange

In the wake of the airline industry’s penny-pinching mentality, culminating with a “cattle car-in-the-sky” model of flight, there is an opportunity to revolutionize the flying experience. I was tasked with creating a solution to develop a flying experience unique to its competition, one that is sorely needed.

POV Statement

The user needs a comfortable and enjoyable way to fly because they expect and deserve a good experience when they pay so much money for this service.

My process

Because if you don't have a process, you don't know what you're doing.

Empathize

1. Understand the greatest frustrations/pain points users have when searching for flights, booking flights and checking in online

2. Identify and review Pan Am’s competitors to see how they are attempting to alleviate this problem for their users

3. Consider how I can present real-time notifications to users who don’t have the Pan Am app installed

Empathize

Define

Design

Test

Competitive Analysis
User Interviews
Insights

User Flow
Sketch
Wireframe

Style Guide + UI Kit
UI Design
Functional Prototypes

User Goals

Download their boarding pass onto their phones

Easily find the cheapest month of year to fly

User Needs

Clear and consistent feedback as to which flights have been selected

Excellent customer service

Frustrations

When airlines aren't transparent enough regarding their pricing and what it includes

Having to scroll for ages pas all the upsell products so I can click a CTA button

Motivations

Booking with reputable airlines that have a good safety record

Finding the best priced airfares to destinations

User Persona

Jeremy Parker

31, Marketing Director

“I want flying to be easy and painless without breaking the bank.”

About
Jeremy is a marketing director living in Boston. He’s been working in marketing for seven years and to improve his work he likes to learn as much as he can about people of all types and backgrounds.

He likes to travel and experience new places, meet new people, and learn about other cultures. Due to the flexibility of his job, he’s able to take personal time to travel two or three times a year. Though he’s used to booking flights, he doesn’t enjoy the process and feels it can sometimes be a barrier to his real goal: enjoying his trip. He’ll do anything he can to make his path from the Boston airport to his destination as simple and easy as possible.

Goals
• Finding the lowest airfare while not sacrificing the quality of the flight
• Choosing a flight with departure/arrival times that don’t cut into his trip itinerary
• Making his experience at the airport run as smoothly as possible

Frustrations
• Dislikes hidden airfare fees
• Sometimes buying a plane ticket is so needlessly complex
• Waiting in long lines at the airport, risking missing his flight

Empathy Map

Define

• Organized the information I gathered during the Empathize stage: Product Feature Roadmap

• Time to define Jeremy’s journey and how he would go about finding the perfect flights.

Low Fidelity Wireframes

Informed by the previous phases in the design process, the UI began to take shape. It was also during this phase that the Pan Am brand was given a refresh.

Design

Test

The next step was to test the designs with actual users. A high fidelity prototype of the desktop and mobile site was created using Figma and remote (using Maze) and in person usability tests were conducted.

TESTING NOTES

The booking flow was successfully completed by 100% of users in a very short amount of time. One out of two in-person participants and one out of eight remote participants were confused by the check-in form. The current design makes the form appear already filled in.

Affinity Map

Next step

After testing, it’s important to iterate on the previous designs to improve task flows, particularly for problem areas like the check-in process. With new design iterations, more usability tests should be conducted to learn new insights, challenge or confirm assumptions, and validate my previous research.