Project
Payment mobile app for flight attendants for inflight use, integrating the point-of-sale functionality into their flight management app. Owned the UX Design and Research for this project from end to end, taking it from concept to beta release. Includes testing and selection of card reader hardware.My Role
Design Lead, Research LeadUsers
All Alaska Airlines flight attendant crewmembers. Additionally, includes Virgin America flight attendants who would join the company in a near-future corporate merger.Collaborators
6 Engineers, Project Manager, Product OwnerSituation
- Flight attendants used two separate apps for their inflight tasks: one to manage the flight and one for passenger purchases (point of sale).
- The flight management app had been recently built by my team.
- The point of sale app was problematic. It did not meet users' needs. Additionally, it did not align with the other other apps within the Alaska ecosystem.
- Flight attendants needed to switch between apps for every order, slowing down their service and causing frustration for both flight attendants and guests.
- Items were not properly accounted for, causing inventory and business issues.
- The project included evaluating and selecting a new card reader device that was to be issued to each user.
Previous point of sale screen. The point of sale app built for the flight attendants was clumsy and disrupted users' workflows.
Goals
- Design mobile purchase experience for iOS
- Improve satisfaction, accuracy, and efficiency of inflight services
- Work in close partnership with Engineering to streamline development efforts
- Deliver ahead of hard business deadline necessary to onboard new crewmembers
- Select new card reader to be integrated into custom iPhone case
Approach
- Understand the problem
- Understand the current apps
- Understand users' needs
- Understand the business needs
- Understand the unique constraints introduced by the inflight environment, e.g. no guarantee of wi-fi, multitasking flight attendants, device placement & orientation
- Blend the point of sale functionality with the flight management app
- Conduct exploratory research with flight attendants to identify their frustrations as well as what's working well
- Collaborate with other stakeholders: PMs, product owners, developers, and executive management
- Test concepts with users
- Design screens, beginning with low-fidelity sketches through high-fidelity clickable prototypes
- Articulate design choices with the data I gathered during user testing
- Iterate and refine while advocating for the user
- Conduct mock flight service in training fuselage
Activities
- UX Designer/Interaction Designer
- User Researcher
- Interactive prototyping in Principle
- Design in Sketch
- Visual design
- User flows
- Information architecture
- Wireframes
- Developed project style guide
- Conduct mock flight
Initial concept sketch. I brainstormed several versions of the screen and tested them with users. The rough, informal feel invited participants to give honest criticism of the screens.
Incremental design. The process I followed moved from sketches to black and white prototyping before working in final fidelity. Eliminating color from the screens kept participants focused on the feature interaction.
Results
- Delivered successful, on time product by working closely with project stakeholders
- Increased project velocity by working with development early in the project
- Simplified and improved the experience of thousands of Alaska's flight attendants, while preparing for app deployment to Horizon and Virgin America flight attendants
Full-color prototype. The final design of the app follows the style and patterns dictated by the flight management app. It allows the flight attendants to navigate from guest to guest without losing context when completing purchases.
Impact
This project had a positive impact on the business, its employees, and its customers in the following ways:- Streamlined workflow, resulting in faster services and increased sales and more relaxed flight attendants
- Improved inventory, resulting in better-stocked flights and reducing food waste of perishable items
- Reducing cognitive load for flight attendants, seamlessly integrating elite status and guest rewards into inflight purchases
Reflection
What I learned and practiced:- How to understand these users' specific needs
- How to research and iterate quickly
- How to synthesize feedback into product features
- How to build detailed prototypes
- How to share and present my work
- How to create a style guide for a new product
Special Considerations
In addition to the design considerations described above, I considered many other factors in this design, such as:- Handedness when swiping credit cards
- Cabin lighting
- Service cart details
- Flight attendant uniform details, e.g. pockets
- Vision limitations
- Multitasking
App in Action
- App was deployed on-time and is now used on every Alaska Airlines flight
- Flight attendants' feedback has been positive
- App improves food and beverage services, appreciated by flight attendants, airline guests, and the business
In-market app. Flight attendants allowed me photograph my app in use on a recent flight.