Pan American

Project Overview

Background:

The iconic airline that defined commercial flight had recently acquired new backers to jumpstart a relaunch of the brand. Pan Am sees an opportunity opening up to redefine the flying experience once again. They plan on launching a new airline in 12-18 months and are looking for a streamlined, well-thought-out user experience to match their trademark service.

Challenge:

To modernize the classic brand, Pan America would need to redefine the digital experience of booking flights. As a company known for exceptional service, their digital offering must have exceptional usability.

Role:

UI/UX Designer

Project Goals:

From end to end, review the flight booking process and improve the ease of use of their site across all devices.
Redesign the Pan Am brand and experience for modern times, while maintaining its core value of exceptional service.

Deliverables:

Summary of user interviews and competitive research
Brand guide & wireframes
Mid-fidelity response prototype
Results of 1st round user testing

Process:

Competitive research to establish industry standards and opportunities
Interview future users to identify possible pain points
Generate proto-personas to establish baseline understanding of what we currently know and understand about our users

Create user personas to synthesize research
Establish project goals, generate feature road map, and identify key features for MVP
Build out the sitemap and task/user flow

Develop brand logo, moodboard, and style card
Generate concepts for features in the road map and sketch low-fidelity wireframes for further iteration
Design responsive wireframes and establish a brand style guide
Iterate designs and finalize key wireframes for user flow

Establish criteria for user testing
Build mid-fidelity prototype based on user flow/testing requirements
Organize and conduct user testing
Compile findings and iterate on user flow/wireframes

1. Research

In order to meet these challenges, competitive research and user interviews were conducted. The goal of which was to answer the following:

User Interviews: Conduct 1:1 interviews to identify pain points when booking tickets online.
Competitive Research: Identify industry standard services, assess relative strengths/weaknesses, and identify possible routes to differentiate Pan America.

There are many considerations when planning a flight, such as flight time, layovers, costs, conditions of the flight, baggage regulations, and hotel/travel arrangements. It is no wonder why comprehensive services like Expedia and Tripadvisor are popular. They simplify the process and make it easy to plan.

All interviews found that the search for the right flight could easily become a frustrating experience. Airline sites display a lot of content and information all at once. This makes comparing options difficult and time consuming. It is then compounded when booking roundtrip or multi-trip flights. Users expressed a desire to simplify the process of shopping around for tickets and booking their flight.

Research Takeaways:

My main finding is that flying can quickly become a stressful experience. There are many choices to be made and regulations to follow. Both new and experienced users can easily become lost in the process. From booking to boarding a flight, there are opportunities to clarify the process, minimize tedium, and provide safeguards against common pain points. Measures such as adaptive flight guides, clear and consistent interface, and a responsive flight planner may prove to drastically improve the overall experience for Pan Am passengers.

Allow users to plan, search, and book their flights in a consistent manner across all devices
Provide users with search tools that allow for filtering, suggested flights, and side by side comparison.
Adaptive flight itinerary: Detailed flight plans for multi stop or round trip journeys.
Allow users to adjust flight plans, receive status notifications, provide suggested alternatives in case of delay or cancelation.

Provide real time flight information, airport directions, luggage tracking, boarding call and ticket information.
Minimize the time users spend waiting. Digital boarding pass, pre screening for security, ticket adjustments via device, check-in and boarding timers, and airline reimbursement account.
Available support: responsive FAQ, Chatbot, Designated contact point.
Establish differentiated user flows for experienced users or first time flyers.

2. Define

From the research I gathered, I determined that accessibility of information and simplicity of navigation would be the key factors in delivering the iconic Pan American Experience. My interviewees make it clear that stress caused by uncertainty and confusion are commonplace. To relaunch this brand, we will have to address the pain points that were discovered and create a clear and assuring user experience. To guide the remainder of the project, the following goals were established.

Project Goals:

From end to end, review the flight booking process and improve the ease of use of their site across all devices.
Redesign the Pan Am brand and experience for modern times, while maintaining its core value of exceptional service.

Feature Roadmap:

An extensive list of features was generated from an overview of industry standards and user-identified needs. This list was then refined to key priorities for this iteration.

Key features:

User Account— Account creation, login, account page, and user settings. Allow users to access and edit their information to improve their relevant searches, check in, and boarding.
Flight Portal— Allow users to plan, search, and book their flights in a consistent manner across all devices.
Clear Navigation— Allow users to navigate through the site architecture efficiently.
First Time Flyer Guide— Develop a guided process to assist FTF throughout the entire journey. Possible wizard or checklist approach.
Flight Package Checkout— Allow users to input their information and review/edit/place their order in a clear and easy-to-understand process.
Responsive Design— Site will perform optimally across all major platforms: mobile/desktop/tablet.
Recomended Flights— Flight recommendation based off of current and past filter settings.

This site map was constructed to identify where key user flows would take place. In addition, the integration of future support features was considered to maintain a consistent site structure in future updates.

The user flow for this project is focused on booking processes. Considerations were made to minimize the cognitive load of the user, while providing all necessary information.

3. Design & Ideate

In reimagining the Pan American brand, I drew inspiration from open skies and the concepts of travel, luxury, and comfort. An array of blues pulled from aerial photography and purples inspired by the setting sun created the core color palette. The neutrals were taken from cabin interiors and cloudscapes.

The logo is a dynamic take on the classic Pan Am Emblem. Moving away from the static fixed wings of the past, this iteration utilizes form and color to evoke movement. The color gradient is meant to reflect the great distances traveled, as the logo fades from evening sky navy to cloud white.

Blues and whites are used predominantly to set the form and structure of the website. It keeps in line with the theme of aviation while also embodying trust and service. The limited use of purple creates clear contrast when used for primary buttons/ CTAs. Montserrat was chosen because of its approachable modernity. The font also serves well in all use cases, and also has exceptional readability when used for headers and signage.

Initial designs developed into two different approaches to the architecture of the site. The first is focused on simplifying the structure and placing a greater emphasis on streamlining the booking process. Examples of this are the reference map for airports, comparative flight listings, and an incremental checkout process. The latter approach is more focused on developing the Pan Am brand alongside its service. More real estate was allotted to highlight unique services and popular travel destinations.

Research indicated that the majority of users already have a destination picked out, and experience the most pain points in the booking process. To address these needs and align with current behaviors, the former approach was adopted.

Accessibility and ease of use were the primary drivers of the structure of wireframes. The booking portal is meant to simplify the process of looking for a flight. Here users can enter their search criteria, check their flight status, and review their itinerary. Consideration was given to minimize the amount of user inputs needed, while also allowing users to adjust and refine their results. The structure of the booking process was aimed to limit the cognitive load in each step. The goal of which was to simplify the process and ease user uncertainty.

4. Test

Overview:

Three people tested the new Pan Am Website. 1 woman and 2 men were given the task of booking a round trip ticket to Dublin, Ireland on the 11th of July. In a one-on-one setting, each participant went through the prototype on a laptop. I was in the room taking notes. At the end of the test, follow up questions were asked based on user responses during the test.

Observations:

All testers moved quickly through to the homepage. They were able to filter their flight information will no noticeable delay.
Testers 2 and 3 had some difficulty with the flight schedule. They both expressed that there were too many options for flights and class.
Tester 3 became lost while selecting their return ticket. They did not notice the destination/return indicator at first.
All testers moved quickly through the booking process.
Tester 3 expressed uncertainty at the end of the booking process. They were not certain that they finished.

Improvements:

Adjustments to the flight schedules may be needed to improve clarity. Main areas to review are indicators for current user status for flight, day selected, and detailed class information.
Users seemed unsure why they were seeing flight prices for different days. This comparison feature may need to be reworked.
A flight confirmation page is needed in the booking process. This will give users the opportunity to review their flight, and assurance that the process is complete.

5. Takeaways

It is not easy to resurrect a dead brand, especially an iconic one. While conducting research, it became clear that the Pan American Airways brand was less about the wing emblem and uniform, and more about it’s dedication to delivering an exceptional experience for its time. To revitalize the brand, I had to reveal what were the opportunities to provide services that would elevate the experience above the industry standard.

My research identified many opportunities for service touchpoints through the flight experience. Assessing what would provide the greatest impact was a challenge in and of itself. The lesson of the day is when dealing with complex systems, it is critical to identify the core function, and then improve/streamline it. All other features can then be built around it.

My approach with Pan Am was to improve clarity and accessibility. By streamlining the booking process and ensuring that the experience was universal across all devices, user friction was minimized. The next steps would be to develop and integrate support features like the First Time Flyer guide, push notifications, and adaptive scheduling.