COMING SOON!
AEROSCAPE
Airport Navigation & Wayfinding
Tools Used
Invision
Sketch
Google Doc
Illustrator
ROLE
User Researcher, UX/UI Designer
OBJECTIVES
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Reduce anxiety in the airport experience
2. Wayfinding in airports
3. User research focus
DOUBLE DIAMOND
PROJECT SUMMARY
Problem: 1 out of 4 Americans expressed as a fear of flying. One aspect that contributes to this fear is the experience of getting lost in the airport and missing their flight.
HYPOTHESES
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Passenger anxiety could be alleviated through improved wayfinding at airports
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Wayfinding can be improved through assistive technologies like augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR)
ROLE
I collaborated in a team of designers to create an experience that helps travelers navigate through the airport
My focus was on user research of the AR & VR experience, as well as designing for various platforms (mobile and smartwatch)
DESIGN PROCESS
As part of this effort of design and discovery, I used the following UX deliverables and techniques:
cardsorting, storyboards, personas, journey maps, task flows, sketches, wireframes and building prototypes
PROJECT GOALS
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How to reduce anxiety associated with flying and navigating airports because current airport navigation is too abstract, causing checked-in customers to miss their flights
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How augmented reality (AR) can improve the wayfinding experience at airports with the goal of alleviating passenger anxiety
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My focus was on user research of the AR & VR experience, as well as designing for various platforms (mobile and smartwatch)
Focus on Wayfinding and the airport experience
25%
of Americans Afraid to Fly
(National Institute of Mental Health-The Fear of Flying)
Main coping mechanisms for flight anxiety: Scheduling and receiving information throughout the flight process
"Flight anxiety, coping and management"
The most important factor for increasing satisfaction:
Terminal navigation and appearance
(Lopez, 2013)
Poor wayfinding causes: gate delays, affecting the flight, causing the following flights to be delayed as well.
(Examining Intuitive navigation in airports)
Financial implications for the airports:
The more time passengers spend deciding where to go, the less time is passengers to spend money in retail areas
& those who encounter difficulty or stress may be less including to make a purchase
(Examining Intuitive navigation in airports)
MARKET RESEARCH
“This anxiety is not only related to flying but also to poor airport organization and procedures”
(The Effect of Airport Servicescape 2014)
Revenue of Airport
DEFINING
OVERVIEW
Our product was designed to help people who get lost in airports find their way quickly. We have observed that the airport navigation is too abstract, causing even checked-in customers to miss their flight. We may improve navigation through the use of AR technology. This will result in a more positive experience towards traveling and fewer users missing their flights.
VISION
We believe that providing the airport navigation with AR mobile apps will help people with anxiety not to get lost in the airports. We will know this is true when we see less checked-in customers missing their flights.
EXPERIENCE
Customer Journey Map
Personas
SKETCHING & WIREFRAMES
TREE TESTING
MIND MAPPING
REFINING TASK FLOWS
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Refocused scope to focus only on the process in the airport and only for wayfinding. Changed device to the mobile phone AR experience only.
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Refocused scope due to what would generate the most revenue (airport navigation helps the airlines, the vendors, and the airport) also more easy to help anxiety in specific function (flight anxiety tends to have many different forms so too hard to solve since there are several different triggers people face when in the air on the plane, however, navigation is a solve-able problem)
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Refocused device to be for phones in AR because VR was told in testing to be too distracting and it is not accessible to all users yet
REFINING SCOPE
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Focus only on the process in the airport and only for wayfinding. Changed device to the mobile phone AR experience only.
-
Focused on what would generate the most revenue (airport navigation helps the airlines, the vendors, and the airport) also more easy to help anxiety in specific function (flight anxiety tends to have many different forms so too hard to solve since there are several different triggers people face when in the air on the plane, however, navigation is a solve-able problem)
-
Accesibility chose AR because VR was told in testing to be too distracting and it is not accessible to all users yet
SKETCHES: IN THE AIRPORT
VERSION 1: WIREFRAMES
VERSION 2: WIREFRAMES
USABILITY TEST RESULTS
Usability Test Prompt & Details
Trip Details: Barcelona Header unclear
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Flight info: would want more info on travel time to airport
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Security: TSA pre-check should be considered mapping out
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Bag Check: what if I carry on? Or already have a boarding pass?
Face ID or bag check --May not need to show this info if not checking bag
Boarding Pass-TSA pre-check green check mark to pass through security
Passport -Add ID option (toggle for license or passport)
FINAL ITERATION
PROBLEM & SOLUTION
LEARNINGS & CONCLUSIONS
Insights
User-testing of AR prototype: 75% of potential passengers were better able to navigate the airport and dramatically reduce anxiety throughout multiple touchpoints in the airport
Personas
After user research, I was ready to summarize the findings. I found the main pain points for airport wayfinding and navigation. Where at: check-in, bag-drop, security gate, finding bathrooms and finidng boarding gates
