Fly UX

Product Design
Project Overview
As part of the professional UX diploma course by the UX Design Institute, I designed a mobile app for a fictional airline named FlyUX.
My Contributions
My role in the project as a UX designer comprised UX research consisting of a competitive audit, a moderated usability test, a customer journey map, user flow map and an affinity diagram. Research informed the creation of an app that took users through the process of booking a flight from start to finish.
Fly UX
UX Designer
Dec 2020 - Jan 2021
    After completing a competitive audit, I observed two separate recorded usability tests and took notes as part of a note taking exercise as documented above. After that I conducted two usability tests on two different airline apps, Aerlingus and Flybe.

    Tools:
    Adobe XD
    Miro
    UXPressia


    1. Usability Test
    The test consisted of an interview and two tasks that had to be completed on each app. Following a brief introduction, I introduced the study utilising a pre-defined script that I prepared to help ensure I wasn’t asking any leading questions.
    Research Objectives:
    • Identify user behaviour when booking a flight
    • Identify mental models and user expectations
    • Identify user pain points and friction
    • Identify areas that the user experiences with ease

    2. Analysis
    After completing the usability testing, it was time to gather the data all in one place. I produced an affinity diagram to organise the research findings into themes.

    Customer journey mapping
    In order to get a good overview of the entire customer journey for booking flights, I produced a customer journey map. I noted the user actions, mental models, channels, experience, pain points and areas to improve for each step of the customer journey.

    Key Findings
    After consolidating all the data, the research uncovered many pain points and areas for improvement. The key takeaways were as follows:

    3. Design
    After analysing all the data the next stop was to produce a user flow chart. I produced a chart which showcased the overall high level flow from the point of entry to the point of exit on the app.

    Navigation
    As airline apps are process type apps, the two most popular choices for navigation are linear and hub and spoke. For FlyUX I chose a combination of both. The central search screen serves as the hub with multiple spokes that lead off it. As the users progress to the booking stage, the navigation follows a more linear process.

    Wireframes
    After completing the flow and deciding on the navigation, the next step was to start translating this data into sketches of the screens. I started with some rough sketches and progressed to more detailed drawings with notes under each screen to explain my design choices.

    Mockups & Hi-Fi Prototype
    The next step was to design the mockups for each screen and produce a high-fidelity prototype. The prototype can be viewed here.


    4. Going Forward

    Designing the FlyUX app was an intense learning experience. Had time allowed I would have tested the final designs to better understand the success of the entire project. I learned much along the way and was guided by the UX Design Institute throughout the process. Some of the key Takeaways are as follows.


    5. Conclusion

    While next time I would do some things differently, like conducting more research and more ideation as well as conducting a moderated usability study, I am nonetheless pleased with the outcome of the project. I completed the course with a top score and received the Professional Diploma in UX Design.

    Want to work together?

    If you like what you see and want to work together, get in touch!

    orla@portfolio.com