Caledonian Airlines UX Design

Caledonian Airlines is a UX design project that I did as part of a diploma course from the UX Design Institute. The course was structured to follow the lifecycle of a real-life UX project. The project task was to design an intuitive airline booking experience that is based on a deep understanding of target users. The enhanced digital user experience would provide the airline with an advantage in a competitive market.

During the research stage, various user research was undertaken. For instance, competitor benchmarking was done to understand how other airlines solve the problem for their users and understand what could be emulated in my design. I used Survey Monkey to create a user survey, which was used to understand what tasks the user wanted to complete on the website and if they encountered any issues doing so. Finally, usability testing was used to test two competitor airlines and understand the issues that users faced when using the software.

The findings of the research were then analysed using an affinity diagram and articulated using a customer journey map. The main issues that were uncovered were that the airlines used baggage packages that were not clear in explaining the services that were provided. Users either did not know what the service was or did not want the service. The other area of concern was that the airlines had too many extra services such as speedy board, insurance, car hire etc. Customers felt irritated and thought the add-ons are time-consuming.

The high-level flow of the user was then highlighted in the user flow diagram, which defines each screen state, user action and any decisions the user may make. The user flow then informed the paper sketches of the website, which defines the controls, rules and feedback of each screen of the application.

Finally, a solution was created in the form of a medium-fidelity prototype using Adobe XD (link below). The design solves the user's problems by providing labels and icons which explains each of the baggage packages. The additional add-ons were cut down to the bare minimum in order to make the user journey as quick and seamless as possible. An additional usability test was conducted in order to ensure that the design solves the problems uncovered during research. The designs were then annotated with technical details as part of the developer handover process.

Overall, I learned that UX is a research-based discipline that is focused on solving problems for the user. Usability testing is the best way to get the richest insights because it shows the product being utilised by the user and their behaviour can be closely observed. Following the process can guide designers through complex user problems and provides clarity of purpose for dynamic digital products.