Air New Zealand

A key part of my role on this project was to work with our product managers, business analysts and other stakeholders to map existing and new features. This involved several workshops I facilitated in person and remotely, with different sections, features and journeys having outcomes and metrics owned by different business areas.

By gaining alignment through these workshops and mapping the future customer experience, stakeholders were able to help shape this together and ensure it met future needs not only for customers but also for staff or operational roles.

As a part of the design strategy I helped develop, we ensured that we created a strong balance between the flexibility of components or sections and a bespoke, brand first experience. This allowed room for changes and updates to be made by into the future, without whole sections needing to be redesigned.

Airlines and travel experiences are almost always complex, with many versions of seat, product and aircraft type. This need also impacted how different components were developed - allowing for flexibility while still giving a customer a unique experience depending on what they had selected.

While many of the requirements were known, some were not and involved the proposition of new technologies or regulatory changes. As I had the set the design squad to work in a two track model, this allowed us the space to prototype and test new requirements with customers and stakeholders before needing to hand them off for design detail and development.

An example of this is the 'TravelReady' feature - this initially was looking at allowing customers to verify their passport and upload any required documents for travel prior to the airport. The scope significantly changed as we learnt new information and the project evolved, but rapid prototyping and feedback helped us move through this.

As we had a compressed timeline to deliver the first version of the app, rapid research with real customers was key. One was this was achieved was to chunk the items to be tested into simple flows (a few screens) or a single screen and to imagine a simple scenario around it. We then approached customers at the airport, spending 5-10 minutes with them while they waited for their flight.

We then were able to take this feedback to the team on the same day and implement updates to the design as required.