Avinode - Business Aviation
Highlighted experience
Work with SaaS in a complex industry and user landscape
Involved in strategic discussions (roadmaps, OKR’s, Initiatives)
Leading experience design direction in the product team (both innovative solutions and improving implemented systems in parts of the platform)
Initially lead and later co-lead design experience direction for a novel high-priority project encompassing multiple teams
Collaborating with other designers, product teams, and stakeholders in different projects
Spreading UX thinking and facilitating workshops to share knowledge
I and my product team are responsible for a part of the product platform. Through a user-driven approach, we improve existing, implemented features and create innovative solutions through initiatives.
Case study: Improved Booking Flow
This is an ongoing project, where I and my product team, collaborate with other teams and stakeholders, to modernize a complex booking flow for business aviation.
I have been a part of the project since the start, and have gone through the entire design process (in multiple iterations and directions), during the last two years.
I will go through some key highlights below, where I in broad strokes frame the problem space, and how I as part of a product team have framed and reframed solutions based on the evolving design situation.
Due to NDA, the designs below are all wireframe-based. These are created to act as visual anchor points for the presentation of the project. The focus is more on the design thinking- and process.
However, Avinode has released several public articles & press releases regarding the project, which showcase early designs, its integration into the larger platform, and so on.
An upgraded charter booking flow (Press release)
Tools
Figma
Miro
Jira (+Product discovery)
EnjoyHQ
Quant analysis tools
Background
Avinode connects business aviation operators, brokers, and end clients around the world through our products. As part of this, the quote distribution and booking process has predominantly been using emails and PDFs.
Based on accumulated feedback and company strategy, it was decided that we should look into potential opportunities for improving this workflow through a novel booking experience, supported by UX principles and fitting technology.
I have focused on modernizing this workflow through a holistic approach, navigating the abstraction levels between user needs and usability, technical feasibility, and business viability.
Wholesale (B2B)
Retail (B2C)
The product team
UX Designer (me)
Product Manager
Tech Lead
Test Lead
5-8 Developers
The workflow of business aviation can be complex with the amount of actions and communication that needs to be done to book a flight and make it happen. The core needs of the users differ depending on which segment they are acting as and if it is a wholesale or retail case.
In general, most of the communication has been happening over email and other means of communication, and PDFs have been the main artifacts being shared around.
This project aimed to modernize the workflow for both the wholesale and retail case, by enabling alternative ways of booking a flight than sharing PDFs and links through emails.
Challenge
How might we improve the booking experience for our users and their clients, supporting their workflow through the use of modern technology and intuitive interaction patterns?
To help address this, we started a project that initially focused on discovery and research, which then turned into ideation, designing, and testing the concepts. We kept iterating and building out the concept based on feedback and eventually had a mature enough feature that could be launched for our users.
Online Booking supports both wholesale and retail cases with a shareable portal, wherein buyers can book an aircraft, sign contracts, and pay for trips, without the need to sign physical papers or exchange PDFs.
It is embedded on the seller side of our platform, where brokers and operators handle their quote creation and tasks up until scheduling a trip.
I mapped out the different user flows that surrounded the booking experience, and how the addition of this novel feature could impact the current way of working.
I looked into how every aspect of the booking experience was connected, between the seller and the buyer, and how the improved booking flow would optimally be included in our platform suite from a usability, feasibility, and business viability perspective.
Discover & Define
We generally follow the phases of the Double Diamond as anchor points in our design processes.
This project is of a caliber, that it has gone through several steps back and forward in the double diamond. This means that once we have delivered a feature, we go back to discovery in a sense, to gather new insights that support either new innovative additions to the concept or slight adjustments to what has been implemented.
When I first started, I needed to gain a better understanding of how the different personas in the target groups work around booking trips. I primarily used three methods to gather insights.
13+ initial remote semi-structured interviews
Focus on understanding workflow
Mapping out pains & potential gains
User Interviews
Meetings with internal subject matter experts, challenge insights, system features & user behaviour
Internal Knowledge
Thematic analysis, tagging and mapping out patterns from previous and incoming feedback
Feedback Analysis
The findings from the discovery phase were collected, sorted, themed, and tagged as part of the defining process.
Here, patterns started emerging which led to the definition of different potential areas of opportunity based on problem statements.
These findings were presented to both product team(s) and other stakeholders by using personas, user flows, and problem area thematic analysis.
Design Pitches & Opportunity trees were formed in collaboration with the product team, where areas of opportunity were clearly defined and supported by the gathered insights.
Decision-making stakeholders were presented with the findings and proposed areas of focus to support the creation of a clear roadmap and OKRs for the initiative and team.
The agreed-upon strategic focus areas were then prepared for ideation.
From the initial discovery phase, we entered ideation phases in several iterations of diverging and converging into concept proposals. These were continuously tested by internal subject matter experts as well as users. Sometimes scope pivoting required us to go back to the discovery phase, and at times run them in parallel, to ensure that ideas were supported by user needs.
Develop & Deliver
While I cannot get into details on the output/outcome of the Develop & Deliver phase, it primarily consisted of a series of Ideation, prototyping, and testing activities.
It has been an ongoing learning cycle where we have adjusted and done several iterations based on feedback.
We then iteratively developed the concept until it matured enough for launch (delivery), after this product dev cycle it has been improved iteratively through continuous discovery, design, and validation phases and activities.
Ideation
The initial ideation phase primarily consisted of:
Facilitating workshops (How-Might-We to brainstorming & sketching).
Testing proof of concepts for feasibility.
Prototyping using sketches, wireframes, and Figma prototypes (from simple to higher fidelity).
After 2 years and being well into the development and delivery phases, I am continuously conducting smaller ideation sessions alone, with my product team and other stakeholders, to ensure that knowledge and sense of ownership of the proposed solutions are shared with others.
Design & Validate
Several iterations of the booking flow were designed, tested, developed, and released to beta users.
Several big features or areas of the booking flow required re-discovery of some aspects, testing hypotheses, and validating initial assumptions regarding the users’ way of working.
I was initially required to use our internal design system for components and UI, but based on my intuition (and supported by both user- and internal expert feedback), successfully designed a proposal to adjust it to support a more mobile-friendly checkout-oriented experience than what is used for our internal professional products. This resulted in a documented improved user experience of the booking portal for our users.
Exemplified wireframe for the concept
Request an Aircraft
Sign the Contract
Pay
This is a typical example of what a wireframe for the project could look like. It would then be used for either communicating a proposed workflow for internal decision-makers or users for validating parts of the experience related to usability and scenario-based walkthroughs.
Based on the prototype needs (what are we trying to find out?) the wireframe would be adjusted accordingly.
For this project, interactive high-fidelity prototypes were also created and tested iteratively with users and internal experts, to ensure that the design experience and principles were sufficiently covered before going too far into development.