Pilot Day-of-Ops Flight Release App

First project in the airline space. We learned the domain fast, prototyped weekly with pilots, and shipped a real-time, mobile-friendly flight release experience that felt incredible in the cockpit.
Industry
Aviation
Role
Lead Product Designer, Researcher
Client
FedEx Airlines
Year
2016
Challenge
Printed flight releases ran 30+ pages across a dozen systems—hard to scan, hard to share, and not built for real-time ops. We needed an experience pilots would actually trust and use under pressure.
Approach
Start scrappy, get real. We mapped a pilot day-in-the-life, aligned on “need‑to‑know” info, and ran presumptive + cooperative testing side‑by‑side. We standardized on medium‑fidelity so feedback was fast and honest, then layered in visual polish only where it improved comprehension.
Outcomes
Performance and stability hit pilot expectations; credibility and adoption increased as we removed friction and delivered the right data, at the right time, in the right format.
Adoption
98%
NPS
76
SUS
82.0
Key Activities

• Stakeholder alignment on priorities and success metrics

• DITL mapping with pilots; language + constraints capture

• Weekly usability with 2–3 pilots; iterate in mid‑fi

• High‑fi comps once flows were proven

• Partnered with eng to chunk data from 12+ systems for mobile performance

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