Air travel has been quietly transforming over the last few years. Technology is influencing all aspects of the experience, from the materials used in aircraft, dynamic cabin lighting, through to how we plan travel, check in, spend our time onboard and remain connected throughout the entire experience.The airline sector has lagged far behind consumer expectation, but it’s now at the forefront of innovation, utilising technology such as Near Field Communication, proximity gesturing, and multi-screen experiences that adapt contextually to the flight stage.During this session we’ll share innovations affecting the future of airtravel and the UX challenges in designing them – informed by practical examples from designing solutions for Qantas, Emirates and Virgin Atlantic.

1. air travel, a quiet revolution
welcome aboard
Friday, 31 August 12

2. air travel
the truth
Friday, 31 August 12
for most of us when travelling outside the premium classes...

3. air travel
the truth
• traveling for 7 - 20 hours in a metal box
Friday, 31 August 12
for most of us when travelling outside the premium classes...

4. air travel
the truth
• traveling for 7 - 20 hours in a metal box
• 9KM above the ground
Friday, 31 August 12
for most of us when travelling outside the premium classes...

5. air travel
the truth
• traveling for 7 - 20 hours in a metal box
• 9KM above the ground
• strapped to a seat “narrower than the average derriere”
Friday, 31 August 12
for most of us when travelling outside the premium classes...

6. air travel
the truth
• traveling for 7 - 20 hours in a metal box
• 9KM above the ground
• strapped to a seat “narrower than the average derriere”
• next to someone you don’t know
Friday, 31 August 12
for most of us when travelling outside the premium classes...

7. air travel
the truth
• traveling for 7 - 20 hours in a metal box
• 9KM above the ground
• strapped to a seat “narrower than the average derriere”
• next to someone you don’t know
• being told when to eat and sleep
Friday, 31 August 12
for most of us when travelling outside the premium classes...

8. air travel
the truth
• traveling for 7 - 20 hours in a metal box
• 9KM above the ground
• strapped to a seat “narrower than the average derriere”
• next to someone you don’t know
• being told when to eat and sleep
• having to queue for the toilet
Friday, 31 August 12
for most of us when travelling outside the premium classes...

9. air travel
the truth
• traveling for 7 - 20 hours in a metal box
• 9KM above the ground
• strapped to a seat “narrower than the average derriere”
• next to someone you don’t know
• being told when to eat and sleep
• having to queue for the toilet
• is uncomfortable
Friday, 31 August 12
for most of us when travelling outside the premium classes...

10. in the air
designing the in-flight
experience
is a critical component of service design
Friday, 31 August 12

11. a well-designed service
adapts to
people
environment
technology
journey phase
class
Friday, 31 August 12

12. a well-designed service
is a positive distraction
from the negatives of
finding ourselves in
set of stressful
circumstances for a
long period.
Friday, 31 August 12

13. a well-designed service
benefits airlines from
an operational
perspective.
Friday, 31 August 12

14. your crew
Alex Williams
Head of Experience Massive Sydney @WilliamsAlexC
Friday, 31 August 12

15. a quick look back
the first commercial
flight was in
1914
1 pilot
1 passenger
Friday, 31 August 12
Who paid the equivalent of $5000 for the privilige.

16. a quick look back
the first in-flight movie
was played in 1925 on a
30 minute
flight
Friday, 31 August 12

17. Friday, 31 August 12
note the comfy wicker chairs

18. 60 years later in 1985 not that
much has changed
Friday, 31 August 12
i still don’t have an entertainment choice
other than to listen to radio
or to create a more personalised personal experience based on bringing my own media onboard in the
form of books, magazines, newspapers.
there’s also possibility of striking up a conversation, which comes with it’s own risks.

19. the first tailored experiences
1988
the first seat-back tvs
broadcast 2.5cm LCD
1990’s
the first seat-back audio
video on-demand
systems
Friday, 31 August 12
1988 the first seat-back tvs supported broadcast 2.5cm LCD
which supported channel surfing

20. over time
30 minutes 20 hours
1 screen multi-screen
no choice paradox of choice
disconnection continuous connection
Friday, 31 August 12

21. the only thing we seem to have less of
Friday, 31 August 12
the wicker chair looks pretty good right now.

22. alcohol
Friday, 31 August 12
and of course alcohol has always been along for the ride as a pacifier.
cultural differences permitting.

23. passenger mindset
Passenger needs vary
based a combination of
journey length, class and
experience mindset
Friday, 31 August 12

24. our job is to enable
distraction and foster
positive emotions
feel in control
feel recognised and understood
feel connected
Friday, 31 August 12
before you can pass the time by watching a movie marathon, or learning enough German to
get yourself into trouble you need to feel:
in control, we need to make you comfortable enough to explore the system
you need to feel recognised and understood
and we need to help you feel connected.

25. a well-designed service
adapts to
people
environment
technology
journey phase
class
Friday, 31 August 12
today in our short talk we’re concentrating on the challenge presented by environment and
technology and the learnings we’ve gained over years of wrestling with complexity.

26. feeling in control
in an unfamiliar
environment
Friday, 31 August 12

27. case study
Qantas IFE
A380
Friday, 31 August 12
we’re going to briefly cover a program we were involved in for Qantas which involved
designing the in-flight entertainment system for the flagship Airbus A380.

28. feeling in control
achieving simplicity
creating meaningful
models which don’t rely
on prior experiences
Friday, 31 August 12
our challenge was to achieve a simple elegant expression of the brand onboard.
and to establish a meaningful model which would be easy to learn, and which didn’t
necessarily rely on previous experiences.

29. feeling in control
it’s 2005
designing for touch is
an immature area of
practice
Friday, 31 August 12
touch screens are familiar to people mainly as kiosks:
relatively static screen by screen experiences which fail to engage emotionally.
the hardware is revolutionary in the sky but undercooked under the hood.
gestural input was emergent but unfamiliar.
the iPhone was 2-3 years away
our model needed to be gesture ready to future proof the systems

30. feeling in control
a multi-input system
which can also be
remote controlled
Friday, 31 August 12
and we’re also dealing with a multi-input system. the touch screen can be remote controlled.
and importantly, the remote controlled experience is critical in the premium classes in which
the touch screen can’t always be reached.
it was really important that we moved away from the typical point-to-point dvd menu style
matrix navigation which was familiar at the time. but to what?

31. feeling in control
how do you design for
disruptive environments
Friday, 31 August 12
where few paradigms exist.

32. feeling in control
we designed
from the
hardware out
Friday, 31 August 12
although we didn’t have a label for it then, our only way into the problem was to bodystorm
the experience.
so we mocked up a remote control out of foam core, got ourselves some touch screens and
created monitor surrounds trying to replicate the cabin environment.
hardware leadtimes are one of our greatest challenges. the hardware has been developed
outside a user centred design process.
it was a simplified of tv remote control with legacy features such as channel up/down buttons
and a large channel number - redundant for avod, playback and menu button.

33. feeling in control
creating a simple,
meaningful
dimensional model
tying structural navigation
to the vertical axis
SELECT
local navigation to the
horizontal axis
Friday, 31 August 12
we built rapid prototypes and practised using the handset until
we isolated the most natural movements which could be performed on an RCU without
looking down. that centred on up/down vs left/right movements.
we created a simple, meaningful dimensional model
very familiar now thanks to the XBOX 360 and PS3 cross media bars which post date this
system by 2 and 3 years respectively.
validation that the approach set us on the right path.

34. Friday, 31 August 12

35. Friday, 31 August 12
play movie
meaningful transitions
which provide feedback on my previous actions, or point the way forward

36. feeling in control
evolved
progressively
Friday, 31 August 12
we developed this very simple model and built on it progressively throughout the UI,
inspiring confidence that i what i learnt in my last interaction i could apply in the next.
though most of the system is built on this model, levels are subtly different in visual design
which supports orientation and helps alleviates boredom.

37. learnings
Friday, 31 August 12
leverage native affordances - you need pick up the hardware and play with. Feel what comes
naturally and where tactile feedback avoids the need to look down.

38. learnings
• leverage native affordances
Friday, 31 August 12
leverage native affordances - you need pick up the hardware and play with. Feel what comes
naturally and where tactile feedback avoids the need to look down.

39. learnings
• leverage native affordances
• interactions should be coherent, and
build progressively
Friday, 31 August 12
leverage native affordances - you need pick up the hardware and play with. Feel what comes
naturally and where tactile feedback avoids the need to look down.

40. learnings
• leverage native affordances
• interactions should be coherent, and
build progressively
• develop meaningful transitions
Friday, 31 August 12
leverage native affordances - you need pick up the hardware and play with. Feel what comes
naturally and where tactile feedback avoids the need to look down.

41. learnings
• leverage native affordances
• interactions should be coherent, and
build progressively
• develop meaningful transitions
Friday, 31 August 12
leverage native affordances - you need pick up the hardware and play with. Feel what comes
naturally and where tactile feedback avoids the need to look down.

42. learnings
• leverage native affordances
• interactions should be coherent, and
build progressively
• develop meaningful transitions
Friday, 31 August 12
leverage native affordances - you need pick up the hardware and play with. Feel what comes
naturally and where tactile feedback avoids the need to look down.

43. learnings
• leverage native affordances
• interactions should be coherent, and
build progressively
• develop meaningful transitions
Friday, 31 August 12
leverage native affordances - you need pick up the hardware and play with. Feel what comes
naturally and where tactile feedback avoids the need to look down.

44. learnings
• leverage native affordances
• interactions should be coherent, and
build progressively
• develop meaningful transitions
Friday, 31 August 12
leverage native affordances - you need pick up the hardware and play with. Feel what comes
naturally and where tactile feedback avoids the need to look down.

45. learnings
• leverage native affordances
• interactions should be coherent, and
build progressively
• develop meaningful transitions
Friday, 31 August 12
leverage native affordances - you need pick up the hardware and play with. Feel what comes
naturally and where tactile feedback avoids the need to look down.

46. learnings
• leverage native affordances
• interactions should be coherent, and
build progressively
• develop meaningful transitions
Friday, 31 August 12
leverage native affordances - you need pick up the hardware and play with. Feel what comes
naturally and where tactile feedback avoids the need to look down.

47. learnings
• leverage native affordances
• interactions should be coherent, and
build progressively
• develop meaningful transitions
Friday, 31 August 12
leverage native affordances - you need pick up the hardware and play with. Feel what comes
naturally and where tactile feedback avoids the need to look down.

48. Emirates &
Virgin Atlantic
Friday, 31 August 12
more recently we’ve created the in-flight entertainment systems for
Emirates and Virgin Atlantic and newer projects for a couple of airlines we can’t yet divulge.
Which is the challenge of working on programs which have very long leadtimes.

49. feeling in control
managing complexity
Friday, 31 August 12

50. Friday, 31 August 12
IFE has evolved from the in air picture theatre in 1925 to host a plethora of services.

51. challenge
Hardware - 3 devices
IPSC Seat Monitor Touchscreen
Handset
Friday, 31 August 12
not designed from a user centered perspective
but from an industry perspective locked in an escalating feature war
devices are not always designed as a complementary suite

52. multi-screen environments
Virgin
Seat Monitor Touchscreen
Handset
watch video personal/private
social/sms/email
Friday, 31 August 12
seat back touch screen
handset (or remote control)

53. multi-screen environments
Emirates
Seat Monitor Touchscreen IPSC
Handset
watch video personal/private suite controls
social/sms/email
Friday, 31 August 12
Integrated Passenger System Control to premium classes

54. current touchscreen handset
Friday, 31 August 12
when we first saw this device we knew it was going to be trouble.
Shane mentioned proximity as a way of providing affordance yesterday.
This device looks like a hand-held console such as a PSP.
Normally you’d expect the hard buttons to control this screen.
Wrong. In this instance the hard buttons control the screen on the seatback.
And the touchscreen in the centre is a separate UI which duplicates, some but not all seatback
functionality. Sometimes affecting the main screen, sometimes running locally.
Signposting these break points becomes critical.

55. Friday, 31 August 12

56. learnings
play to the strengths of
each device
clarity of purpose
functional parity isn’t
always positive
Friday, 31 August 12
establish clarity of purpose
communicating the role of each device in the experience is critical
functional parity isn’t positive - we don’t need to replicate all services on all devices. For
example tweeting using my handset which is a more discrete device is comfortable. Writing a
work email on the seatback screen feels less appropriate.
airlines who spend an enormous amount on hardware want to squeeze the most out of it and
of course the suppliers push for every feature to be used.
but when the experience is disjointed, because devices aren’t equally capable, or able to
hand over to each other effectively, the best strategy is to start leaving things out.

57. Friday, 31 August 12

58. Friday, 31 August 12
one of the most familiar in-air brands is ICE which uses colour coding to support orientation
within the system

59. Friday, 31 August 12

60. Friday, 31 August 12

61. Friday, 31 August 12

62. Friday, 31 August 12
designed to complement the interior design and ambient lighting.

63. Friday, 31 August 12

64. Friday, 31 August 12

65. multi-device environments
handset modes
synced companion
control complementary
Friday, 31 August 12
In more recent programs we design handset modes which help reduce confusion.
In synced mode
Users navigate the seatback screen using simple gestures on the handset.
We can automatically switch to companion mode and
Provide shortcuts to key information or
controls to facilitate multitasking, without
affecting the main screen.

66. multi-device environments
idle-state animations
support for rapid
learning
contextual hinting
Friday, 31 August 12
other things we do support learnability in mult-screen devices is to detect their first use and
aid learning through contextual hinting.
Similar to techniques used in game design.

67. multi-device environments
coherent interactions for
core journeys
brand experience
Friday, 31 August 12
we make sure you select interaction patterns which can be adapted across devices especially
for core journeys.
our aim is always to create a coherent brand experience that is a engaging interactive
extension of the brand.

68. learnings
Friday, 31 August 12
rigorous and consistent design system - it can definitely be subtle, but a customer must
always be able to distinguish on a sub-conscious level interactions from information.
Some of the difficulties Shane mentions in working with Metro.

69. learnings
• rigorous and consistent design system
Friday, 31 August 12
rigorous and consistent design system - it can definitely be subtle, but a customer must
always be able to distinguish on a sub-conscious level interactions from information.
Some of the difficulties Shane mentions in working with Metro.

70. learnings
• rigorous and consistent design system
• ‘just enough’ information scent
Friday, 31 August 12
rigorous and consistent design system - it can definitely be subtle, but a customer must
always be able to distinguish on a sub-conscious level interactions from information.
Some of the difficulties Shane mentions in working with Metro.

71. learnings
• rigorous and consistent design system
• ‘just enough’ information scent
• simpler decisions and more steps win over
complex interactions
Friday, 31 August 12
rigorous and consistent design system - it can definitely be subtle, but a customer must
always be able to distinguish on a sub-conscious level interactions from information.
Some of the difficulties Shane mentions in working with Metro.

72. learnings
• rigorous and consistent design system
• ‘just enough’ information scent
• simpler decisions and more steps win over
complex interactions
• meaningful transitions
Friday, 31 August 12
rigorous and consistent design system - it can definitely be subtle, but a customer must
always be able to distinguish on a sub-conscious level interactions from information.
Some of the difficulties Shane mentions in working with Metro.

73. feeling recognised and
understood
Friday, 31 August 12
is important to getting comfortable and feeling engaged.

74. feeling recognised and understood
is easier to achieve for
premium and frequent
flyers
if we can’t always
achieve personalised
we strive for tailored
Friday, 31 August 12
is easier to achieve for premium and frequent flyers because we know more about you.

75. tailored What I’ve said I like/don’t like
My preferences
Traditional
Content
Groupings
(Tailored)
MY SERVICE
Flight & Class EXPERIENCE Behavioral activity
What I’ve watched
Destination What I’ve rated
Stage of Flight What others have watched
Dynamic
Filtering
Customised Social activity
Facebook Likes
views Facebook shared content
Friday, 31 August 12
when we know your seat no.
your name
your food prefs
what content you enjoy
we can continually tailor the services offered to you.
and if we don’t know you we can offer suggestions based on what the on-board community
is consuming or give you a simple tool to make your experience more: entertaining, newsy,
etc. based on mood.

76. feeling connected
Friday, 31 August 12
one of the biggest innovations in the industry at the moment is onboard connectivity.

77. feel connected
reconnect to my
networks
or engage with
temporary community
Friday, 31 August 12

78. feel connected
Connected to the external world Connected to the onboard community
I just tried the lovely Tracey Barden
is currently 35,000ft above
French red wine in
Hyderabad, India on Airline
Business Class!
Onboard
Social
seat seat Onboard
Stream 29A community
Seat-to-seat chat
Game score
Recommendations
Friday, 31 August 12
for many of us well-being can come from being able to resume my conversations with the
offboard world.
or by engaging with the temporary community onboard. multiplayer games are gaining
popularity, as well as local social, being sight-seeing and food tips from locals through a chat
app or a twitter hashtag.

79. feeling understood and
connected
beyond onboard
Friday, 31 August 12
we’re on the cusp of a more personal experience which joins up all flight phases thanks to
mobile and the possibility of continuous connection.

80. beyond onboard
adaptive UIs, which
adjust dynamically
based on location and
journey phase
can help join up and personalise my
experience
Friday, 31 August 12
we’re on the cusp of a more personal experience which joins up all flight phases thanks to
mobile.
beyond planning and booking, continuous connection and hyper local services thanks to near
field communication tech in phones and readers can help join up and personalise my
experience, based on journey phase.
after virtualised check-in applications can transform to support turn by turn wayfiding, or to
offer me entertainment when I reach my gate.
all integrated with disruption management messaging e.g boarding’s delayed by 15 minutes
to keep me feeling in control.

81. beyond IFE
personal carry on
devices beg the question
do we need on-board
entertainment?
Friday, 31 August 12
Personal carry on devices such as smart phones and tablets beg the question do we need on-
board entertainment?
Airlines are already handing out or hiring tablets on medium haul flights.
It will be a while before carry on devices are ubiquitous.
The plethora of tablets means that managing your own device so that you don’t have to hold
it continually is still a problem that needs solving, as is reliably connecting to onboard
networks.

82. have we been effective?
lbs.
Friday, 31 August 12
Virgin reported when the JAM system we designed with Airside started to fly.
People were so engaged with the entertainment system that were nicer and crew
spent less time reseating disruptive passengers.
And apparently there was a dramatic drop in the consumption of alcohol, which
meant less weight and huge savings in fuel costs and operating costs which made
them very happy.

83. thank you!
Friday, 31 August 12