FLY SCOOT

This massive 100 page, fully articulated HTML prototype was necessary for several reasons: first, to visually communicate to the client exactly what we were thinking in terms of flow, how the new business logic functioned, and how were planned to address all pain points of the original site. Second, to provide a bible to the development team for which they could refer for guidance.

In many ways the mobile experience was of even more importance than the desktop. Over half of all bookings made through the site were conducted on mobile and a significant remaining percentage used mobile to check the price of a ticket & later completed the booking on desktop. That means the number of steps to achieve a price needed to be as short and transparent as possible. This time, the less number of clicks, the better.

Booking flights can be daunting, almost always because at any one time the user is inundated with choice. Our guiding philosophy was simple: reduce choice, and give only one decision at a time. Our cognitive load is rather admissible. The human brain can visualise no more than 6 items at any given time without having to commit what's on screen to long term memory. We also have difficulty in choosing from more than two options in any given scenario. Given this knowledge, we structured each page for maximum readability and decision making.

We found that a high percentage of users would perform one search, only to return to the homepage to perform another with different search criteria. To alter this behavior, we sought to make editing the search far easier in case users changed their mind. We build an edit search panel into the header itself so it would be close by at all times.

We realised very early on that some users book in very different ways. Some users are less conventional and appreciate the options to choose flexible dates based on price. A timeline interface allowed users to forecast their trip and see how pricing fluctuate over the course of a month.

We knew that most users perceived booking flights the same way they perceived filling out any long, tedious form: a chore. We wanted to change that. We developed a guiding philosophy for user interaction very early on of “play, not use”. What’s the best way of getting users to play with an interface rather than “using” it? Make it look like a game. We designed the interface resemble an 80’s arcade game with bright colours to reduce stress & increase the fun factor.

Let’s face it, filling out your details isn’t the most entertaining thing in the world, so we dressed it up a little without sacrificing usability. Form fields were interactive & playful. The food menu I designed as a catalogue. Baggage selection I designed as large buttons that you could press into the screen.

Something that's particularly difficult to achieve given the complexity of the interface. Because the user behaviour was quite different from desktop to mobile, we had to design the two interfaces simultaneously, just to see if it worked at both sizes.

Upgrades were a crucial aspect of the design. Very rarely do airlines make money through the ticket sale itself, but through the add-ons and upgrades offered along the way. Since users are in quite a different frame of mind at each stage of the booking journey, we strategically placed every add-on for relevancy and easy comparison of benefits.

We redesigned an entirely new Profile section where customers could manage their personal details, payment options, upcoming flights and even make express bookings. The frontpage acted as an overview for getting things done, and included some smart logic in what it promoted as important depending on your behaviour as a user and past purchases.