2017-2021
For four years, my team and I led research, design, and strategy for Alaska’s guest experience, serving over 48 million travelers each year with one goal: to create an airline people love
Our team won two JD Power awards for best travel apps
and web experience in overall customer satisfaction
My Role
I led design for four scrum delivery teams focused on our iOS and Android platforms, Kiosks, and Airport GUI's/screens.
Approach
We operated on two parallel tracks. One of research and discovery, the other focused on strict product delivery.
History Lesson
Alaska's mobile app stood out as a polished digital experience following its 2015 refresh, but over the years it accumulated considerable technical and design debt. Historically underfunded and overlooked, the platform lacked meaningful investment until my team and I were brought in to lead its revitalization.
Diary Study
We conducted a longitudinal diary study to examine passenger behavior and emotional responses during their day-of-travel journey. The research team consisted of one researcher and two design partners. We employed observational shadowing techniques to capture real-time user experiences. My primary responsibility involved analyzing qualitative data focused on passenger psychology and emotional patterns.
The study investigated two key research objectives:
Understanding the behavioral and emotional fluctuations of passengers across different touchpoints and environments, including the factors that influenced these changes
Examining the relationship dynamics between passengers and the airline, with particular emphasis on identifying pain points in the day-of-travel experience
This methodological approach enabled us to gather rich, contextual data about the passenger experience in its natural setting, providing valuable insights into user behavior patterns and emotional responses.
Individual Chart Plotting
With each participant, I plotted their expressed sentiment in a chart to show mood variation across the guest journey.
Segmentation Chart Plotting
For deeper analysis, I segmented the data by traveler type—Frequent Flyers, Business Travelers, Solo Leisure Travelers, and Leisure Travelers with Companions—to identify patterns and similarities across these groups.
In conclusion, I looked at the mean average for both inbound and outbound flights. This showed an interesting but expected result.
Guest Journey
Once we completed the analysis, we designed and shared this artifact across the org to help identify areas of opportunities and help inform the product roadmap moving forward.
Further Research
Co-Design Workshop
We believed that there was still more work to be done. So, we set out to validate assumptions about airline app features – specifically focused on navigation, trip management, and timing (from booking to post-flight).
We ran co-design workshops along the west coast in major citeis, where participants built their ideal app using foam-board navigation and action/info cards aligned with each timeline milestone (D-48, D-12, delays/cancellations, in-flight, arrival, etc.). These findings will inform an intuitive, guest-focused mobile architecture.
Upon completing the research, we performed a rigorous synthesis of the data, distilled the insights into an executive‑ready narrative, and delivered focused briefings to senior leadership and cross‑functional stakeholders. These findings enabled product leaders to craft data‑driven roadmaps for every line of business, prioritize workstreams, and align resources with the organization’s strategic objectives.
How might we?
How might we leverage all the research and design visioning we conducted but place more an emphasis on driving business outcomes post-Covid?
Solution Hypothesis
We believe that a personalized, data-driven dynamic home screen will increase user engagement and satisfaction by proactively adapting and responding to individual user needs and market demands.
Ancillary Products & Services Audit
To get us started, I conducted a comprehensive audit of ancillary products and services across all business units to develop an integrated mobile app strategy. Led stakeholder alignment sessions with respective teams to establish strategic priorities. Conducted targeted research with the use of multiple card sorts to evaluate content relevance and user desirability across various user states and scenarios to help inform the product roadmap and feature prioritization.
The Strategy
An intelligent, efficient, needs-driven framework grounded in research — giving us the ability to respond to business, market, and guest needs.
I developed a flexible, data-driven framework for the new Home screen that dynamically responds to multiple factors: market conditions, business requirements, and user personalization data. This intelligent system enables strategic pivoting by:
Analyzing real-time market trends
Optimizing business performance metrics
Delivering highly personalized user experiences
My approach carefully balances external market dynamics with organizational objectives to drive value-based decisions and measurable business outcomes.
For the initial exploration phase, I created multiple content schemas arranged in various layouts. These prototypes account for the full spectrum of user scenarios—both signed-in and anonymous visitors—while accommodating different loyalty tiers and trip statuses to ensure relevance across all user journeys.
Schemas to Wireframes
Using card sorting data and tiered content strategy, I started to draw up what the layout of the home screen could look like in wireframes.
Here, I'm highlighting the use of different content in the Secondary Content Module.
Prototyping & User Testing
Whenever possible, I incorporate usability testing to gather meaningful insights. For this project, I created a fictional airline brand, Logo Air, and used a grayscaled baseline interface. This approach allowed me to fully prototype the user journey for both mental model validation and concept testing.
Results
The results were positive. Users appreciated the slick design and ease of wayfinding. After a few iterations, we landed on a final UI.
Some FAB action
Showcasing our new fab button for quick actions on the new Trips screen
Outcome
The new design was well received both internally and externally. The team continues to iterate on the framework established. Note: The UI has changed some since it's initial release.
Revenue Generation
Upward trend in bookings on app ~16% (growing from 10% of all bookings)
Food Pre-Orders on mobile app increased 68% in first month (previously only seen from Flight Details)
Result Metrics
App Ratings & Downloads
Maintained 4.9 out of 5 stars (iOS) with nearly double the reviews
Focused Marketing Campaigns
December 2020 BOGO Marketing Campaign success This was overall was best campaign to date
Other Major Releases
Same-Day Change flight
Introduced a new streamlined change flight experience
Baggage Tracking
IRROPS
Special Thanks to:
WeWork Westlake Center
Radiator Whiskey
Pasta Casalinga
McGee Building (SeaTac)
Bob's Burgers & Teriyakis (SeaTac)
Fish salad (aka Mondernized Seattle Poke)
Research International Inc.
Sam Choys Poke Food Truck
Bomba Fusion Food Truck
Norstrom Westlake Cafe
King County Metro
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