Streamlining airport security at SEA
When we think of the experience of going through airport security, many feelings come to mind: frustration, anxiety, and stress. With the pandemic on our shoulders, these feelings are heightened as people are now even worried about being cautious.
Currently, airports have no process established to actually limit the crowds of people especially in security lines.
FlySEA, an airport app features basic functionalities like viewing security checkpoint wait times, flight information, and an airport map, but lacked the ability to help users feel safer while traveling during the pandemic.
Role
User research, interaction, prototyping, usability testing, visual design
Duration
4 Weeks (80 Hours)
Problem
Solution
Designing new features to allow for passengers to enter security at specific times, view how others have rated their experience with the airport’s safety, and be guided through a video of the new COVID changes in place. By streamlining the airport security experience, passengers can spend less time in security and focus more on staying safe and confident while flying.
Research
Defining user needs
As a frequent flyer myself, I had some initial assumptions that I wanted to validate by speaking with other travelers.
Insights I’ve uncovered:
Users need to move through security quickly so they can limit their exposure to others
Users need to feel safer at the airport so they are able to travel more often
Users need to be aware of the TSA rules and regulations so they can be more prepared for security checkpoints
Customer Journey Map
Mapping the emotional journey of getting through airport security helped me pinpoint the low points of users’ experiences, and find opportunities where the new features can be implemented to ease those negative feelings.
User going through airport security
Define
Success Metrics
I came up with these metrics to determine the success rate of the new features:
Total time it takes for user to go through airport security
Safety ranking based on users’ experiences at the airport
Total number of users who can get through airport security without friction
Ideation
Finding the best layout to fit with the current design
While sketching, I had to keep in mind that I was working within an existing design system by referencing screenshots of the current app and building out the solutions based on improving the current experience of the app and implementing the new features seamlessly.
Feature 1
Joining a screening group
Passengers will be notified of when to leave to the airport and be assigned a time to arrive at the security. This limits the time spent in security as well as limit exposure to crowds.
I wanted to ensure a smoother experience by including the progress bar and highlighting important information to make it easier to follow along through the steps.
Feature 2
View Airport Safety Ratings
Although, I have no control over the airport’s practices for maintaining safety measures, I wanted passengers to be more informed about the current safety precautions taken so they would feel more comfortable.
Adding airport safety ratings helps give reassurance by being able to see an overview of the safety measures as well as being able to read about real experiences from other passengers.
Feature 3
Video of New TSA COVID Guidelines
Having recently traveled during the pandemic, I am guilty of not being prepared at security with some of the new COVID procedures in place. Through my research, other passengers faced the same issue.
By providing a video that users can watch can properly demonstrate how to get through security safely and quickly with the new machines and avoid friction during the process.
Usability Testing
Uncovering Opportunities to Improve
The first round of usability testing was conducted to observe how users completed a series of tasks using my design and identify problems that arose.
Pain Point #1
Video was hidden, and most users didn’t know which section it belonged to. Users needed to be able to find the latest COVID information upfront.
Pain Point #2
It was unclear to users what information would be found in the departures and arrivals sections causing them to guess or assume. Several users also overlooked these sections because they didn’t expect to find the video there.
Pain Point #3
Several users were unsure about the meaning of the term screening group causing uncertainty.
Pain Point #4
Half of the users found some portions of the app too text heavy causing them to rush through the screens without actually reading the information.
Validating my iterations
I was confident and pleased to see that almost all my participants were able to complete the same tasks after my revisions. For the second round of testing with UI elements added, I wanted to determine how users felt about the visual elements.
Key findings:
Majority found the shade of green distracting and hard on the eyes:
“Is this the bright green SEATAC already uses? It causes eye strain for me... Maybe use it a little more sparingly?”
Confused on why they shouldn’t get to the airport too early
Confused on why ratings were out of 10 but stars were out of 5
Wanted to be able to sort the airport safety reviews
Final Design
With the recommendations from the second round of testing, I revised the final product. Although the existing flySEA app included light green CTA buttons, I decided to change them to a darker green shade as users found this distracting and caused eye strains.
Learnings & Challenges
Working with constraints
By introducing new features into an existing platform, I had to make sure they were integrated seamlessly without changing the current design system. Referring back to the screenshots of the app and UI kit helped me stay consistent throughout the process.
Importance of visual hierarchy
Creating an airport application that requires a lot of important information made it difficult for me to limit the amount of text presented to the user at a time. I had to make sure that I wasn’t cutting out anything necessary, but also make sure the user didn’t get bored and skip over all the details of the content. Highlighting important content with visual hierarchy and UI elements were essential.
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