Ethiad | UI UX Designer

Overview

Redesign the Emirates in-flight experience by creating a new IFE portal with various features, such as a flight tracker, movies, TV shows, podcasts, kids content, games, 3D moving map, city guides.

Outcome

Etihad Airways Awarded For Best IFE/CONNECTIVITY Launch by an Airline 2016

Award-Winning Entertainment System

Project

Project duration: 6 months

My roles & responsibilities: In my role on the project, I actively participated in brainstorming sessions, and was responsible for designing wireframes and the GUI, ensuring a seamless transition to development

My Deliverables: Flowchart, wireframes, low and high fidelity prototypes, UI assets

Tools used: Balsamiq, Photoshop, pen and paper

Understand

This enhancement to Etihad's excellent E-Box inflight entertainment offering, helped seal the airline's position as winner of Best Inflight Entertainment for the seventh year in a row.

Improved User Experience

• Optimize visual elements for reduced power consumption

• Design UI components that fit within the constraints of the aircraft's limited space, creating compact and streamlined interfaces for an efficient user experience

• Prioritize essential features, employ adaptive brightness controls, and implement power-saving modes

• Collaborate closely with development teams and suppliers to explore energy-efficient technologies, assess the performance impact of design choices, and find synergies between UI/UX design and software optimization

Define

Passenger Experience Focus: Enhance engagement and satisfaction during flights.
Stakeholder Research: Conduct interviews to gather insights from airline staff and passengers.
Content Diversity: Offer a wide range of entertainment options to cater to different demographics (e.g., families, business travelers).
User-Centered Design: Prioritize intuitive navigation and seamless integration with existing systems.
Demographic Understanding: Analyze passenger preferences to tailor features effectively.
Quality Reflection: Ensure the portal aligns with Etihad’s brand values and commitment to excellence.

Create

Ideation

Accross all our personas, we identified the need to design two separate in-flight entertainment portals: one for adults and another for children. The adult portal offers a variety of movies and business resources, while the kids’ portal features games and animated films. This dual approach ensures age-appropriate content, enhancing the entertainment experience for all passengers

Prototype

Final UI

The proposed design for the in-flight entertainment portals was successfully approved.

Testing

After all wireframes were approved we were able to create a high-fidelity prototype to test the interface with users

Implemention

Our GUI implementation provided essential features across various devices and platforms, delivering an enhanced user experience. These features included, but were not limited to the following:

Handset solution

• It allowed users to simultaneously watch the latest video on the monitor while using other features such as purchasing duty-free products, order food, send emails, tracking the flight, or chatting with another passenger.

• It can be turned into a phone.

• It knows its orientation and has built-in accelerometers, allowing users to use it for playing games.

Results

Designing the E-Box entertainment system for Etihad was an incredible and rewarding experience, as it allowed us to combine cutting-edge technology with creative solutions to elevate the in-flight entertainment experience. From conceptualizing intuitive interfaces to curating engaging content, every step of the process was driven by the goal of enhancing passenger satisfaction and creating a seamless, enjoyable journey for travelers of all ages. Working with Etihad’s team, we were able to bring this vision to life, setting new standards for entertainment and connectivity in the airline industry.