PROJECT OVERVIEW
Amazon Air
Project: Tablet App design
Client: Amazon (Concept Project)
Role: UX Designer
Team Members: Will Richter, Carolyn Choi, Narie Kudo
Tools: Sketch, Invision, Photoshop, Google Docs
More airlines are adding free high speed Wi-Fi. This onboard innovation delivers a robust online experience similar to what people expect at home or work. Now with streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, airlines want an app that lets passengers stream, and order food right from your seat. This app will be available for use with multiple airlines on custom tablet hardware (such as Fire HD 8 and the iPad).
The Challenge
What might an Amazon entertainment interface and/or ecosystem look like? How can I create a customer experience that effectively "transports" them?
The Solution
Streamline the Amazon ecosystem with a focus on in-flight entertainment, create an intuitive and seamless experience aimed at emotionally transporting the user to their destination.
RESEARCH
Interviews
Through interviews, I identified trends in passengers’ experience with flying and streaming to uncover insights and pain points.
“Well I have a love-hate relationship with it—I like flying but I don’t like all the inconveniences and the crowds.”
“One thing I look forward to [when flying] is a movie that I haven’t seen or tv shows that I’ve been meaning to watch.”
Affinity Mapping
With the information gathered, I was able to categorize trends and identify pain points.
Pain Points
Lack of variety
Cost of streaming
Inconveniences and cramped spaces
C&C Analysis
Through a C&C Analysis of streaming services I identified the optimal features for in-flight entertainment.
A large variety of movies and television
Recommendations and curations
IMDB cast, facts and trivia
Heuristics
By doing a Heuristics evaluation I identified the weak points of the current Prime Video system.
Confusing organization of movies
Redundant navigation in hamburger menu
Paywall business model
Synthesis
Persona
I consolidated my research data to determine the user I was designing for. This formed my persona Patrick. If my design was addressing Patricks needs then I knew I was on track.
Feature Prioritization
With the data I collected, I created a chart measuring the importance to user vs. cost of development. This helped me to narrow down the features to the Minimum Viable Product that would address Patrick’s needs.
With the MVP targeted, I now had the groundwork for building a testable prototype.
IDEATION
Design Studio
With Patrick’s needs as a blueprint, my team and I designed paper prototypes of the new Amazon inflight streaming service.
Testing
Our prototypes were tested as a closed Amazon ecosystem.
The prototype build had an equal emphasis on streaming, shopping, and food/beverage service.
Insights
The login functions and the paywall business model frustrated users.
Through testing we learned that people wanted to stream movies during their flight.
Solutions
I removed the Amazon paywall and login (lost revenue will be recuperated by new users).
I prioritized the streaming service with food and beverage options
I eliminated shopping features
With these solutions in mind, I was ready to design higher fidelity prototypes.
PROTOTYPE
User Scenario
Patrick is traveling to New Zealand to explore Hobbiton for the 20th anniversary of Lord of the Rings. It’s a long flight, so he wants to use this opportunity to start his Lord of the Rings marathon.
Medium Fidelity Prototypes
With the updated model of the prototype, I designed medium fidelity wireframes to help Patrick accomplish his goal.
Movie & TV homepage
Movies about your destination page
Movie action and information modal
Viewing pause screen
Metrics
During usability testing, I found that our new design was more efficient. There was a drastic reduction in time spent locating the movie.
It took users 4 minutes to find Lord of the Rings on Amazon Prime Video.
Users were able to find Lord of the Rings on the new Amazon Air prototype in under 1 minute.
High Fidelity Prototype
The prototype was built to further validate findings from usability testing. This was also an opportunity to test the visual layout of the application.
(click below to watch video)
Reflection
During the scope of the project, access to in-flight entertainment systems was limited. Further research on existing in-flight systems would allow utilization of existing design conventions.
Additionally, service design thinking could be applied to address the needs of airlines and airline employees.