Hokulea Airlines' target user is anyone who needs to book an inter-island flight in Hawai‘i
The goals of this project is to create a next-level user experience for their core digital flow involving booking flights online. Focusing on creating this experience mobile friendly and a responsive site that doesn’t force users to download and install an app by empathizing with users and identifying their pain points and unmet needs.
UX/UI Designer
Hokulea Airlines is an airline company based in Honolulu, HI. Although they are not a large competitor in the field due to flying to and from limited west coast cities, they are transitioning to become the leading competitor for Hawai‘i inter-island travel. They are looking to create a next-level user experience for their core digital flow involving booking flights online. They would also like to focus on creating this experience mobile friendly and a responsive site that doesn’t force users to download and install an app.
To empathize with the users and identify their pain points and unmet needs to create a good online booking experience.
First, I began doing a competitive analysis on Hokulea's top competitors, Hawaiian Airlines and SouthWest Airlines and looked at their websites to see how it was structured, what was working and what wasn't working within the site. Below are my findings.
After conducting a competitive analysis, I was able to interview 5 participants who have booked a flight in the last 7 months. Due to conducting this research during COVID-19, I allowed for a longer time period for participants since there was little to no travel during this time. During the interviews I had participants describe their last booking experience by telling me the steps they took to choose a flight. Below are my findings.
Based on my research, I’ve created groupings and similarities between the people I’ve interviewed to create a persona of a 30 year-old magazine editor named Justin Wong.
age: 23
occupation: editor
Location: aiea, hi
last flight booked: feb 2020
Justin Wong is a 30-year-old Editor from Aiea, HI. Not only does he love to travel and explore, he often has to fly to other islands for work. Justin’s college friend will be in town soon and they want to visit another island while his friend is here. Justin and his friend are grabbing dinner and finally found time to discuss choosing a time and day to fly inter-island. Using his mobile phone, the two of them look at time and places. The low-price calendar was easy to use and made it quick for the two to find the lowest fare. Once the dates were selected, the two found a time that best fit their schedules. Since inter-island travel is short, Hokulea Airlines has many choices to fly to and from each island. Booking on his mobile phone was an easy experience.
“IT MAKES BOOKING A FLIGHT SO MUCH EASIER ON THE GO WHEN IT’S MOBILE FRIENDLY.”
Based on my competitive analysis, I was able to create a user flow on how to book a flight on HokuleaAirlines.com
Hokulea Airlines represents the culture and the history of voyaging in Hawai‘i. In Hawaiian, the name Hokulea refers to Arcturus, one of the guiding stars for Hawaiian navigators, which passes directly over Hawai‘i’s latitude, helping guide sailors to the island chain. On March 8, 1975, the Hokulea double-hulled voyaging canoe, was launched from the sacred shores of Kaneohe Bay. Hokulea Airlines wants to make a comeback inspired by traditional voyaging from the sea, but now into the stars and the sky. Deep-rooted with Hawaiian culture, this airline wants to create a modern, unique and authentic experience for their travelers.
Based on my research, almost all my participants cared most about the price of the flight and getting the best deal. It was important to include a low fare price calendar within the flow.
After testing the user flow on the lo-fi wireframes, I was able to receive feedback and make adjustments to the hierarchy between the departing and returning flight pages because it was difficult to distinguish the difference between the two.
After finalizing the hi-fi wireframes, I've created a UI Kit to handoff to developers.
Aloha, Hawaii is just one flight away. Hokulea Airlines can provide the best inter-island experience for you with our extra comfort seats, free in-flight movies and gourmet snacks and food.
To help with user testing, I've created a prototype for the mobile friendly version of Hokulea Airlines' booking experience based on the user flow I've created and any unmet needs that were found in the lo-fi user testing round. Want to try it out? Let us know what you think!
After creating the lo-fi wireframes, I conduced a round of user testing. In this round of user testing, there were 4 participants. Because the prototype was limited in certain ways, I had to guide some participants in the correct direction. Also, testing was conducted on a desktop but tested a mobile size. Below is an overview of findings.
After creating the lo-fi wireframes, I conduced a round of user testing. In this round of user testing, there were 4 participants. Because the prototype was limited in certain ways, I had to guide some participants in the correct direction. Also, testing was conducted on a desktop but tested a mobile size. Below is an overview of findings.
With the lessons learned from my Sew & Stitch project, I had a better understanding of the UX process which made it easier to ask the right questions within the individual interview process. It was interesting to hear the different needs and ways people book their flights. Based on my research, the younger audience who chooses to travel doesn't necessarily have a specific airline they always use. Whereas the older generations prefer brand loyalty and fly with one specific company rather another no matter the price because their in-flight experience was much better than others.
