Airline* Website
Client: Government contract | Current | UI/UX design, User testing, Adobe Creative Cloud
OVERVIEW
Modernizing a legacy experience
This project was all about taking a complex, legacy TSA system and giving it a fresh, modern update that genuinely makes daily tasks feel effortless.
By listening closely to user pain points, I transformed rigid workflows into a smooth, customizable experience that feels natural, intuitive, and tailored to how people actually work.
Goals:
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Provide concise, at-a-glance views with easy access to detail.
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Reduce cognitive load and guide users to the right information faster.
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Build a scalable, reusable design system across every screen.
ROLE
Product Designer & User Experience Specialist
RESPONSIBILITIES
End-to-End UX & UI Design Process
Design System
COLLABORATORS
Cross-functional teams: UX, Product, Operations, Research, Design Systems, Accessibility (Section 508), Compliance, Analytics, Engineering
TIMELINE
Enterprise modernization initiative
A QUICK HEADS-UP ON PRIVACY
Because the official system involves Sensitive Security Information (SSI), all mockups shown here have been safely reimagined using a Delta Air Lines context.
THE CHALLENGE
Project challenges
Navigating a massive enterprise update means balancing big design dreams with real-world realities. Here's how I tackled the biggest hurdles to keep both users and the system happy.
BRIDGING OLD & NEW
The human side
Modernization sounds exciting, but for users on the same system for 15+ years, change can be intimidating. How can we respect established mental models and deep-rooted daily habits so the redesign feels like a supportive upgrade?
ENVIRONMENT LIMITS
Working within constraints
A modern UI needs to perform just as well behind the scenes. How do we architect modular, lightweight components that push design boundaries while staying within a constrained ecosystem?
GOVERNMENT STANDARDS
Navigating compliance
Keeping things secure and accessible was top of mind from day one. How do we weave Section 508 accessibility rules and strict SSI/PII privacy constraints into our components without compromising a delightful experience?
DISCOVERY
Discovery and requirements gathering
Working closely with stakeholders and users, I surfaced pain points and opportunities to simplify the scheduling journey. We identified three focus areas that shaped the end-to-end flow:
1. AWARENESS
Make key crew and schedule information easy to find at a glance.
2. CONSIDERATION
Provide tools to compare schedules and narrow options quickly.
3. DECISION
Summarize schedule and approval details to reduce load and enable confident action.
RESEARCH
Gathering insights
Competitive analysis and user research revealed that schedulers faced fatigue from dense information and unclear status. These insights shaped early iterations — prioritizing concise summaries, smart defaults, and transparent, trustworthy views.
Key insights and themes
ESSENTIALS TO KNOW
Users need concise, high-priority schedule details at a glance
Pattern A: Summarize each duty code alongside its timeframe.
Pattern B: Add visual differentiators to trip duty codes so they stand out most.
PERSONALIZATION
Tailor views based on role, base, and approval permissions.
Pattern C: Surface the most recent pending approvals first, with easy filters so users can quickly narrow their search.
TRUST & TRANSPARENCY
Build confidence with clearly labeled status and traceable changes
Pattern D: Link every change back to who made it and when.
IDEATION & PROCESS
How an idea travels from sticky note to shipped
Behind the polished screens is a repeatable workflow. Here's the real path each feature takes — from gathering requirements to a design that's ready to build.
1
Requirements gathering
Scrum, UX & tech leads align on need, users, and the problem.
START
2
Research & First Draft
UX research validates needs; the designer drafts a direction.
3
UX Review
Collaboration, feedback, iteration — refine round by round.
4
Dev & Stakeholder Review
Walk the flow, confirm feasibility, fold in feedback.
WDYT?
5
Ready to Develop
Requirements confirmed — the design is cleared to build.
100%
To move faster, I wove AI into the loop — using it to generate ideas, spin up iteration variations, and pressure-test concepts in minutes. The judgment and final decisions stayed human.
AI-ASSISTED
FEEDBACK & ITERATION
Iterating with the customer
A guiding goal from the customer was to give each crew base autonomy over its own crews. I put variations in front of them and let their feedback drive the direction — three decisions in particular shaped the final scheduling experience.
7-DAY SCHEDULE VIEW
Explored: Three laptop-sized schedule views — a 5-day, 7-day, and 10-day at-a-glance layout.
Decision: The customer chose the 7-day view. It showed duty timeframes most clearly while still leaving room for date pickers and arrow toggles.
SELECTION HIGHLIGHT
Explored: Several treatments for the active selection across the schedule grid.
Decision: A light-blue background won out — it clearly marked the selected range without competing with the color-coded duty bars.
ZEBRA STRIPING
Explored: Row treatments for a dense, wide schedule users scan for long stretches.
Decision: Added alternating row shading. Users reported strained eyes tracking rows, and the stripes made it far easier to follow a pilot's week.
DESIGN SYSTEM
Ensuring visual consistency
The same schedule pattern shows up in more than one place, so it had to feel identical everywhere. The full Crew Bases table lives on its own page — and a compacted version of that exact table is reused inside Pairing Options to select pilots for a flight.
Pairing options
COMPACTED FOR PILOT SELECTION
Inside the flow to staff a flight, the schedule table is condensed and paired with checkboxes and duty-code selectors — so schedulers can pick pilots without leaving the page.
Crew bases
FULL SCHEDULE TABLE
The source of truth: the full 7-day schedule table with color-coded duty bars, the highlighted week, and zebra striping — the pattern every other view inherits from.
IN THEIR WORDS
Reactions from the client
The client team responded warmly to the redesign — praising how naturally it fit their workflow and getting energized by new ideas along the way.
I am always so amazed how you can take what we say and make it come alive and work so well with our workflow!!
ON FIT WITH THEIR WORKFLOW
Those ideas sound great!
DURING AN ITERATION REVIEW
REFLECTION
What I learned from this project
Modernization unlocks momentum
Rethinking a legacy tool showed how much friction good structure removes — and sets up scalable patterns for the future.
Trust grows through clarity
Transparency, usability, and steady user feedback were key to earning confidence in the redesign.
Balanced collaboration delivers
Blending collaboration with clear decision-making delivered impact under tight timelines and shifting priorities.