Boarding Passes

Reimagining paper boarding passes to better align with a passenger’s airport experience

Boarding passes are a classic example of poor design decisions. While mobile passes are popular, many passengers still prefer or need paper tickets, especially on certain routes and at specific airports.

Inspired by my own travel experiences and the frustration I face every time I confuse the gate number with my seat number, I set out to redesign a traditional boarding pass with a focus on typography and information architecture.

My role

Sole Designer

What I did

User Research
Typographic Design
UX Design
Usability Testing

Team

Natalie F. Smith, Mentor

Timeline

January - March 2021

Problem

We aren't catering to our passengers

Boarding passes are handled by airline staff, security, and passengers, all having different needs, making it especially challenging to prioritize.

Airline staff and security see boarding passes every day so they know exactly where to look for specific information.

Passengers on the other hand, take time to find relevant information and sometimes confuse details in the bustling airport environment.

How might we make the boarding pass more legible and intuitive for passengers of all ages and backgrounds?

Research

To establish what information is most important to users and how people currently navigate through boarding passes, I interviewed 20 people who have flown on a plane, ranging from teenagers to seniors.

Research Findings

Paper, still a preference for many

13 out of the 20 users I interviewed report using printed copies of their boarding pass more than 50% of the time.

Emphasis on gate number

The single most important piece of information to those flying is the gate number. It is also the one that people struggle to find most.

Improve rate of comprehension

It takes almost half of the participants over 30 seconds to navigate through the boarding pass upon initial read.

Meet the two types of travelers

I was starting to see just how much chaos usually surrounds this piece of paper. So, I created two personas to represent different passenger perspectives, needs, and frustrations.

These personas were revisited throughout the different iterations and testing to ensure that design decisions were making direct impact.

Multitasking Manny

Manny is an avid traveler who juggles a lot at once.

Pain Point

As a result of his short attention span, Manny has misread important information and had to move between gates and seats.

Needs

He needs distinguishable text to be able to read information accurately.

Apprehensive Amelia

Amelia gets stressed by traveling and bustling airport environments.

Painpoint

An already stressed Amelia gets overwhelmed by the content heavy boarding passes.

Needs

Easy access to relevant information.

Restructuring to destress

Giving Amelia direction through design

To help Amelia seamlessly find information relevant to her journey, I narrowed down the elements of the boarding pass to only those required by those traveling and established what information would be needed at each step.

I then began from sketching out a typical user journey based on a traveler’s typical course of action and the information they would need along the way. This was done based on the assumption that airport staff can scan the back of the boarding pass to receive further details concerning internal operations.

Ensuring accuracy through typographty

Iterating for Legibility and Readability for Manny

To allow Manny to distinguish letters and numbers from each other and read information quickly, I utilized typefaces that strike a good combination of both legibility and readability.

Iteration 1

Fine-tuning typography treatment

Iteration 2

Refining Hierarchy and Layout

Iteration 3

Balancing all of the Components

Final Design

After multiple rounds of testing and iterations, I reached my final design.

Usability Testing

We made a difference!

I used A/B/A Testing to compare boarding pass designs we see today with my proposed redesign.

Faster Comprehension

It takes users an average of 10.23 seconds to assimilate all of the information in my redesign compared to the 18.87 seconds in the original design.

Locate Gate Number Faster

1.8 seconds to locate the gate number in my redesign compared to the 2.3 seconds  in the original design.

Locate Seat Number Faster

It takes users an averege of 1.2 seconds to locate the seat number in my redesign compared to the 1.9 seconds in the original design.

Next Steps

Talking to Airport Staff

Conducting additional user testing to ensure the success of the final design would be a priority. Being able to decipher between design goals and the feasibility of such designs is essential when aiming to solve real design problems. It would be valuable to talk to gain airport staff insights and ensure alignment with their needs and system.

Exploring Use of Color

Exploring further iterations with color and comparing them with the current black and white version.

Reflections and Learnings

Focusing on the why, not the what

By focusing on user needs and behaviors when speaking with them, Iensure that our solutions are not only accurate but also highly relevant and impactful. This foundational step is crucial for creating designs that truly resonate with the target audience.

Testing, testing, testing.

By continuously engaging with our users, we were able to validate our design choices and refine our solutions, ensuring that we were consistently working towards enhancing the passenger experience.