Tomarlo Continental
“take it with you”
Air travel mobile app study of flight-booking process and other findings
PART I: Travel Booking
Where are we headed today?
The main objective of this study was to analyze current air travel apps and their flight booking process, identify areas of improvement and design a mobile app.
“Why be able to view something that is not available?”
“I want to know that I am getting the best deal of all my available options”
— Common anxieties faced during the booking process
Key initiatives for the app design:
Simplify main navigation, flight booking process by focusing on critical tasks
Clear language and prompts to direct user where to go
Build customer trust with intuitive features
Flexible cancellation for COVID* with updates on impacted travel, e-credit / trip insurance capability
*All research was collected in February 2021 while COVID travel was greatly impacted by uncertainty.
For a quick detour into the other research studies, see Parts II and III.
Final Design
The key tasks were to improve visual display and functionality of main navigation. It was critical to simplify the design into a less stressful environment for user to complete tasks on a phone screen. The dial button on main page key navigation was an homage to an engine turbine on a jet airliner. It also allows maximal ease to use just a thumb for key navigation tasks. In hindsight, it almost acts like a rotary dial, talk about a throwback!
Aptly chose a bright color palette and novelty font inspired by a 90’s Acapulco vacation souvenir. The design has strong contrasts to play with the airline’s fun tropical getaway theme and its simplicity to use for booking.
Tomarlo Continental, the name of the pretend airline, is derived from Spanish for tomarlo contigo, which means “take it with you.”