Enjoy Your Passion

At Jeppesen we believe that to create a great product you need two key ingredients: knowing your users and their challenges and having a passionate team to tackle them. When we asked private pilots to describe the embodiment of flying, they talked about freedom, power, defying gravity and endless horizons. As always, work comes before pleasure and flying is no different. Pilots are required by law to thoroughly prepare their flights: plotting a route, checking weather, reading safety alerts and ensuring the plane’s weight is balanced and within limits. Often finding and carrying the required information and navigation charts on board is a real challenge, as private pilots will have to consult multiple sources, compare and calculate before their wheels can finally leave the runway. We set out with the goal to transform the flying experience from the ground, to the cockpit and back home as a Jeppesen customer as well. Our focus was on building relationships with pilots not just designing a tool for them, because creating the best iPad application is not enough; the pilot must also trust it with their life.

The team spent the first two month of the project on research: Researching the market, the users, their challenges, pain points, wish lists and characteristics. Surveys were conducted both virtually and in person to gather qualitative and quantitative feedback from private pilots. Questions ranged from age and experience all the way to specific features that are a “must have” in every application like route planning capabilities. After the huge amount of data was screened, sorted and interpreted, a set of six personas began to emerge. We identified our primary persona which was used from the very beginning as a reference point for all team members from marketing to development. Almost all private pilots are engaged in a club or organization where they heavily rely on each other’s words and experiences. Within that community we were able to pick out pilots with a voice in the market and engage them as our lead users. We worked very close with them to build up the trust in the team and the application. They were the ones to first flight test the app and they are still providing extensive feedback – their sole driver being their passion about flying.

Working in aviation means working in a safety critical environment. When creating an app for pilots, it is crucial to keep the user’s needs foremost throughout the entire process. The team grew together over time and each of us, experts in their fields, became the voice of the pilot for their domain. The pilots are dear to our hearts: the anonymous user got a name and a face, became a team member and is now an active marketer of the app.
Appstore reviews:

“Finally! Installation and Celebration! Thank you Jeppesen”

“The App is fantastic. Finally there is a usable App on the iPad. I have sent the information to 4 others and even my father will download the trial. They are all excited even without seeing the app yet.”

“The ease of use sets a new standard which no program offers in that way ”

“The map display is good, fast, route planning with and without the “rubber band” is very easy and accurate. A change in the route during the flight is fascinatingly simple and perfect.

All decisions made during the design process are based on the key characteristics of our primary persona: A 42-year old, very young minded adventurous type whose passion is to fly and teach flying. He uses an iPad inflight and wants to have fun while planning his next flight. These facts are based on more than 500 surveys in both Europe and the US which the team conducted at the beginning of the project. The key characteristics for the application were retrieved from the persona, his requirements and the Jeppesen brand promise: professional, enjoyable, reliable and easy. We started developing the concept and visual design language based on the two most contrasting dimensions- professional and enjoyable. With the design language, we wanted to bridge the gap of providing a solid, technical application that is a tool for experts and also an easy-to-use software which pilots will enjoy using, while reflecting the company’s brand.  On a regular basis the team put prototypes in various stages in front of pilots for feedback and stresstest. Flight tests (done by our beta testers) helped the team refine the design to accommodate for lighting conditions, bumpy environments and allow for easy error recovery.