Alaska Airlines
Product Design Manager
Guest Mobile App (iOS & Android)
Nov 2020 - Aug 2021
Gained buy in and led the redesign of the guest facing mobile apps – advocating for new app information Architecture (IA) to support company strategies, expand team's scope, and foster team product thinking and appreciation for scalability.
Background
Alaska's mobile app was a shiny beacon after its refresh in 2015, but it was only a surface layer refresh and years later, it was riddled with tech & design debt.
The team struggled with overcrowded roadmaps filled with business and operational demands, all while chasing feature parity with competitors. Instead of holistic improvements, the app evolved through a patchwork of MVPs—never refined, never revisited—creating a fragmented guest experience.
My role
As the Product Design Manager for the mobile app and the "Serve" (self-service) pillar, I led the evolution of Alaska Airlines' mobile guest experience. With years of firsthand experience as an individual contributor, I understood the app’s growing design debt and the challenges of securing leadership buy-in for large-scale improvements.
To drive change, I championed investment in 'Experience Foundation Pieces'—critical structural improvements essential for future innovation. I defined the experience vision, aligned cross-functional teams, and ensured our design efforts laid the groundwork for a scalable, user-centered future.
What did this simple artifact do?
I created this artifact as a way to connect the dots for myself and visually communicate the story to others, rather than just telling them.
It enabled prioritization, surfaced the strategic opportunity, and most importantly, underscored the need for further investment in the guest mobile app—ultimately securing funding and roadmap allocation.
Strategic opportunity
Unlock the ability for guests to continuously engage with our app by expanding our experiences & offerings to go beyond the day of travel.
Experience Vision
To inspire, welcome, care for, and re-inspire our guests on an ongoing journey.
Evolving the app
With funding and roadmap capacity secured, we embarked on our journey. Below is an overview of our steps towards the Alaska Airlines app evolution.
Foundational Research
Our vision and strategy was grounded on UX research and focused on guest needs.
Team:
Product Design Manager (me)
2 Product Designers
1 UI Designer
In 2019, I led a mobile IA study to identify guest expectations and narrow our assumptions in three key areas related to how guests interact with an airline mobile app.
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Navigation
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Trips/Flights
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Events (timing)
We hypothesized that matching our concepts to a comprehensive set of guest expectations would assist us in designing a mobile architecture that is both intuitive and helpful for the guest during their journey.
This study was a multi-city study including Seattle, WA, San Diego, CA, San Francisco, CA; with the intent of understanding our newly acquired target market in California (after purchasing Virgin America).
Navigation & Feature Updates
Setting the foundation of our app based on insights from UX research (mobile IA study).
Team:
Product Design Manager (me)
1 Product Designer
1 UI Designer
1 UX Writer / Content Designer
Product Manager
8-10 Engineers
Supporting our guests and the business
When guests didn't have trips, they were shown duplicative actions with limited visual appeal. By iteratively updating the navigation and features on the mobile app, we created a stage for merchandising and acquisition offerings.
Homescreen & Dynamic Content
Designing a "home" based on an intelligent, efficient, needs-driven framework.
Team:
Product Design Manager (me)
2 Product Designer
2 UI Designer
1 UX Writer / Content Designer
2 Product Managers
12-14 Engineers
Content Strategy
Identified the categories of content along with the associated stakeholders. There were many of them so this required extensive stakeholder collaboration and engagement.
In parallel, we completed additional research to understand content desirability taking into account variable states.
Framework & Requirements
We created an intelligent, efficient, needs-driven framework grounded in research – giving us the ability to respond to business, market, and guest needs.
Lever pulling based on market conditions, business needs, and personalization for:
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Revenue generation
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Loyalty acquisition
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Credit card acquisition
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Focused and personalized marketing campaigns
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Ancillary product upsells and/or partnerships
Content blocks & design tokens
Going beyond the design system, my team developed this modular framework using interchangeable content blocks, designed for easy content swapping. Design tokens were created for each element and design collaborated closely with developers throughout the build process, laying the foundation for continued progress and future enhancements.
Final Designs
Below are the final designs for the various states for both iOS and Android. These are only the final designs for the MVP. I left the company shortly after the release of these designs.
Continuous Learning & Iterating
The app made significant strides toward the experience vision, "To inspire, welcome, care for, and re-inspire our guests on an ongoing journey." and we established a modular framework to drive progress.
I continue to travel on Alaska Airlines whenever I can, frequently capturing screenshots of the app to track its evolution. Hooray for moving beyond just an MVP! Below are a few screenshots of subsequent versions.
Trip that is more than 24 hours out
Trip within 24 hours (check in window)
Trip after checking in
Takeaways & Results
The fundamental value & purpose of a product should continuously evolve to best suit guest & business needs...
(Note: percentages/points not noted but were tracked)
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App Ratings & Downloads: Maintained 4.9 out of 5 star app (iOS) with nearly double the reviews
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Revenue Generation: Upward trend in bookings on app
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Loyalty Acquisition & Credit Card Acquisition: homescreen iterations to target this - unknown results after departure
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Focused Marketing Campaigns: December 2020 BOGO Marketing campaign success - overall was best campaign for engagement and revenue to date
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Ancillary Product Upsells: Food pre-order on mobile app increased in first month (previously only seen from Flight Details)
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App Engagement: Increased time spent on app