Air Centered Business Travel. Together with Embraer, a Brazilian aerospace manufacturer, I researched the current context of business travel and created a concept of a personal trip avatar.
Graduation Project part of the Design for Interaction Master program at TU-Delft University of Technology, Delft Netherlands 2019
Read time: 20 min. Totally worth it if you want to learn more about the Vision in Product Design process and the future of travel.
In the future, there will be many options and combinations of transport modes. Since every destination, country, and market remains different, the avatar makes sure to select the right transport mode.
The Embraer Avatar translates each stage of a trip into concrete action.
Design Process
Embraer is an aircraft manufacturer focusing on research and manufacturing of commercial, executive and military aircraft based in Brazil. In the commercial aircraft market, Embraer is engaged in short to mid-range two-engine aircraft focusing on domestic and international flights, mainly on the continental markets.
Let's get started. Who is Embraer and what is the project about?
Embraer is an aircraft manufacturer focusing on research and manufacturing of commercial, executive and military aircraft based in Brazil. In the commercial aircraft market, Embraer is engaged in short to mid-range two-engine aircraft focusing on domestic and international flights, mainly on the continental markets.
Project Domain, the relevant project area: Air Centered Business Travel
The project domain characterizes the area of relevance and which circumstances and factors have to be considered. In other words, in which field I want to contribute as a designer. (Hekkert&van Dijk, 2011)
The Assignment: Design a product-service system to enable business travel in a sustainable, yet novel and holistic manner
At the very beginning of the project, I formulated an objective within the project brief. The assignment states the approach and outcome, research methods, and possible design interventions.
Air Centered. Focus on the stages before and after the flight. Airport transit can be longer than the actual flight and transit options are extensive.
Describing the business trip as „Air Centered“ the context gets further defined and detailed. Relying on commercial aviation for the business trip adds many additional stages to the trip, such as airport transfer, security screening or immigration in the destination country.
A core theme of the project is the transfer to and from the airport, which gets even more important the shorter a plane trip gets, because the transit and wait time at the airport might be longer than the actual flight itself.
Vision in Product Design. A deep dive into the context and actual problems of air travel and business travelers.
Vision in Product Design. A deep dive into the context and actual problems of air travel and business travelers. Vision in Product design is a context-driven design process, with the focus of creating a raison d' être (the reason for existence), which is about the reasoning of the product or, in other words: what I wish to offer people in the future context.
First of all, in today's travel landscape is examined on a product, interaction, and context level. The future world is then created by collecting context factors from relevant fields in mobility and business travel to then come up with a mission statement.
The mission statement intends to take a position on the future context. Combined with the interaction vision the interaction and final product are designed (Hekkert&van Dijk, 2011).
But first, research. With the product deconstruction, I got an understanding of the transport modes a business traveler is using.
First off, a plane, train, and car are deconstructed. However, for a more holistic view, the bike, ride-hailing service (Uber), and an airport were added. Each transport mode is operated under a different business model and service. That makes the transport environment complex and hard to use for the traveler.
In different categories, each transport mode was analyzed on excellent working properties (++), features that can be improved (+), and properties that are not existing (-).
With literature research, I got a better understanding of already existing problems and challenges. There are many stressors for a business traveler: Being away from family and friends, jet lag, travel delays, not having a workplace, or task accumulation. All are resulting in negative physical and psychological impacts.
Business Travel Stressors
Regarding the overall stressors during a business trip, the trip can be divided into three main parts. Pre-, during- and post-trip category.
Firstly, the pre-trip category is about planning before the trip. Arrangements are made with colleagues, managers, and business partners. Plus, in the private environment of a business traveler, arrangements have to be made.
Secondly, during-trip stressors describe accumulated work while being away from the office and unexpected travel delays, which are positively related to fatigue, anxiety, and frustration. Additionally, the intensity of the trip itself is causing exhaustion, such as how many appointments are being planned, cities are being visited, or how many time zones are being crossed.
And finally, post-trip stressors include the risk of negative relation to the organizational commitment and job satisfaction because of tasks or e-mails accumulated during the trip. Private responsibilities like family life have also to be taken care of again (Ivancevich et al., 2003). Especially for regular business travelers, stress might embody a longterm problem.
Next, I interviewed professionals from different backgrounds to get a better understanding of the business traveler's properties and behaviors. The goal of the research was to get an understanding of the procedures and habits during the trip, why which transport modes were used and identifying the problems with such.
Research Question
"What main issues and pain points exist for business travelers on their journey from home to their airplane seat and on the transit to their final destination?"
👩💼 Participant 1
Customer Realationship Manager Fashion
„Oh my god, so many problems with trains, it's disgusting. To get a ticket it's also very sad because machines are always most of the time very, very old. [...] there's different trains when I travel to Paris[,] so they're hard to differentiate, long trains and short trains and I don't know how to recognize which one is which. .
👨💼 Participant 2
Software Consultant - Consulting
"Rental car agency like Sixt, they bring the car to the office [...] It’s easy to drop off the rental car at frankfurt airport. [...] you even don‘t need to park the car [...] you give the key to this person and this person drives the car away, so you don‘t have to do anything."
👨💼 Participant 3
Product Designer - Cloud Software
[...] now a lot of airports have separate locations to where you have to get your Lyft or Uber. It's like separate from where the normal arrivals pickup is. And so finding that is always really a hassle, because it's different for every airport. And since they're like kind of new, never really thought out. A lot of time the signage is really confusing [...]
👨💼 Participant 4
CEO - Biotechnology
Especially in Frankfurt for international travels you never know how far the way to terminal is. Now even though there are buses and stairways and things like that, that's very hard to check how long the time will take to the gate.
👨💼 Participant 5
Financial Analyst - Investment Banking
I mean, when you fly economy it can be a bit stressful that you have a carry your luggage but you don't know if you will find space for it and so you might be one of the first people in the queue so that you can definitely find the space in the overhead luggage compartment.
👨💼 Participant 6
Procurement Buyer - Automotive
I use the lounge if there's enough time. And I usually use it for getting drinks and getting snacks and also to check some emails. [...]
Timing is an issue on the trip, trains may be late and the car might get stuck in a traffic jam. [...]
the faster transit in my situation is also the more comfortable transit.
Interview Conclusion 📍 🤷♀️ 😕
The unknown environment at the destination airport and the transit to the final destination (hotel, office, etc.) are responsible for a decrease in happiness in the second half of the trip.
Finally, how does the business traveler perceive Embraer? What are the touchpoints? It turns out there aren't many, and travelers don't even recognize that they are flying in an Embraer aircraft.
The first possible touchpoint with Embraer starts in the booking process. The booking process is handled differently depending on the corporation the business traveler is working for. When booking through Google flights, the plane type is shown. Yet, it is somewhat hidden and in the background, because currently there is no importance for the business traveler in knowing which airplane type he or she is taking.
Another touchpoint to the brand Embraer is the safety card inside the airplane. In front of every passenger, there are several items such as the safety card with instructions for emergency situations
Lastly, on the fuselage of the aircraft, the type is marked.
Embraer?! Since the customer of Embraer's commercial jets are airlines, there is no need to appeal to the end customer.
Embraers Future Role
Tailoring the final solution to Embraer's requirements and wishes
🌱 Embraer is striving for sustainability to assuring the companies longevity, quality of life, as well as the environment and society.
😁 The joy of living. When Embraer started as a company, it was dreaming which made Embraer happen to be.
🇧🇷 Brazilian identity in future products
👤 Embraer products are getting smaller (carrying fewer passengers, as seen below), sharing economy enables new business models for private jet sharing. Future products are getting more individual.
The clusters Convenience, Differentiation, and Striving for Power/ Freedom are challenging the domain in different ways.
🙌 Convenience
Convenience is the foundation of future travel behavior for the business traveler. The clusters inflexibility, uncertainty, social disintegration and in the matrix, which are the counterpart to convenience, show that the future of traveling is remaining a complex and fuzzy endeavor. Traveling means mastering not only the business objective but the trip itself by making the right decisions and being on time. More transport modes, solutions, and services are making the travel landscape more complex, fuzzy, and hard to overlook. Also, each business trip has different destinations and conditions and is ultimately engaging the convenience of the business traveler.
🌟 Differentiation
With the help of loyalty and reward programs of airlines, the traveler can improve the trip experience and differentiate himself from the standard traveler with a higher class trip and increased status. The airline is taking care of the traveler with support and upgrades. Although, with a decreasing attractiveness of frequent flyer programs and other transport mode providers, the traveler is losing a trustworthy caretaker.
📈 Striving for Power / Freedom
The planning of a convenient trip is limited by company policies. The traveler wishes to create a more hassle-free trip and have a more individual trip experience. Business trips are shifting to a personalized journey to achieve the business objective in the best possible way.
Future Context: Embraer as a mobility provider and a business traveler with concerns living in a future of sustainability.
Mission Statement (What to achieve in the future): "I want business travelers to feel confident during their trip,
while creating the awareness of the brand Embraer."
1. Feel confident during the trip
Business travel is becoming more demanding in the future. New transport modes and ways of traveling are introduced. Different markets develop unique transport landscapes. Within this challenging environment, the traveler has to feel confident.
2. Creating awareness for the brand Embraer
In a sustainable future, Embraer is engaging in new ecologically friendly, energy-efficient products, and business models, while having direct contact with the end customer, the business traveler.
Before a world where Embraer is offering sustainable transport modes and services, the traveler has to be made aware of the brand Embraer.
The awareness and a long-lasting relationship with the brand have to be created, so in the future, the traveler can engage in sustainable traveling with Embraer products. This is a two-step process where sustainability is indirectly achieved by creating awareness for the brand first.
Interaction Vision
Based on the statement definition, where a goal is set, the interaction vision helps to achieve this goal. The interaction vision is an analogy and describes the interaction between the user and the product through interaction qualities (Hekkert&van Dijk, 2011).
The interaction vision needed to represent a moment where somebody finds something, while he or she is not looking for it in the first place. At the same time, the interaction has to create a long-lasting relationship with the object. This unique combination is found in the following interaction vision:
"Finding a treehouse in the woods as a kid."
Interaction Qualities
🔮 Magical
As a grown up we are able to explain how things came to be, yet as a kid many things cannot be explained naturally. Discovering and exploring a treehouse in the woods is something magical for a kid. The origin of its existence is unknown and fascinates the viewer. Also, it raises the thoughts of how the explorer will play a future role with the treehouse. In the natural and monotonous forest environment the treehouse seems out of order. A single non-natural looking building in the forest is a magical thing.
🏠 Sheltering
In a forest one is exposed to the force of nature. Living becomes survival after a few hours and especially at night there is a need to take cover and find a place to rest. The interaction vision with the qualities magical and sheltering is creating a long lasting relationship, where the children know the hidden spot of the treehouse to play or when in need for shelter. They are tempted to come back and may show it even show to friends.
Based on the product characteristics sheltering and magical I created moodboards to get an idea of how the product will work, feel and look.
Sheltering
Magical
Creating a Brand Experience & improving the travelers confidence
As shown before, sustainability, the joy of living, Brazilian identity, and the fact that Embraer products are getting more personalized are the main drivers for the companies future products. Also, with Embraer X, the company is already showing how they see the future in eVTOL mobility. These drivers from Embraer were added to create a new brand experience. The current Embraer logo representing a plane was carefully evolved into a more natural-looking bird. Inspired by Embraer X, the new colour scheme is more vibrant and representing a more dynamic look.
Embraer Avatar
To improve the travelers confidence an avatar is guiding the traveler through each stage of the trip. Trip information is gathered by artificial intelligence and visualized by the avatar through an ambient illustration to reflect of what to do during each stage of the trip
User Journey: From Door-to-Door
The Application: Pre-Trip
To improve the travelers confidence an avatar is guiding the traveler through each stage of the trip. Trip information is gathered by artificial intelligence and visualized by the avatar through an ambient illustration to reflect of what to do during each stage of the trip
During-Trip
To improve the travelers confidence an avatar is guiding the traveler through each stage of the trip. Trip information is gathered by artificial intelligence and visualized by the avatar through an ambient illustration to reflect of what to do during each stage of the trip
Sheltering
Indeed, a trip does not only consist of being in movement. Although the Embraer AI is reducing the trip time and waiting time, there still may be delays for flights, trains, or traffic jams.
Based on the product characteristic sheltering, the traveler is taken care of in every situation. While having nothing to do or in unforeseen events, the Embraer avatar is giving suggestions to the traveler.
This can range from showing the traveler his favorite places around him to spend time at, to get some work done, or to entertain the traveler. The metaphor is derived from the fact that a bird is giving care to its chicks. The caretaking state is translated into the avatar where it opens the wings and provides shelter to the traveler.
In-Flight Handover
In the airplane, the app switches from the map view into augmented reality mode to guide the passenger to the seat. A handover is taking place between the phone and the inflight infotainment: the avatar greets the traveler and accompanies him during the flight.
Itinerary
In case the user wants to choose another transit option, he can do so by swiping up the itinerary. The itinerary includes all upcoming transit stages in full detail. In this case, the air taxi is flying the passenger to the drone port at the WTC to then proceed to the final destination with a ride-hailing car.
The transit option can be changed by swiping left on the tile to select train connections or ride-hailing services. All possible options are shown for each destination.
The Avatar
The Avatar was created in Cinema4d and X-Particles.
My Cinema4D experience paid off having only 2 weeks to build and animate the avatar. Despite the time pressure I enjoyed having fun in Cinema4D and experimenting with X-Particles after months of research and prototyping.
X-Particles is a powerhouse when it comes to advanced particle projects and there is still so much more to discover.
