Joined AKQA Amsterdam as Senior Designer Consultant to redesign KLM's web booking experience — making flight search, planning, and booking feel as smooth and human as the airline itself.
Client
KLM (via AKQA Amsterdam)
Duration
Aug–Oct 2015
Team
AKQA Amsterdam + KLM team
Role
Senior Designer Consultant
KLM's digital booking experience felt transactional and dated compared to the warmth and care of their in-flight experience. The gap between the brand promise and the online journey was significant — especially for complex itineraries and multi-leg bookings.
Worked in close collaboration with KLM's product team and the AKQA Amsterdam team across multiple design sprints. Each sprint brought us closer to a booking flow that was visually cohesive, emotionally warmer, and functionally cleaner — from destination search through seat selection and confirmation.
Delivered a complete design set for beta.klm.com. The project was ultimately redirected at the business level — not due to design quality but due to a strategic pivot. The work laid strong groundwork for KLM's subsequent digital evolution.
Conducted deep user research with KLM's team to understand what travelers actually needed from an airline website — beyond booking. Planning mode vs. buying mode. The anxiety of complex itineraries. The desire for clarity on baggage, flexibility, and seat options. All of this shaped the design principles we built from.
Worked in rapid design sprints with AKQA and KLM stakeholders. Each sprint focused on a specific part of the journey — destination discovery, flight selection, passenger details, confirmation. Concepts were prototyped quickly, tested with real users, and iterated before moving forward.
Built a modular component library that could support KLM's global platform — handling multiple languages, currencies, and booking scenarios. Every component was designed to be both brand-expressive and highly functional, forming the design system foundation for beta.klm.com.
Next Project
Backbase – Digital Banking Platform