Emirates Airlines
Objective
We were tasked with two goals by Emirates Airlines for this project. The first was to integrate Emirates' frequent flyer program, Skywards, which was a separate website, to the then existing Emirates website. Our second task was to redesign and rethink the Emirates website as a whole in a bid to increase ticket sales and click through rates. These changes were to also apply to the goal of the globalization of the platform, supporting over 200+ of the most popular languages in the world.
I led the design direction and art style of the site*, while presenting to clients and working with developers. The output of this initiative was a good exercise of balance between meeting the clients needs and pushing the boundaries of creative concepts.
Results
We successfully merged the 2 sites together, resulting in:
• +38% increase in logins
• +$200MM ticket sales annually.
*The site has now since been redesigned.
Responsibilities
• Directed site platform redesign
• Provided art direction and the development of a brand visual language
• Managed and mentored designers
• Delivered UI/UX design
• Developed and maintained styleguide
Credits: Waimuk Sie, Jeremy Belcher, Chris Weller
Increasing Mobile Engagement and Bookings
The Challenge of Moving into the Mobile Age
Emirates Airlines needed a modernized mobile experience to better serve a global audience across 62 countries. The redesign required handling performance issues and complex localization—supporting 18 languages, while ensuring a fast, intuitive booking journey on unreliable networks.
Converging Business Goals with User Needs
What problem were we solving?
The existing mobile experience was slow, fragmented, and difficult to use, especially on lower-bandwidth networks. The booking and seat selection flows were cluttered and lengthy, often leading to drop-offs. The interface also struggled to accommodate complex localization requirements without degrading the experience.
Who are the users?
Global travelers accessing the Emirates mobile site, many booking tickets from regions with variable internet quality, language preferences, and device capabilities.
Why it mattered
Mobile was a rapidly growing channel, and optimizing this experience had direct implications on revenue, satisfaction, and brand perception. For users, the site needed to feel fast and frictionless. For the business, it was a critical opportunity to convert intent into bookings.
Our goals
• Reduce mobile page load times
• Streamline booking and seat selection flows
• Increase booking success and satisfaction
• Support multilingual and right-to-left interfaces seamlessly
Where Rubber Meets the Tarmac
Solutioning and Process
We began with a full audit of the mobile web architecture—measuring page weights, latency, and task completion flows. Analysis revealed not just performance gaps, but UX inefficiencies that led to friction in the booking process.
Key trade-offs
• Visual richness vs. performance on low-bandwidth connections
• Global consistency vs. local flexibility
• Feature depth vs. streamlined flows
Solution highlights
• Reduced booking flow steps and streamlined seat selection
• Implemented lightweight UI components to improve load speed
• Developed responsive layouts that adjusted for both LTR and RTL languages
• Built a modular framework to scale across 18+ localized versions
Testing & refinement
We ran iterative usability tests in key markets to validate assumptions and fine-tune the flows—ensuring the design was intuitive, regardless of language or connectivity.
Arriving at the Results
Satisfying Business Goals and User Needs
The redesign delivered a faster, more responsive mobile site. It reduced task completion by up to 50%, thus improving user satisfaction and ticket sales conversion, which eventually led to an increase in overall revenue.
We were also able to successfully navigate and integrate complex localization and interface challenges, providing Emirates Airlines a competitive edge across the global air travel market.
Key results
• 28% increase in mobile bookings
• 34% increase in mobile usage
• 50% reduction in average task completion time
Emirates Airlines Site Experience
Below are all of the other samples of projects and initiatives I've taken on for Emirates Airlines.
