Los Angeles Worldwide Airports (LAWA), the governing body managing LAX, the busiest origin and destination airport in the world, needed to improve their employee and traveler experiences as part of their efforts to establish LAX as the gold standard of airports.

As Group Creative Director at Designit, I oversaw ideation, branding, campaign, and product design efforts in creating Altitude — a digital tool strategically connecting employees to the airport, providing access to tools and critical content, and elevating the employee and traveler experiences. The creative team consisted of product designers, art directors, copywriters, and video editors.

To better understand employee needs, the team interviewed airport workers, conducted observational research, and recorded daily airport task behaviors. We also tested concepts and prototypes with employees, as well as collecting survey data through multiple channels. This data helped inform our process of creating our product feature set and scalable design system.

We initially released a private beta iteration of Altitude with key MVP functionality for testing. This gave us the chance to iterate and ensure that we were creating a scalable solution to effectively meet employee and business needs. Our approach to creating Altitude as a single digital employee experience exceeded client’s expectations and addressed the most critical needs of airport workers.

Here are a few examples of how Altitude benefits LAX employees:

Workday tools: Altitude makes it easy for employees to report, track, and resolve issues that would otherwise impede the airport traveler experience. It also contains a dynamic digital library of airport service contacts for employees to quickly communicate across departments (previously kept in seldom-updated printed binders throughout the airport). This resulted in significant decrease in service response times across the entire airport campus.

Communication: From a centralized communication hub that alerts employees to important airport news at the click of a button, to a searchable, digital catalog of answers to frequently asked traveler questions, Altitude brought modern communication methods to LAX employees. This resulted in employees responding as feeling more connected to the airport, as well as increased traveler communication support efficiency.

Employee experience: Altitude makes it easier for employees to save time and money with various commuter options and the best travel routes to and from the airport, including a real-time employee shuttle tracker. The digital experience also lets employees place discounted mobile orders at airport restaurants and find relevant deals at airport shops and with local businesses outside of the airport. This resulted in increased employee satisfaction, as well as increased discount usage at LAX vendor locations.

As part of the design process, we also created an enticing brand for this new employee experience. More than a set of tools, the Altitude brand serves as a recognizable symbol unifying employees and establishes a deeper connection with LAX.

Shortly after releasing our MVP, a full Altitude experience was launched to 40,000+ airport employees. To coincide with the launch, we created an eye-catching, relatable awareness campaign to inform employees of the benefits of regularly using the digital experience. This included signage, emails, promotional videos, flyers, and more. To add a fun, unexpected twist, the campaign included unique employee swag, such as Altitude-branded pens, challenge coins, lanyards, stickers, and enamel pin backing cards that were given out at roadshows and employee events.