Pan Am Booking Redesign — full case study

A concept brand and booking redesign for Pan Am's comeback: a word-mark logo grown from the original, and a responsive website for finding and booking flights.

Client: PanAm

Category: Concept

A concept brand and booking redesign for Pan Am's comeback: a word-mark logo grown from the original, and a responsive website for finding and booking flights.

Metric: Brand + booking MVP, usability tested

Role: UX and UI Designer

Duration: Concept project

Personal project

Pan Am, the largest international US carrier from 1927 until its 1991 collapse, plans a comeback within 12 to 18 months and needs a next-level digital experience for booking and online check-in, plus a modernised brand that keeps its essence alive.

Travellers booking flights are frustrated by pricing and transparency, want baggage information visible on search results, want miles they can actually use, and prefer direct flights that make the most of their travel days.

  • A concept project pairing a brand redesign with a booking experience.
  • The word-mark had to modernise the brand without losing its heritage.
  • Scope was an MVP of finding and booking flights.
  • Responsive wireframes were designed mobile first.

Market research into how technology is transforming airlines, competitor analysis for strengths, weaknesses and gaps, user interviews about booking experiences, and a contextual enquiry watching users book on their favourite airline site.

  • People want baggage information on the search results page.
  • They want points or miles they can use in full on future bookings.
  • They want tickets and boarding passes emailed.
  • They prefer direct flights to save time.

Research synthesis led to Mary, the persona: an avid traveller managing one long family holiday a year on a tight budget. A sitemap and user flow scoped the finding-and-booking MVP, then sketches became lo-fi responsive wireframes, going mobile first.

An elegant word-mark grown from the old Pan Am logo, a UI kit keeping the booking screens clean and uncluttered, and hi-fi designs covering the journey from search and fare comparison through seat selection to payment and confirmation.

  • An InVision prototype of search and booking tested with users.
  • Testing led to a decluttered header and better filter and sort functions.
  • The return-booking flow was reworked from user feedback.
  • An affinity map of pains, gains and suggestions set the final priorities.
  • The finding-and-booking MVP was validated and iterated with users.
  • The brand was modernised while keeping the Pan Am essence alive.

This project opened my eyes to the effort it takes to design a complex product. I learned to keep the focus on the user experience and improved the visual hierarchy with every iteration.

I would go deeper into features like World-pass, the loyalty programme, and the map and chart views that help users plan their travels.

Overview

Category: Concept

Discipline: Responsive web design

Pan Am was the largest international air carrier in the United States from 1927 until its collapse in 1991. With Virgin America absorbed by Alaska Airlines, Pan Am sees a window for a flying experience a cut above the usual and plans to relaunch within 12 to 18 months. The brief: a responsive e-commerce experience covering flight search, booking and online check-in, plus a brand redesign that modernises the identity while keeping its essence alive.

A wordmark logo and an easy-to-use responsive airline booking website.

Target Users: Air travellers who book tickets online.

Role: UX and UI Designer

Tools: Pen and paper, Sketch, InVision

Empathise

  • Market research
  • Competitive analysis
  • User interviews
  • Contextual enquiries

Define

  • Personas
  • Empathy maps
  • Problem statements

Ideate

  • Ideation
  • Sitemap
  • User flows
  • Wireframes

Prototype

  • Lo-fi prototypes
  • Hi-fi prototypes

Test

  • Usability testing
  • Affinity maps

Process, phase by phase

Empathise

Market Research & Competitive Analysis

Market research showed how technology is transforming the airline industry, with travel companies using AI, natural language processing and conversational interfaces to change how customers interact with their products. I studied competitor websites to find their strengths and weaknesses, and the opportunities sitting in the gaps of their offerings.

  • Pan Am market research and competitive analysis

User Interviews

The interviews explored how people book flights today: their experience, pain points and thoughts on pricing and transparency. I also ran a contextual enquiry, observing users book their next trip on their favourite airline website. Four findings stood out: people want baggage information on the search results page; they want points or miles they can use in full on future bookings; they want tickets and boarding passes emailed; and they prefer direct flights to save time.

User Persona

The persona focused on Mary, an avid traveller who manages one long family holiday a year on a tight budget. She prefers direct flights that depart early and arrive late so no travel day is wasted, and she collects miles for future trips.

  • Pan Am user persona: Mary, family traveller

Empathy Map

The empathy map explored Mary's motivations and experiences around planning and booking travel for the whole family.

  • Pan Am empathy map

Define

Synthesis

Moving into Define, I synthesised everything gathered about users so far, organising the data and looking for meaning and patterns before committing to an MVP focused on finding and booking flights.

Ideate

Sitemap

All the information came together in a sitemap focused on the finding and booking process, the foundation of the MVP.

  • Pan Am sitemap

User Flow

Using the sitemap and the persona, I mapped a simple flow of the finding and booking process: how Mary would use the search form to find flights for her travels and complete a booking.

  • Pan Am user flow: finding and booking flights

Lo-fi Wireframes

I sketched layouts to visualise the information, aiming to make finding and booking as easy as possible, then transformed the sitemap and user flow into lo-fi wireframes that set the visual hierarchy. The strongest ideas were digitised as responsive wireframes, going mobile first.

  • Pan Am wireframe: search
  • Pan Am wireframe: results and fares
  • Pan Am wireframe: booking

Prototype

Brand & Logo

Pan Am wanted to modernise the brand while keeping its essence alive, so the new word-mark grew out of the old logo into a more elegant, contemporary form.

  • Pan Am word-mark logo design

UI Kit

The UI kit set out the colour palette, typography and components for the booking experience, keeping screens clean and uncluttered through the core booking steps.

  • Pan Am UI kit: colour, typography, components

Hi-fi Designs

The final designs covered the full journey from search and fare comparison through seat selection to payment and confirmation.

  • Pan Am hi-fi: search screen
  • Pan Am hi-fi: results list
  • Pan Am hi-fi: fare comparison
  • Pan Am hi-fi: seat selection
  • Pan Am hi-fi: payment screen
  • Pan Am hi-fi: booking confirmation

Test

Usability Testing

I built an interactive InVision prototype focused on flight search and booking, observed users testing it and gathered feedback. The iterations that followed were concrete: a decluttered header, better filter and sort functions, and a reworked return-booking flow.

Affinity Map

The observations from testing were clustered into an affinity map of pains, gains and the suggestions users had in common, which set the priorities for the final designs.

  • Pan Am affinity map: usability testing themes

Reflection

This project opened my eyes to the effort it takes to design a complex product. I learned to keep the focus on the user experience and improved the visual hierarchy with every iteration. I concentrated on an MVP of finding and booking, but I would have loved to go deeper into features like World-pass, the loyalty programme, and the map and chart views that help users plan their travels.