Flight Information Display System Case Study - Doha International Airport

Electronic Visual Information Display SystemDesign Concept And Branding

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CONTENTS & OVERVIEW

1. Executive Summary 2. Project Details 3. Situation at Doha Int’l Airport 4. User-driven Research 5. Lessons learned 6. Design elements 7. Proposed layouts 8. Branded designs 9. Future Plans

Hamad International Airport: EVIDS Redesign

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

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The EVIDS Design concept was a major project undertaken by the Operations Planning team at Doha Int’l Airport. The project involved numerous stakeholders from the Airport Authority, Qatar Airways and the Contracting companies. The project lasted a total of 21 months, covering user research, prototyping and implementation.


PROJECT DETAILS

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PROBLEM STATEMENT

Design a better information display ecosystem that matches the ‘exclusive’ feel of our new facility, and transfers information in a better way to enhance passenger/customer experience.

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KEY STAKEHOLDERS

• HIA Operations Department • Flight Data & Resource Allocation • Baggage Handling

• HIA Commercial Department • HIA Information Technology • Qatar Airways Information Technology • Qatar Airways Marketing • Qatar Airways Premium Operations • New Doha Int’l Airport • CP31 (Information Systems)

• Ultra Electronics

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Scope of Work

• Arrivals Displays • Landside Summaries • Baggage Reclaim Summaries • Baggage Belts

• Departure Displays • Check-in Summaries • Check-in Counters • Gate Summaries • Gate Counters

• Transfer Displays • Immigration Displays • Misc Displays

• Information Counters • Directory Displays

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Key Statistics

The EVIDS project was a large scale project affecting every single passenger going through Hamad International Airport. These numbers help show the sheer scale of work that was involved in the project, from start to finish.

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1,500screens

150graphical

assets

350screen

renderings

47pages of

documentation

21months

1,400emails


TIMELINE

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Q4 2012 Q1 2013 Q2 2103 Q3 2013 Q4 2013 Q1 2014 Q2 2014

October 2012

Project Begins

December 2012

Department Approval

February 2013

GCEO Approval

September 2013

Branding Introduction

February 2014

CP31 Workshop

May 2014

Brand Refresh

May 2013

Concept Finalization

July 2013

Asset Completion

February 2014

Branding Completion

June 2014

Core Completion

Ideation Phase

Creation Phase

Graphical Assets

Business Rules

Branding

Implementation Phase


SITUATION AT DOHA INT’L AIRPORT

A key to understanding how to create a better product is looking at what is already available; what would have been done if nothing was changed.

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Doha Int’l Airport

We took this project as an opportunity to see how things were in DIA, and how we could improve on them.

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Hamad International Airport: EVIDS Redesign 12







USER-DRIVEN RESEARCH

Research methods involved passive observation as well as active inquiry

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Passive Observation

The first portion of the ideation phase was spent observing passengers’ use of the current system at Doha Int’l Airport.

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Labeling Exercises

Research was done on passengers to understand the best wording to use for status remarks.

Labels that aviation professionals assumed trivial were sometimes not understood by passengers.

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Active Inquiry

Preliminary design prototypes were shared with potential users (passengers, frequent flyers, designers and Arabic speakers) for feedback, resulting in incremental improvements.

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LESSONS LEARNED

Through the research and observation, deeper problems were uncovered that, if addressed, could lead to a much better passenger experience.

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Language Flipping

Most of our passengers were thrown off by the switching of languages between Arabic and English.

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Use of Language

The use of language plays an important role in portraying information. Minor changes, e.g. from “Final Call” to “Last Call”, can go a long way in a region where English is not the first language of most.

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User Interface Design

Many changes were needed from a graphical design perspective to increase usability, as well as minimize user distraction.

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DESIGN ELEMENTS

Visual cues help passengers understand information more efficiently, and graphic elements help achieve the ‘exclusive’ look, setting Hamad Int’l Airport apart from other airports in the region.

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Typography and Color

Frutiger, a font made specifically for airport signage, is used. Currently, HIA uses Frutiger for wayfinding signage in English, however we would use it in Arabic as well, as it works better on screens.

More subtle colors are used (dark grey instead of pure black, light beige instead of pure white). Lower contrast ensures less eye strain.

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Contrast is considered good for readability, but not too much.

كواال لمبورKuala Lumpur


Typography and Color

Frutiger, a font made specifically for airport signage, is used. Currently, HIA uses Frutiger for wayfinding signage in English, however we would use it in Arabic as well, as it works better on screens.

More subtle colors are used (dark grey instead of pure black, light beige instead of pure white). Lower contrast ensures less eye strain.


Tailfin Logos

The ‘Tailfin Logo’ style enabled us to standardize all airline logos. This allowed for a cleaner look.

They are what a passenger sees right before boarding their plane, and using them freed us enough horizontal space to put the airline name as well; which is more legible than the logo.

Each logo is meticulously created as a vector, with minute details taken into consideration to match the airline’s livery completely.

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Architectural Elements

Prior to the Hamad Int’l Airport Logo/Branding, architectural elements were used to feed into the design of the EVIDS. This ensured the screens were in harmony with the airport facility.

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Other design elements

Arabic and English text is placed on the same page to minimize rotation for passengers’ convenience.

Passengers can scan QR codes which direct them to the HIA website, so they can check flight information on the go.

Weather statuses on boarding gates inform passengers on the destinations. Special icons were created the region, including “dusty” and “sandstorm” icons.

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كواال لمبورKuala Lumpur

Adaptation of “Climacons” by Adam Whitecroft


PROPOSED DESIGNS

The following designs were used in Hamad Int’l Airport for a couple of months until the branded version was completed.

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BRANDED DESIGNS

HIA Operations worked together with the branding agency, StartJG, to produce a set of designs that follow the HIA Brand Guidelines. These are in current operation at Hamad Int’l Airport.

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FUTURE PLANS

To integrate the system better into the Hamad Int’l Airport ecosystem, incremental changes will need to be made to adapt to the constant change in the airport environment.

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POTENTIAL PROJECTS

• Splitting of screens for MAGS usage • “Baggage belt display” on Arrivals PLB • Installation of EVIDS in Passenger Busses • Integration of EVIDS with HIA mobile app • Addition of walk times on a ‘per flight’ basis • Provision of higher resolution, larger screens • Segregation of flight information by area

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Electronic Visual Information Display SystemDesign Concept And Branding

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Negative Colors on Dark Backgrounds