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EasyFly app

EasyFly is an intuitive Android application designed to guide first-time flyers through the complexities of air travel. It transforms a potentially stressful experience into a seamless journey by offering a friendly, step-by-step interactive checklist that covers every stage of the airport process.

To ensure absolute clarity and confidence, the app features a personal virtual avatar assistant and clear video illustrations for each step, ensuring users never feel lost or overwhelmed.

Industry

Mobile Apps

Industry

Mobile Apps

Platform

Android

Business model

B2С

Business model

B2С

Year

2026

Year

2026

Executive Summary

My role:

Lead Product Designer / Product Owner (End-to-End Product Design)

Platform:

Android

The Problem:

Air travel is a high-stress environment, especially for first-time flyers. Traditional airline checklists are static, non-contextual, and fail to address the cognitive load and spatial disorientation passengers experience inside an airport.

The Solution:

EasyFly is an Android-based travel assistant that guides users through every airport stage using an interactive, step-by-step checklist, visual video guides, an AI animated assistant, and an integrated psychological relief hub.

Business Model:

Monitization via a transparent one-time purchase (OTP) for lifetime access to a seamless travel experience.

The Stack & Toolkit:

  • Design & Design System: Figma

  • AI-Assisted Workflow: Figma Make (layout conceptualization), Grok & Claude (Video, UX copywriting), Claude Code (rapid prototyping scripts), ElevenLabs (high-fidelity voice acting for the avatar assistant).

  • User Testing: Maze

Workflow steps:

Research & Data-Driven Strategy - Scope Management & Feature Prioritization - Visual Design - Hi-Fi Prototype - Usability Testing & Context-of-Use Optimization

Research & Data-Driven Strategy

UX strategy

To build a product that truly resonates with the target audience, I moved away from assumptions and rooted the UX strategy in concrete user feedback. I launched a comprehensive survey combining structured, closed-ended questions with open-ended prompts, allowing users to share their specific preferences and personal travel stories. This approach helped pinpoint exactly where first-time flyers experience the highest cognitive load.

Quantitative Insights: Defining the MVP Architecture

Through the structured survey, I quantified user anxieties by explicitly asking potential first-time travelers. The quantitative metrics established a clear hierarchy of needs, directly shaping our core MVP features.

“What matters most to you at the airport when you fly for the first time?”

“What matters most to you at the airport when you fly
for the first time?”

“What matters most to you at the airport when you fly for the first time?”

Qualitative Validation: The Flawed "Online Check-In" Mental Model

While numbers gave us a roadmap, open-ended survey comments revealed a critical behavioral trap: first-time flyers often misunderstand how airport steps depend on each other. Many mistakenly believe that completing a digital step means they can skip the physical environment entirely.

One user shared a story that perfectly highlights this friction: "I checked in online and thought I was good to go, so I went straight to the security gate. Only then did I realize I hadn’t dropped off my checked baggage because I completely bypassed the check-in counters. I was lucky I arrived early and the staff let me go back, otherwise I would have missed my flight."

The Insight & Implemented UX Solutions

The core problem here wasn't bad airport design—it was a flawed assumption. The user thought online check-in eliminated the need to visit the departure hall, not realizing that physical luggage drop-off must happen before heading to security. To prevent this critical and stressful mistake, I designed two core product solutions into the MVP

Solution 1 - Contextual Guardrails

Instead of interrupting the user with rigid pop-ups, the app utilizes highly visible, contextual informational blocks ("Important" / "Tip") directly within the online check-in stage. If a user has checked luggage, the app explicitly warns them to drop it off at the main check-in counters immediately, clarifying that finding separate Baggage Drop-off zones deeper inside the airport becomes significantly more difficult later. Conversely, it provides immediate reassurance to hand-luggage-only passengers that they can safely skip this step and proceed straight to security.

Solution 2 - Visual Guidance (Video-Illustrated Steps)

To help users effortlessly locate these physical counters in a chaotic terminal environment, I backed this milestone with a short, looping micro-video illustration. Showing users exactly what a check-in and baggage drop station looks like bridges the gap between digital instructions and physical reality, giving them the visual confidence to navigate the layout correctly.

Scope Management & Feature Prioritization

Data-Driven Feature Prioritization (RICE Framework)

As the Product owner, one of my primary responsibilities was managing the MVP scope to maximize immediate user value while optimizing development resources and Time-to-Market. To establish an objective, metric-driven feature hierarchy, I applied the RICE scoring model to evaluate the three core concepts derived from the survey data.

The Prioritization Matrix

I calibrated the matrix using strict product metrics based on the target audience's behavior.

Strategic Scope Choices

  1. Step-by-Step Guide - MVP Winner!
    Highest priority (Score: 200). It directly resolves the primary friction for 62% of surveyed users. Since 100% of travelers must complete the airport flow, delivering a polished core checklist timeline was an absolute prerequisite for launch.

  1. Anti-Panic Hub
    Included in MVP (Score: 90). While targeting a specific segment of highly anxious flyers (15% Reach), its lean implementation cost (Effort: 0.5) provided maximum user value with minimal engineering strain.

  1. Interactive Map
    Moved to backlog (Score: 20). Despite high theoretical reach, building accurate indoor navigation without local terminal infrastructure (BLE beacons/custom APIs) posed catastrophic execution risks (Effort: 5.0) and delayed time-to-market.

  • Reach - % of total active users interacting with the feature.

  • Impact - the feature's strategic contribution to delivering essential user value and preventing travel mistakes
    (3 = Massive, 2 = High, 1 = Medium).

  • Impact - the feature's strategic contribution to delivering essential user value and preventing travel mistakes.
    (3 = Massive, 2 = High, 1 = Medium).

  • Impact - the feature's strategic contribution to delivering essential user value and preventing travel mistakes
    (3 = Massive, 2 = High, 1 = Medium).

  • Confidence - level of confidence that this feature will directly benefit first-time flyers, validated by user research data
    (100% = High, 50% = Low).

  • Confidence - level of confidence that this feature will directly benefit first-time flyers, validated by user research data.
    (100% = High, 50% = Low).

  • Confidence - level of confidence that this feature will directly benefit first-time flyers, validated by user research data. (100% = High, 50% = Low).

  • Effort - relative implementation and content creation complexity
    (The number of sprints required to implement a specific feature).

Product Features & UX Rationale

  1. Voice-Guided Step-by-Step Navigation

What it is?
An automated voice narration system built into the virtual assistant, designed to read all step-by-step content aloud with seamless text-to-speech synchronization.

What it is?
An automated voice narration system built into the virtual assistant, designed to read all step-by-step content aloud with seamless text-to-speech synchronization, complete with integrated on-screen mute controls

UX Rationale

Navigating a chaotic airport terminal requires high visual attention. To achieve cognitive offloading, the app uses voice guidance by default, allowing a hands-free, heads-up experience.

Before starting, an onboarding prompt gently suggests plugging in headphones for privacy and comfort. To give users complete control over their experience, the voice assistant can be instantly muted via a dedicated on-screen button or disabled in settings, shifting the UI into a clean, text-centric reading mode.

Psychologically, the assistant's voice acts as a supportive companion, reducing the feeling of isolation and lowering acute situational anxiety.

  1. Visualized Airport Workflows

What it is?
Contextual video previews available at each step, giving users a clear visual understanding of the upcoming environment and procedures.

What it is?
An automated voice narration system built into the virtual assistant, designed to read all step-by-step content aloud with seamless text-to-speech synchronization, complete with integrated on-screen mute controls

UX Rationale

For first-time flyers, anxiety is triggered by the fear of the unknown. Rather than acting as strict instruction manuals, these micro-videos serve as a calming visual orientation. By opening a low-friction media overlay paired with gentle ambient music, users can preview exactly how a procedure (like security scanning or passport control) looks and unfolds in reality.

This contextual exposure demystifies the upcoming environment, establishing mental readiness and reassuring users that the process is entirely predictable and manageable before they even step into the area.

  1. "Calm" Emergency Hub

What it is?
A rapid-access stress-relief hub that allows users to instantly choose between a grounding exercise for escalating anxiety or an emergency practice for acute panic attacks.

What it is?
An automated voice narration system built into the virtual assistant, designed to read all step-by-step content aloud with seamless text-to-speech synchronization, complete with integrated on-screen mute controls

UX Rationale

An omnipresent "Calm" button provides a non-intrusive safety net that respects user autonomy. It avoids forced automated pop-ups, giving users immediate control to choose between a grounding box-breathing exercise or an emergency panic-stop practice based on their current distress level.

Usability Testing & Context-of-Use Optimization

Methodology & Setup

To test the app in realistic conditions, unmoderated remote usability testing was conducted via Maze using a high-fidelity, fully interactive Figma prototype.

The main goal was to evaluate how fast users could locate key features and to understand how a stressful physical environment, such as a noisy airport, affects the overall user experience.

Key Findings from User Testing

  1. Contextual Audio Adaptation
    By default, the voice-guided assistant was turned on. During the test, users found it hard to use this feature in a loud airport environment because they did not have their headphones ready.

  1. Layout Efficiency
    I measured how quickly users could find three critical items: the emergency "Calm" button (breathing exercises), sound settings, and the FAQ section.

    A 2-second discovery time proves that the layout is clean, and the visual hierarchy is intuitive.

  1. Testing Stress-Relief Features
    100% of users successfully completed the panic attack and breathing exercises (100% Task Completion Rate). However, some users commented that they were not sure if these exercises would actually be effective during a real panic attack.

    So to measure real efficacy, the post-launch strategy is to deploy in-app micro-surveys right after a user finishes an exercise during a live flight. This will provide accurate data based on real-world emotions.

Conclusion & Next Steps

EasyFly proves that thoughtful design can transform a stressful real-world experience into a smooth journey. Busy airport environments cause high cognitive load for people flying for the first time. To fix this, the app divides the airport path into clear, hands-free milestones and provides instant access to calming practices.

Usability tests confirmed the interface is intuitive, with key features found in just 2 seconds. Ultimately, EasyFly demonstrates how user-centric design can successfully reduce anxiety and help people feel secure throughout their entire airport experience.

Next, I plan to collect real-world feedback through short in-app surveys right after users land. This data will help me continuously improve and optimize our stress-relief features.

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Contact me

yli.vaschenko@gmail.com
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© 2026 by Yuliia Vashchenko

Contact me

yli.vaschenko@gmail.com
Linkedin

© 2026 by Yuliia Vashchenko

Contact me

yli.vaschenko@gmail.com
Linkedin

© 2026 by Yuliia Vashchenko

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