Electronic Bulletin Board

Following the 2010 merger of United and Continental Airlines, flight attendants continued to operate on separate, outdated systems. One platform offered granular functionality but a poor user experience, while the other had a modern UI but lacked critical tools. In 2017, work began on the Electronic Bulletin Board (EBB)—a unified system designed to support over 20,000 flight attendants with a seamless, intuitive interface.

My team played a key role in user research, persona development, wireframing, and UI design, ultimately building front-end packages to ensure developers had pixel-perfect implementations. Through collaboration, iteration, and overcoming technical limitations, we created a system that modernized crew operations while respecting legacy constraints.

Team

• 5 - Designers
• 2 - Business Analysts
• 6 - Association of Flight Attendants
• 10 - Developers
• Leadership

My Objectives

• Unify flight attendants under a single operational platform.
• Conduct user research to understand workflow pain points.
• Develop low-fidelity prototypes and gather user feedback.
• Build high-fidelity designs and front-end development packages.
• Iterate based on feedback to refine the final experience.

With two disparate flight attendant systems in place, operational inefficiencies were rampant. One system had strong functionality but poor usability, while the other had a modern interface but lacked critical tools. This created frustration, inconsistencies, and difficulty in daily operations.

To successfully replace these systems, we needed to:

Unify all 20,000+ flight attendants under one cohesive platform.

Address both functionality and usability gaps from the previous systems.

Meet strict FAA regulations and align with the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA).

Design a scalable, intuitive system while working within legacy constraints.

Our goal was to streamline workflows, improve accessibility, and create a tool that flight attendants could rely on daily.

To build a user-centric solution, we took a multi-pronged research approach:

Gathering Requirements – Collaborated with business analysts, United leadership, FAA, and AFA to establish core system requirements.

Competitive Analysis – Analyzed third-party tools built by tech-savvy flight attendants to understand what existing systems were lacking.

User Interviews – Conducted hundreds of in-person interviews with flight attendants at major hubs, including IAH, SFO, EWR, and ORD.

Persona Development – Identified key user behaviors, goals, and frustrations to ensure our design met real-world needs.

These insights informed the creation of Journey Maps, Personas, and early concept designs, helping us define the ideal user experience for EBB.

With research in hand, we built a low-fidelity prototype and recruited a user testing group of six flight attendants provided by the AFA. This group represented a diverse mix of age, seniority, and goals, ensuring we designed for a broad range of user needs.

Over 6-8 user testing sessions, we iterated on designs based on real feedback.

Once we finalized key flows, we transitioned to high-fidelity wireframes, refining layouts, navigation, and key interactions.

Detailed handoffs ensured our developers received well-documented, structured designs to build from.

This phase was critical in aligning design expectations with actual user behavior before development began.

As development progressed, we discovered that many UI elements were not being implemented as designed—colors were off, grids were inconsistent, and components didn’t function as expected.

To bridge the gap, we:

Delivered HTML/CSS packages instead of static mockups, allowing developers to integrate UI seamlessly.

Expanded the team from 2 to 5, ensuring design, UX, and front-end support were aligned.

Worked closely with developers to ensure a pixel-perfect execution that met the original design intent.

This shift streamlined the implementation process, reducing inconsistencies and improving development efficiency.

Building a platform for 20,000+ daily active users came with immense challenges. Not every update was met with enthusiasm, and we quickly realized that understanding user frustration was key to success.

Iteration is crucial – We made hundreds of adjustments post-launch, responding directly to user feedback.

Open communication drives success – By embracing feedback, we turned pain points into opportunities for continuous improvement.

Balancing innovation with constraints – Working within a legacy system required creativity, ensuring both technical feasibility and user-centric design.

By staying agile, adaptable, and user-focused, we delivered a modernized, scalable solution that flight attendants rely on every day.