Defect Analysis
Human-Centered Design Brings A Legacy Product Back to Life.
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My Role
Lead Product Designer
Team
Veryon product trio
Tools
Figma, Miro, Jira
Timeline
6 months
The Problem
Fragmented tools and poor usability prevented technicians from efficiently diagnosing and resolving aircraft defects.
Maintenance controllers and technicians faced tool overload, confusing navigation, and reliance on outdated workflows across Sabre, Ramco, ChronicX, and SpotLight. Usability barriers caused users to abandon new tools, while critical defect history and troubleshooting guidance were either buried, missing, or hard to access in high-pressure situations. These gaps reduced trust, slowed decision-making, and limited adoption.
Solution Highlights
Redesigned diagnostic experience to streamline troubleshooting, reduce tool-switching, and build user trust.
I simplified SpotLight and related workflows by introducing a clearer navigation structure, progress indicators, and mobile-first designs for technicians working on the aircraft. I collaborated with engineers, product managers, and airline stakeholders to integrate defect history, AI-powered recommendations, and communication tools into one cohesive flow. The redesign reduced reliance on scattered systems (Ramco, Sabre, thumb-drive files), increased adoption, and established the foundation for a cross-platform design system 0 → 1
Reframed troubleshooting in SpotLight to guide technicians through complex defects and unlock mobile-first opportunities.
Our research showed that troubleshooting rarely happens behind a desk—it takes place inside the aircraft. Because most technicians don’t have computer access near the airframe, we designed a mobile-first solution that lets them accurately diagnose and define problems on the spot.
Impact
Fragmented tools and poor usability prevented technicians from efficiently diagnosing and resolving aircraft defects.
The Process
Using the general design thinking framework, I let the design team through the process of discovery research, ideation, design and testing. We used sprints and a Jira boar to keep us on track as a team.
JIRA
Our team collaborated in agile sprints, using JIRA to track design tasks, document research, and stay aligned with engineering and product management.
Figma
Our design team used Figma for documenting research and ux methods as well as wireframes and final prototypes
Slack
Our team uses slack for communication, huddles and document sharing.
Heurstic Evlauation
I uncovered major usability issues across the existing website and member enrollment flow.
I audited the website and enrollment flow using Nielsen’s 10 usability heuristics, surfacing key issues like unclear CTAs, hard-to-find information, and lack of clarity and clear path for insured vs. uninsured users.
Understanding the problem space
I investigated the needs of three main users, explored their environment, and uncovered opportunities for inclusive communication design.
The Director Of Product Management and I began with on site research. Customers were happy to see our product team visit them, and in one case, we secured badges providing virtually unrestricted access to airline technicians as they worked in hangars. The team interviewed, shadowed, and conducted onsite usability testing with dozens of maintenance technicians across the entire customer base in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K.
Real Moments that taught us something BIG!
Findings
The team interviewed, shadowed, and conducted onsite usability testing with dozens of maintenance technicians across the entire customer base in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K.These on sites revealed gaps in trust, missing plan context, and uncertainty around troubleshooting.
User Journey Mapping
To spot moments of friction and opportunity, I mapped the end-to-end user journey across defect analysis , timeline, and guided troubleshooting.
Building on the persona, I created a user journey map to visualize friction across core tasks. This revealed where users dropped off, struggled to find clarity or lost trust, and helped me prioritize what flows to simplify first.
Design opportunities
To turn research into action, I prioritized and categorized insights to guide design decisions.
To synthesize research findings, I used the journey map to create actionable insights and framed design opportunities as “How might we” questions. This helped align the team around clear problem areas and set the direction for solution exploration.
Design Opportunity 1
How might we make the timeline view more actionable for maintenance controllers?
Design Solution
Redefining the timeline view.
Design Opportunity 2
How might we improve navigation and enable real-time feedback to help users contiune to build trust in the system?
Userflows
I redesigned the troubleshooting flow to better align with how users work and research defects in their daily life and meet their expectations for the system.
The orginal troubleshooting flow was rigid and confusing: users couldn’t easily view questions and answers, were often forced to input unreliable data without aircraft access, and hit repeated dead ends due to poor affordance.
The redesigned workflow solved several key usability issues:
Faster access to symptoms — Instead of forcing users to first enter aircraft details and then perform a separate directory or keyword search, we streamlined the flow. Since most users start with keywords, we aligned search directly with aircraft selection so they can get to the directory faster.
Symptom-first approach — Rather than beginning with questions, we introduced a new Symptom Profile Page. This lets users see possible solutions first, understand related defects, and quickly confirm whether they’re on the right track before answering questions.
No dead ends — To avoid full stops when no solution is found, we added a Network Feedback Page, similar to Reddit, where technicians and MOCs can share experiences and collaborate on troubleshooting.
Design Solution
How might we improve navigation and enable real-time feedback to help users contiune to build trust in the system?
Design Opportunity 3
How might we introduce an iPad app to help reduce the frication and increase adoption
Design Solution
Reflection
This project challenged me to design for a complex, real-world aviation experience, balancing business needs, user expectations, and technical constraints.
This project challenged me to design for a real-world aviation experience, balancing business goals, user expectations, and technical constraints. Beyond solving usability issues, I helped influence how Veryon defined its offerings, communicated value, and structured internal design and handoff processes.
Learnings
Small design elements like early insurance validation, “popular” labels, and simplified comparisons reduced decision fatigue and helped users move forward confidently.
Design starts with asking better questions.
Clarity = conversion
Digging into why users weren’t enrolling helped uncover deeper problems with messaging, structure, and flow, not just UI.