Delta Cloud Crew -
An Interactive AR Experience

Client - Delta Airlines & Virgin Atlantic
Role - Sr Visual Designer
Project Timeline - 2019/2019
Project Status - Launched/Available in App Store

Project Overview

My Role: Sr Visual Designer/Design Lead

Key Stakeholder:
Delta Marketing Team

Core Project Team:
Project Lead
Creative Director
Project Manager
Tech Lead
Copywriter

Business Case

With rising popularity among augmented reality at the time, it was a fitting opportunity Delta to explore something within that space that can deliver customer value and benefit while also providing while also solving painpoints. All while tying into the Delta/Virgin Atlantic traveling experience.

Hypothesis

If we work with Delta to deliver a thoughtful and interactive mobile experience, it will help keep parents and kids entertained while waiting in between flights and alleviate passenger frustrations.

What I did

I was part of the initial pitch to the Delta team and worked with the creative director to craft several options for ideas, including creating all the visuals, and gathered them together as part of our presentation. For the final approach, I was responsible for designing the entire experience, both visually and interface wise. I developed and executed the overall look and feel for the game including the plane designs, logo, and in game UI. I worked closely with Delta’s brand team to ensure uniformity and compliance with with standards. In the end, I also worked with our tech lead to design and model 3D versions of the planes.

Customer problem

With the hectic nature of airport environments, especially while traveling with children, it can be hard to maintain their attention and keep them from being board and restless. This becomes an even harder task when faced with long stand by times and/or delayed flights. Parents can find themselves waiting for hours before their next outgoing flight. How can Delta Airlines provide a fun and engaging experience for kids that spans the entire journey from point A to B and makes creative use of technology to overcome these painpoints and constraints?

Target Audience

  • Children Ages 4 - 12

  • Parents

Success Goals

  • High user engagement

  • Brand awareness and 
promotional value

Business Benefit

This experience would give kids a fun distraction while waiting with their parents at the airport gates. It also benefits parents who are looking to keep their kids occupied while waiting between flights.

how did we get here?

The initial concept was crafted as an in-app kid’s experience that could be activated the day before or day of the scheduled departure. Once in the app, the next step would be selecting a character that would act as a ‘flight buddy’ throughout the entire journey. Kids would be able to interact with their buddy via scan points at the departure gate. They could then participate in fun games and activities while they wait. Once at the destination the experience would conclude.

Delta wanted to test the experience for flights specific to Orlando, FL, and possibly incorporate branded characters within the Orlando Studios house such as The Minions, Spongebob Squarepants, Transformers and more.

During this time, Pokemon GO had launched and ballooned into popularity. What really set it apart, aside from it’s nostalgia factor, was it’s augmented reality capabilities.
This experience set the bar for interacting within AR space. Naturally, this was an opportunity in collaboration with Delta to capitalize on this emerging technology trend.

Inspiration

challenges we faced

When working with AR, some features are a little harder to solve for than others. One of those being the hurdle of occlusion, or attempting to hide virtual objects behind real-world objects. This would prove to be a big obstacle seeing as though it hadn’t yet been solved for.

Other obstacles:

  • The full capabilities of AR are not possible on a moving aircraft

  • Building an experience this robust within the Fly Delta App could potentially cause performance issues and crashes

  • Occlusion is an unsolvable Rubik’s Cube within AR…for now

  • Scan points potentially being obscured or damaged

  • The possibility of kids wandering away from their parents while using the experience

  • Acquiring proper licensing of branded characters and other materials could be a big roadblock

further iteration

While the idea of this proposal sounded like a big win, in hindsight it came with it’s fair share of limitations that could potentially hinder the core experience. Considering this, the next iteration needed to be an option that could still maintain the spirit of something fun and engaging within AR without bogging down Delta’s app.

Working alongside the creative director and project lead, we pitched a flight simulator as a follow up idea. A simple, yet fun experience that would allow the user to fly a plane in augmented reality. This concept sparked much higher interest among Delta’s team, particularly because it tied more closely to the whole flying experience.

delta cloud crew

As the design lead on this project, I architected and designed an experience that incorporated a fun and visually engaging UI. I also designed and illustrated the airplanes based on the branding of Delta and Virgin Atlantic. Delta provided branding in terms of color palette and logos, and everything else I designed.

I then worked closely with the tech lead to create the AR in game experience that brought it all too life. Alongside the copywriter we crafted the in-game content elements around the different milestones.

How the gameplay works:


  • First select a plane. The experience would be the same for each. The plane selection is more about preference

  • After ‘Taking Off” the user is immediately dropped into the AR space

  • The red acceleration button on the right moves the plane and joystick on the left controls the direction

  • The goal of the game is to fly around and collect stars and reach different levels

  • The radar at the bottom of the screen shows where stars are in the space

  • A feature was also implemented that would ‘auto pilot’ the plane back into view if it was too far off screen 


  • One other unique feature that Delta proposed was to base the milestones on their different reward tiers i.e. Silver, Gold, Diamond.

  • This game was built as a completely separate app which took the burden off Fly Delta App

  • Because of it’s simplicity, the game’s performance was smooth and painless

  • This experience didn’t require any activation so users could just jump right in

  • Because the game doesn’t require moving around, there was no worry of kids wandering off while playing

results

This experience provided immediate impact and delight both for Delta and the end users. The initial trial launch for Delta Cloud Crew was tested among travelers at Orlando International Airport in Florida where it received very positive praise both among kids and adults. Testing with the MCO crowd revealed that adults engaged with the game just as much as kids, justifying it as a fun experience no matter the age group.

Following the success of the initial launch, the game was opened up throughout the remaining US, UK, and the Netherlands. Subsequent versions of the game would continue to be released with updates and improvements.

Following it’s launch, Delta Cloud Crew received an impressive 4.7 rating in the App Store (It currently sits at a 4.5) proving that this game was a big success both for our team and Delta.