Focus:
Research workshops, interaction design, prototyping, illustrations
Reimagining aviation training for a new era
Aviation training used to live in manuals and classrooms. We reimagined it in VR, creating immersive scenarios where pilots and crew could practice without the cost of an airplane or the limits of a textbook.
Industry:
Aviation / VR
Role:
Lead designer
Year:
2019—2020
The problem
Airlines needed to train pilots and crew more effectively, but real aircraft training was too expensive. Through workshops, interviews, and early pilots, we uncovered three main barriers:
The hypothesis:
For VR training to succeed, it had to overcome skepticism and feel effortless.
Creating focus
A darkened environment eased eye strain in VR and kept focus on what mattered: structured modules, progress, and the next assignment. Anchoring the interface in a physical space also reduced motion sickness, making the system more comfortable for long training sessions.
Library navigation
Even in VR, people need to browse, filter, and search through files. I designed the library to feel familiar: groups, sorting, and search worked the same way they would on a desktop.
Procedures
Learners have multiple ways to train: just watching a recording, exploring, taking an assessment, or joining a live guided session. In apps, navigation back usually sit in the top-left corner, but in VR that pulls your head off-center. I placed it in the middle top so it stayed within natural view and was easier to use.
Turning training into a win
One of our key personas was a younger pilot who loved games and was excited about AI. For him, we added medals, scores, and progress screens. Little touches of gamification that made training feel like play.
Outcomes
The VR training platform was nominated as Most Innovative Product at the XR Awards and presented at an industry showcase, laying the groundwork for future deployments. Beyond recognition, it proved to stakeholders that immersive training could be practical and trustworthy. For me, the big lesson was clear: futuristic interactions succeed when they feel immediately familiar.
