Alaska Airlines
Welcome aboard
The engagement with Alaska Airlines began as a high-stakes recovery moment and evolved into a foundational shift in how the brand approached digital experience design.
What started as a small, senior-led team quickly scaled as the scope expanded across app and web, loyalty, account management, and design systems. As stakeholder needs shifted and priorities multiplied, our role extended beyond design execution into structure, alignment, and long-term enablement. The work ultimately supported Alaska’s transition from external partnership to an internally led design organization—leaving behind a system built to evolve, not just launch.
Client
Alaska Airlines
Scope + Deliverables
Experience strategy
Visual design
Brand & key art
Motion prototypes
Role
Creative director
Timeline
2022-2024
Excursion
The relationship began with a two-person team: myself and a Group Creative Director. I stepped in following an unsuccessful rebrand pitch and, within six weeks, led the creation of three complete UX and UI brand concepts—from full brand identity and UX strategy to motion prototypes—for executive and board review.
The winning direction, Excursion, reframed Alaska as more than an airline into an authentic travel partner. A concierge-like, super-informed side kick for guests’ travels. This laid the groundwork for Alaska’s transformation from cute, and occasionally misinformed, to a company that is dependable and present when needed, without being intrusive.
From Concept to System
Originally, the scope was limited to redesigning a small portion of the app experience. As brand definition work progressed with marketing leadership—and as additional stakeholders joined—the engagement expanded rapidly. What followed was a comprehensive prioritization and reframing of an extensive backlog, not just in terms of features, but in how the organization approached digital decision-making itself.
I worked to scale the team from the original two designers to adding 8 more to our multidisciplinary group spanning UX, UI, and brand — while bringing structure to a complex and fragmented product backlog.
Together, we redefined not just what to build, but how Alaska approached its digital work. Our efforts extended from a handful of app screens to the full account experience across mobile and desktop, the complete loyalty ecosystem, and the underlying systems that support both.
Destination: Arrival
By the end of the engagement, we delivered a comprehensive design system that unified brand, UX, and UI. This included a reimagined color strategy for promotions, loyalty tiers, and light and dark modes, a new tiered system for loyalty earnings and rewards, and reimagined pathways for interactions across accounts and day of travel flows.
The work laid a durable foundation for Alaska’s digital future and supported the transition to an in-house design organization.
