WSI InFlight - Weather for Pilots

Desktop Applications

September 2005

Although I was part of the Web Initiatives group at WSI, occasionally I would be asked by other groups to help with UI design assistance, ranging from small enhancements to completely software changes. This was the case for WSI Inflight.

The current version of InFlight at that time had not been updated in many years, and the competition was apparently a lot closer to current design standards and mass-market appeal than we were. I was brought in to help 'modernize' the interface.

One of the difficult parts of designing for InFlight was keeping in mind that pilots would be using a touch screen and dealing with turbulence, and even day to night transitions. We also had to get more features that had been requested with a focus group. A touch and drag interface was created that would also display times on the buttons for the overlays, a small map that would display what was in the larger screen, and even collapsible panels so pilots could focus on the weather.

Although a test version of this software was created and tested, an eventual merger with Sirius kept the project from coming to fruition in at least this form.

Relevant link:

Tools used:

• Adobe Photoshop