Bologna Airport
Designing clarity and orientation in a time-critical service system
Duration
6 months
Made with
Stakeholder
Industry
Airport Operations
An airport isn't a traditional digital product. It's a complex service system where people make decisions under pressure, with tight timeframes, fragmented information, and minimal margin for error. This project shows how UX and UI design were used to improve orientation, comprehension, and reliability in Bologna Airport's digital experience, starting from research on actual passenger behaviors and translating it into concrete design choices.
Bologna Airport
Designing clarity and orientation in a time-critical service system
Duration
6 months
Made with
Stakeholder
Industry
Airport Operations
An airport isn't a traditional digital product. It's a complex service system where people make decisions under pressure, with tight timeframes, fragmented information, and minimal margin for error. This project shows how UX and UI design were used to improve orientation, comprehension, and reliability in Bologna Airport's digital experience, starting from research on actual passenger behaviors and translating it into concrete design choices.
Bologna Airport
Designing clarity and orientation in a time-critical service system
Duration
6 months
Made with
Stakeholder
Industry
Airport Operations
An airport isn't a traditional digital product. It's a complex service system where people make decisions under pressure, with tight timeframes, fragmented information, and minimal margin for error. This project shows how UX and UI design were used to improve orientation, comprehension, and reliability in Bologna Airport's digital experience, starting from research on actual passenger behaviors and translating it into concrete design choices.
Context
Bologna Airport handles high and highly heterogeneous flows: occasional travelers, frequent flyers, families, international users, people with specific needs. The airport experience spans multiple phases—before, during, and after the journey—and across multiple physical and digital touchpoints. The project emerged from a research and design process led by Tangible, aiming to rethink the digital experience as an integral part of the airport service, not just informational support.
The real problem
Bologna Airport handles high and highly heterogeneous flows: occasional travelers, frequent flyers, families, international users, people with specific needs.
The airport experience spans multiple phases (before, during, and after the journey) and across multiple physical and digital touchpoints.
The project emerged from a research and design process led by Tangible, aiming to rethink the digital experience as an integral part of the airport service, not just informational support.
My Role
I worked as Senior UI Designer within the Tangible team, collaborating closely with UX researchers, designers, and airport stakeholders.
My contribution focused on translating research insights into clear, consistent, and implementable interface solutions, working on information hierarchies, interaction patterns, and visual consistency across digital touchpoints.
I supported UX activities by contributing to prototypes, flow definition, and user journeys, aiming to reduce ambiguity and cognitive load at the most critical decision points.
Context
Bologna Airport handles high and highly heterogeneous flows: occasional travelers, frequent flyers, families, international users, people with specific needs. The airport experience spans multiple phases—before, during, and after the journey—and across multiple physical and digital touchpoints. The project emerged from a research and design process led by Tangible, aiming to rethink the digital experience as an integral part of the airport service, not just informational support.
The real problem
Bologna Airport handles high and highly heterogeneous flows: occasional travelers, frequent flyers, families, international users, people with specific needs.
The airport experience spans multiple phases (before, during, and after the journey) and across multiple physical and digital touchpoints.
The project emerged from a research and design process led by Tangible, aiming to rethink the digital experience as an integral part of the airport service, not just informational support.
My Role
I worked as Senior UI Designer within the Tangible team, collaborating closely with UX researchers, designers, and airport stakeholders.
My contribution focused on translating research insights into clear, consistent, and implementable interface solutions, working on information hierarchies, interaction patterns, and visual consistency across digital touchpoints.
I supported UX activities by contributing to prototypes, flow definition, and user journeys, aiming to reduce ambiguity and cognitive load at the most critical decision points.
Context
Bologna Airport handles high and highly heterogeneous flows: occasional travelers, frequent flyers, families, international users, people with specific needs. The airport experience spans multiple phases—before, during, and after the journey—and across multiple physical and digital touchpoints. The project emerged from a research and design process led by Tangible, aiming to rethink the digital experience as an integral part of the airport service, not just informational support.
The real problem
Bologna Airport handles high and highly heterogeneous flows: occasional travelers, frequent flyers, families, international users, people with specific needs.
The airport experience spans multiple phases (before, during, and after the journey) and across multiple physical and digital touchpoints.
The project emerged from a research and design process led by Tangible, aiming to rethink the digital experience as an integral part of the airport service, not just informational support.
My Role
I worked as Senior UI Designer within the Tangible team, collaborating closely with UX researchers, designers, and airport stakeholders.
My contribution focused on translating research insights into clear, consistent, and implementable interface solutions, working on information hierarchies, interaction patterns, and visual consistency across digital touchpoints.
I supported UX activities by contributing to prototypes, flow definition, and user journeys, aiming to reduce ambiguity and cognitive load at the most critical decision points.
Designing for a service system
The UX/UI intervention didn't try to "guide" users step by step, but to make the system readable. Design decisions prioritized clarity of information priorities, predictability of interface behaviors, continuity across different experience moments, and reduced need for interpretation. Rather than optimizing individual screens, the work focused on defining shared UX rules capable of supporting the experience throughout the entire passenger journey.
What changed
The resulting digital experience improved orientation and comprehension during high-pressure moments, making information easier to find, read, and use. Interfaces became more consistent and reliable, while the team could work from a more solid design foundation, reducing corrective interventions and ad-hoc solutions. The system remained complex, but stopped transferring that complexity onto users.
Reflection
In service systems, UX isn't about impressing, it's about removing doubts. When people understand what's happening and what to do next, the service works, even under pressure. This project demonstrates my approach to UX and UI design in public and institutional contexts, where experience quality depends on the ability to make decisions, priorities, and behaviors clear within complex systems.
What changed
Design discussions became less about negotiation and more about decisions. Teams shared a common language to reason about interfaces, onboarding required less context transfer, and feature delivery relied less on ad-hoc alignment. The design system did not remove complexity, but it transformed it from a source of friction into a manageable, shared structure.
Reflection
A more intuitive, efficient, and visually coherent banking experience, reducing complexity while enhancing usability. The integration of design tokens and a structured design system enables long-term adaptability and seamless platform evolution.
E.
Currently available for product design roles
and system-driven projects on complex digital products.
If this way of thinking resonates, let’s discuss a product.
© Edoardo Sportelli - 2026. Living in Italy, in Fiastra, nestled in the Sibillini Mountains. Like Tuscany, but better. Policy Privacy and Data Protection. No reuse or redistribution without permission.
E.
Currently available for product design roles
and system-driven projects on complex digital products.
If this way of thinking resonates, let’s discuss a product.
© Edoardo Sportelli - 2026. Living in Italy, in Fiastra, nestled in the Sibillini Mountains. Like Tuscany, but better. Policy Privacy and Data Protection. No reuse or redistribution without permission.
Currently available for product design roles
and system-driven projects on complex digital products.
If this way of thinking resonates, let’s discuss a product.
© Edoardo Sportelli - 2024
Living in Italy, in Fiastra, nestled in the Sibillini Mountains. Like Tuscany, but better.
Policy Privacy and Data Protection.
No reuse or redistribution without permission.
E.