Verizon - Skyward
Senior Product Designer (mobile lead)
Automated Flight
I led product design for Skyward’s move from a React web app to native iOS and Android apps that could fly DJI and Parrot drones.
I designed flight-planning workflows in partnership with the FAA and in-flight experiences, like this project. I also earned my FAA Part 107 pilot's license so I could conduct research alongside users in the field.
Context
Professional drone operations require planning flights, getting airspace clearance, executing autonomous missions, and capturing reliable data. This happens in the field, often in remote locations. When I joined Skyward, these steps were fragmented across disconnected tools.
Pilots didn't trust automated flight. The FAA's airspace regulations were dense enough that even experienced pilots made mistakes. I needed to design for safety, clarity, and trust.
Building trust
Automated flight is powerful but intimidating. In our current implementation, pilots couldn’t see if the media was being captured or trust that the mission was progressing correctly. I moved flight progress into the main map view, consolidated fragmented controls, and designed a dynamic flight component that gave pilots real-time awareness without overwhelming them.
Becoming a pilot
What better way to earn trust from our customer than by flying with them. So, I earned my Part 107 pilot license to immerse myself, understand them and bring all that energy into our strategy.
Flying real missions revealed something no amount of user interviews could. For example, pilots didn't want to interact with the phone when flying. They only wanted it for support and to confirm things were going as planned.
About 70% of our users were researchers who had just earned their license to capture data, they wanted fully automated data collection, including takeoff and landing. This insight shaped so much of the strategic direction.
Use Cases
Habitat
Researchers monitoring wildlife habitat and species
Volumetrics
Mining and construction teams calculating stockpile volumes
Farming
Farmers spotting crop stress & using focused mitigation
Reforestation
Seed-Bombing for reforestation
Weaving it together
I designed an experience for users to see all their stuff and to view activities going on within their organization. It is common for pilots to ask for support, request extended authorization or to generally communicate with their team. I wanted to surface this contextual awareness for our pilots in every operation.
Solution
The greatest need from pilots was to see relevant data in the flying experience so that they could trust the flight was going as planned. The top three things they wanted to see were
The capture data. How is the data capture going? How much is left?
Flight path + Drone and images. Show me all the progress.
System Communication. Anything abnormal happening with the flight?
Outcome
Skyward's mobile apps evolved from planning tools into a complete pilot workflow. Retention from planning to flying increased 35%, and we closed 21 enterprise clients within three months of launch.
My favorite result. The work caught Disney's attention. I partnered with their team to build a live video feature connecting directors with location scouts worldwide, letting them collaborate in real-time from anywhere.
35%
increased retention planning through flying
21
Pending deals closed
+40%
adoption in the 1st 3 months
Role
Lead designer
Researcher
Strategic contributor
Year
2022
Product
iOS native
Hardware
Aviation
Tools
Figma
DJI drones
Baseball hat