/Virgin_America_App

Following on the work done for Virgin America's new website, Work & Co was tasked with creating Virgin's new mobile app for iOS and Android.

The elegantly simple design was carried over from their site's identity, and the result was a straightforward native experience that uses the best of each of the platform's strengths.

While still using the native user interface for all interactivity and rendering, the app features a Lua-based internal middleware for most of the business logic. This allowed us to keep behavior consistent across platforms, and minimize complex code duplication efforts.

One thing I learned with this project is that working with airline data is more complicated than I initially imagined. User actions warrant more edge cases than it would seem at first glance. Because of that, this project was a massive undertaking, with about 8 software engineers working on it for most of its duration.

My role as a developer on the Android team was writing a good chunk of the code needed for the user interface, helping with the development and testing of the Lua middle layer, and helping with testing and automated deployment.

Date

2016

Agency

Work & Co

Client

Virgin America

Brand

Virgin America

Partner

Build

Type

Mobile App

Platform

Android

Programming Languages

Java, Lua

Role

Developer, Android

Previews

Awards

Winner, Communication Arts Annual

Interactive ➝ Mobile/Tablet ➝ Entertainment

2017

Bronze, One Show

Mobile ➝ Applications

2017

Bronze, International Andy Awards

Mobile ➝ Digital Design

2017

Nominee, Webby Awards

Mobile Sites & Apps ➝ Best Visual Design - Function

2017

Honoree, CES Innovation Awards

Software and Mobile Apps

2017

Honoree, Webby Awards

Mobile Sites & Apps ➝ Travel

2017

Merit Award, One Show

Design ➝ Digital/App Design

2017

Merit Award, One Show

UX/UI ➝ Mobile/User Experience

2017

Media

The New Virgin America App (dead; try web archive)
Introducing the Virgin America Mobile App (dead; try web archive)
Post-launch

Mentions

Simple, fast, fun: Build and Work & Co’s new app for Virgin America

“Each part of the user experience from booking to check-in is personalised: the app will display deals based on each customer’s travel history and remembers seating and cabin class preferences to make booking and check-in quicker.”

(Creative Review)

Building the travel app that makes flying fun again

“The beauty of this shared layer is that data sources, infrastructures, and backend business logic can be collectively updated across all platforms at once, removing the need for each app OS to be maintained independently. Furthermore, development for both iOS and Android occurred simultaneously, which reduced costs, sped up deployment, and reduced maintenance.”

(The Next Web)

Virgin America's New App Puts A Travel Agent In Your Pocket

“Many of the same best practices Work & Co developed for the website are at play in the mobile app, but are complemented by additional features that are better suited for an app. So while you can book a flight on both the app and the website, the app gives you extra layers of functionality in notifications, security, and ease.”

(Fast Co.Design)

Virgin America app arrives with Spotify integration

“We wanted an app that’s enjoyable to use, makes the booking process simple, intuitive and fast, and gets guests excited about their travel journey.”

(Macworld)

Virgin America's New App Lets You Book a Flight in 60 Seconds

“Long gone are the days when apps served as hollow portals for the airlines’ websites. Today, developers are building a new generation of airline apps from the ground up to be responsive to all screen sizes and operating systems, many with exclusive features.”

(Condé Nast Traveler)

Additional Credits

Design Partner

Joe Stewart

Technology Partner

Marcelo Eduardo

Technology Partner

Tiago Luchini

Strategy Director

Mohan Ramaswamy

Product Management

Michael Evans

Product Management

Scott Davis

Designer

Laura Ambrose

Designer

Joris Rigerl

Designer

Andrew McBride

Designer

Ryan Leitz

Designer

Paul Samples

Designer

Sang Kim

Quality Assurance

Neil Duggan

Quality Assurance

Aniket Sharma

Developer

Allen Gleyzer

Developer

Andre Carvalho

Developer

Carlos Conejo

Developer

Igor Oliveira

Developer

Jefferson Delfes

Developer

Nikolas Moya

Developer

Oliver Dore

Developer

Vitor Makoto

Developer

Vladmir Mitrovic