{"id":134571,"date":"2023-06-06T01:00:14","date_gmt":"2023-06-06T01:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/developer.apple.com\/news\/?id=970ncww4"},"modified":"2023-06-06T01:00:14","modified_gmt":"2023-06-06T01:00:14","slug":"behind-the-design-flighty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2023\/06\/06\/behind-the-design-flighty\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind the Design: Flighty"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Flighty<\/em> might be the easiest thing travelers navigate on their entire trip. \u201cTravel can be a high-stress situation,\u201d says Ryan Jones, the Austin-based developer who founded the app in 2019. \u201cWe want Flighty<\/em> to work so well that it feels almost boringly obvious.\u201d<\/p>\n

Conceived during \u2014 when else? \u2014 a long flight delay, Flighty<\/em> puts key information front and center with an immediately understandable interface, live maps, and a look that mirrors time-honored airport design conventions. The best-in-class travel app is a flight tracker, airport navigator, and concierge \u2014 and with incredible implementations of Live Activities and the Dynamic Island, a companion that makes key information available at all times.<\/p>\n

\"*Flighty*<\/div>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s something comforting about information always being there,\u201d Jones says. \u201cYou don\u2019t have to check your phone and think, \u2018OK, I have to be at the gate in 32 minutes,\u2019 and then, \u2018Now I have to be there in 29 minutes.\u2019 And I don\u2019t know about you, but every time I walk on a plane, I look at my seat number, put it down, and immediately say, \u2018Wait, what was my seat number?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Since its 2019 launch, Flighty<\/em> has been an incredible example of the carefully crafted use of Apple technologies. \u201cWe\u2019re really doing this out of a passion and love for the product,\u201d says Jones, \u201cWe all had our lives changed by iOS and mobile, so we get really excited about adopting new technologies.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Ryan<\/div>\n

They\u2019ve added a lot. Flighty<\/em> supports widgets on the Home Screen and Lock Screen, highlighting content using Shared with You, and more. With a few taps, travelers can even live-share their flight path and arrival time with loved ones who may not even have the app installed \u2014 a wonderfully convenient feature for coordinating airport pickups.<\/p>\n

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We want Flighty<\/em> to work so well that it feels almost boringly obvious.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Ryan Jones, Flighty<\/em> founder <\/p>\n

<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Flighty<\/em> is consistently impressive in adjusting to the unpredictable nature of travel. \u201cWe really have to shine when things go awry,\u201d says Jones. For instance, the app must account for how every single person will, at some point, lose their internet connection. \u201cWhenever [someone] takes off, we have to assume that we won\u2019t see them again until they land,\u201d says Jones. The solve? At a certain point before a flight takes off, the Dynamic Island switches over to flight progress bars and counters, displaying minimal presentation in a simple circular chart that tracks a flight\u2019s duration.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/div>\n

Visually, both Live Activities and the Dynamic Island are designed to recall airport signage conventions that have been in place for decades. \u201cThat\u2019s our real-world analogy,\u201d Jones says. \u201cThose airport boards have one line per flight, and that\u2019s a good guiding light \u2014 they\u2019ve had 50 years of figuring out what\u2019s important.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the design process is comprehensive, it\u2019s not always fast. \u201cIt\u2019s so tempting to start pulling from your existing asset library to see if you can quickly put something together,\u201d he says. To avoid falling back on old ideas, the Flighty<\/em> team creates 20 design ideas during the concept phase. \u201cIt\u2019s what fits on a sheet of paper,\u201d he says with a smile. \u201cYou get to six or seven ideas and think, \u2018OK, that\u2019s it, there\u2019s none left.\u2019 But then you think, \u2018Well, I have an idea that will probably look bad,\u2019 and then you try it and it\u2019s not bad at all.\u201d <\/p>\n

Flighty<\/em> is even fun at home. The Flighty<\/em> Passport feature shows flights, miles, and travel stats through gorgeous, shareable custom artwork. It\u2019s just more proof that Flighty<\/em> really is for every step of the journey \u2014 even being back home. <\/p>\n

Learn more about Flighty<\/a><\/p>\n

Download Flighty from the App Store<\/a><\/p>\n

Behind the Design is a series that explores design practices and philosophies from each of the winners of the Apple Design Awards. In each story, we go behind the screens with the developers and designers of these award-winning apps and games to discover how they brought their remarkable creations to life.<\/em><\/p>\n

Explore more of the 2023 Behind the Design series<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Flighty might be the easiest thing travelers navigate on their entire trip. \u201cTravel can be a high-stress situation,\u201d says Ryan Jones, the Austin-based developer who founded the app in 2019. \u201cWe want Flighty to work so well that it feels almost boringly obvious.\u201d Conceived during \u2014 when else? \u2014 a long flight delay, Flighty puts […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":134572,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-134571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-apple-developer-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}