VR @ Delta
overview
understand
define
ai x vr
iterations
design system
conclusion
Innovating the first virtual reality training experience for flight attendants at Delta Air Lines
Innovation & Product Design @ Delta Air Lines
TEAM
Designer, Researchers, Engineering Lead
TIMELINE
10 weeks, Jun – Aug 2025
WHAT I DID
VR/Spatial Design, Stakeholder Communication, Storyboarding, Vision and Scoping, Design System
IMPACT
Built clarity across teams to secure stakeholder buy-in
90% user satisfaction during demo
Decreased dev handover time by half through design system
01 overview
Scalable VR training experience for 36,000+ flight attendants
I worked closely with a team of strategists, researchers, and engineers to design and develop a VR experience slated to serve 3,6000+ flight attendants in training. The result was overwhelming satisfaction and future support from the training team.
AI features & interactive design from 0 to 1
Here are some of the core features that I designed – they leverage the uniqueness of virtual reality to solve current pain points and business needs in flight attendant training.
Designing for hand gestures
Hand gestures instead of controls, help build actual muscle memory.
Scalable design system
Delta's first design system dedicated to VR.
AI training summary
Designing AI to reinforce learning through personalization.
02 understand
Why use VR for training? – Pain points and opportunities
Training facilities are expensive to grow
VR could reduce the operational cost of maintaining and expanding training facilities while also making them more widely accessible.
Personalized feedback is missing
It’s difficult for instructors to give individual feedback when many training happens in groups.
Critical thinking is hard to practice
Stakeholders were interested in improving trainee's critical thinking and decision-making skills.
BEHIND THE SCENES AT FLIGHT ATTENDANT TRAINING (BUSINESS INSIDER)
PROBLEM STATEMENT
How might we create a scalable VR solution that improves training outcome through scenario-based learning?
03 define
I created storyboards and led workshops to engage stakeholders and uphold accuracy
I turned research insights into a mega-user journey flow chart and a storyboard of the proposed VR experience to achieve alignment and stakeholder buy-in. This meant:
TRAINEE JOURNEY FLOW CHART (NDA)
VR STORYBOARD (NDA)
Designing user flows to visualize interactions for gesture tracking
I turned research insights into a mega-user journey flow chart and a storyboard of the proposed VR experience to achieve alignment and stakeholder buy-in. This meant:
MAPPING OUT THE SYSTEM DESIGN FOR GESTURE TRACKING & PROCEDURAL ELEMENTS
04 early testing
How and when do we provide real-time feedback for the user?
I quickly picked up some basic prototyping skills in Unity and test out essential moments of interaction and design iteratively. Early testing and putting headsets on users caught usability issues, such as the placement of elements:
Top left of camera: difficulty to see
Center top of camera: prominent but difficult to read when looking down
Attached to hands & oriented towards user: easily readable and nondistractive
FINAL PROTOTYPE IN UNITY
05 VR X AI
Designing an AI summary feature that gives personalized feedback based on procedural logic
Building off of gesture-tracking features, I defined and designed a summary screen that provides detailed feedback on each gesture check
STEP #1
Defining success, failure, and caution to give feedback on a range of user action
I first defined the criteria for success, failure, and caution with regard to each critical action performed by the user and gesture-tracked. The goal is to come up with a system that could track and give feedback on a range of user action.
STEP #2
Prompting AI to give feedback that is transparent but not reductive, and encourages a second try
I worked with AI engineers to generate feedback based on individual performance and highlight clear next steps for each trainee.
06 designing for vr
What does it mean to design outside the typical frame?
Building off of gesture-tracking features, I defined and designed a summary screen that provides detailed feedback on each gesture check
Strategy #1.
Creating Focus
VR is action-driven. Let users focus on the main action, instead of elements competing for attention
Training Selection Screen [Before] – Many of Delta's existing design system components were more suitable for smaller screen sizes like laptop and tablet, but combining them to fill the VR space felt overcrowding.
Training Selection Screen [After] – I redesigned components for VR, opting for simple and functional components to create an interface intuitive even for first-time VR users.
Strategy #2.
Guiding action
Make extremely clear to users how they should proceed – and limit possible actions to create focus.
Tutorial Screen [Before] – The initial iteration tested poorly – the horizontal scroll was unfamiliar and distracting.
Training Selection Screen [After] – I separated tutorial content into separate scenes, removing barriers to navigation and comprehension.
07 vr design system
Creating Delta’s first VR design system halved development time
At the end of the design process, I created a hand-off page with annotated components built in modular fashion & in alignment with the GUI dev process in unity and vr. This allowed our developer to work fast without being bogged down by building components from scratch.
08 impact & reflection
USER FEEDBACK
“I’m amazed by how it captures all the details we were taught to pay attention to in our training!”
When we demoed our VR experience to flight attendants and training instructors, they agreed on how detailed and accurate the training experience and feedback was.
Some reflections and takeaways…
Pushing past uncertainty with clarity
This was the first VR project for me and many of my colleagues. There was very little guidance on how to reach the final result. Leaning design principles, iterations, and seeking feedback proactively helped establish clarity despite frustrations and ambiguity.
Design is a tool for thinking and collaboration
I leveraged design thinking and visual storytelling to bridge cross-functional perspectives and engage stakeholders at every step in the process – design is a powerful collaboration tool!