Liftoff
A mobile companion for New York’s three major airports, bringing boarding passes, terminal amenities, maps and bookings into a single app.
UX/UI Design
Digital Experiences
Brand Identity
Hospitality & Travel
Made with
About the project
144 million passengers moved through JFK, LaGuardia and Newark in 2023. Liftoff starts from a simple idea: everything a traveler needs at the airport should live in one place.
The problems
Designed for the tourist, the business traveler and the New Yorker flying out of an airport they don’t know.
01
Scattered tools
A single trip is spread across an airline app, a maps app and a booking site, and none of them talk to each other.
Liftoff’s response
One home screen holds the boarding pass, the four most-used actions and everything at the current airport.
02
Unfamiliar terminals
Even seasoned travelers lose time finding food, a lounge or a restroom in an airport they rarely use.
Liftoff’s response
Liftoff knows which airport you’re in and lists what’s there by category, with counts and a terminal map.
03
Trips that span airlines
Round trips and connections across carriers mean juggling several confirmations at once.
Liftoff’s response
My Trips stacks every boarding pass in order, across airlines, and books flights, hotels and packages from one search.
Onboarding
Getting in should take seconds. A single blue world, one bright button, and Google sign-in for travelers who don’t want another password.
Splash, welcome, registration and log-in, with Google sign-in.
Home
The home screen answers the first two questions every traveler has: where am I, and where am I going?
Location-aware home: current airport, active boarding pass, four core actions, and a directory of shopping, food, drinks, lounges and restrooms with a terminal map.
Trips & booking
Every trip in one stack, and the next one a single search away.
My Trips orders every boarding pass across airlines. Booking switches between flights, hotels and packages without leaving the screen.
Identity
A serif wordmark and a plane in flight, set against deep blue. Orange is saved for action, so the next step is always the brightest thing on screen.
Interface
Roboto
Aa
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
0123456789
Liftoff Blue
#154CD6
Midnight
#0B2870
Runway Orange
#F7941D
Sky
#8DB3FF
White
#FFFFFF
Black
#000000
Wordmark, interface type and palette. Sky blue is used for boarding passes; orange marks navigation, search and alerts.
Project
Liftoff
Type
App concept & prototype
Sector
Transport, Hospitality & Travel
Disciplines
UX/UI Design
Brand Identity
Prototyping
Year
2025
Context
Human-Centered Design Practices,
Adelphi University
Tools
Figma
Design
Benjamin Eppel
Liftoff is a mobile app concept for travelers passing through New York’s three major airports. It brings the pieces of an airport day together, from the boarding pass to the terminal to the trip ahead, so travelers spend less time searching and more time moving.
The ask
The brief called for a usable but novel app that helps a wide range of travelers navigate JFK, LaGuardia and Newark, with three core users in mind: the tourist, the business traveler and the New York resident flying out of an unfamiliar airport. The prototype had to show how the product works and demonstrate its key features, as if pitching it for funding.
Starting from friction
Rather than begin with features, the project began with the friction points that come up again and again in airport travel: tools scattered across separate apps, terminals that are hard to read on a first visit, and trips that span several airlines and bookings. Each became a design requirement, and each maps directly to a part of the app.
One place for the whole day
Liftoff is organized around a persistent bottom bar (Home, My Trips, Search, Map and Profile) with search raised at the center as the fastest route to anything. The home screen leads with the traveler’s location and active boarding pass, followed by four core actions: Check In, Airports, Book a Flight and Flight Status. Below, an airport directory lists shopping, food, drinks, lounges and restrooms with counts and a terminal map.
An identity built for motion
The brand pairs a classic serif wordmark with an orange plane trailing an arc, set against a deep blue gradient that carries through every screen. Orange is reserved for action (navigation, search and alerts) so the next step is always the brightest thing in view.
What’s next
Liftoff was delivered as a clickable Figma prototype and a presentation poster. The natural next step is the journey to and from the airport itself: comparing taxi, rideshare, LIRR, subway and NJ Transit by time and cost, so the app covers a traveler’s day from front door to gate.
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Liftoff
A mobile companion for New York’s three major airports, bringing boarding passes, terminal amenities, maps and bookings into a single app.
UX/UI Design
Digital Experiences
Brand Identity
Hospitality & Travel
Made with
About the project
144 million passengers moved through JFK, LaGuardia and Newark in 2023. Liftoff starts from a simple idea: everything a traveler needs at the airport should live in one place.
The problems
Designed for the tourist, the business traveler and the New Yorker flying out of an airport they don’t know.
01
Scattered tools
A single trip is spread across an airline app, a maps app and a booking site, and none of them talk to each other.
Liftoff’s response
One home screen holds the boarding pass, the four most-used actions and everything at the current airport.
02
Unfamiliar terminals
Even seasoned travelers lose time finding food, a lounge or a restroom in an airport they rarely use.
Liftoff’s response
Liftoff knows which airport you’re in and lists what’s there by category, with counts and a terminal map.
03
Trips that span airlines
Round trips and connections across carriers mean juggling several confirmations at once.
Liftoff’s response
My Trips stacks every boarding pass in order, across airlines, and books flights, hotels and packages from one search.
Onboarding
Getting in should take seconds. A single blue world, one bright button, and Google sign-in for travelers who don’t want another password.
Splash, welcome, registration and log-in.
Home
The home screen answers the first two questions every traveler has: where am I, and where am I going?
Current airport, active boarding pass, core actions and an amenities directory with terminal map.
Trips & booking
Every trip in one stack, and the next one a single search away.
My Trips across airlines; flights, hotels and packages from one search.
Identity
A serif wordmark and a plane in flight, set against deep blue. Orange is saved for action, so the next step is always the brightest thing on screen.
Interface — Roboto
Aa
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
Liftoff Blue
#154CD6
Midnight
#0B2870
Runway Orange
#F7941D
Sky
#8DB3FF
White
#FFFFFF
Black
#000000
Type
App concept & prototype
Sector
Transport, Hospitality & Travel
Disciplines
UX/UI Design, Brand Identity, Prototyping
Year
2025
Context
Human-Centered Design Practices, Adelphi University
Liftoff is a mobile app concept for travelers passing through New York’s three major airports. It brings the pieces of an airport day together, from the boarding pass to the terminal to the trip ahead, so travelers spend less time searching and more time moving.
The ask
The brief called for a usable but novel app that helps a wide range of travelers navigate JFK, LaGuardia and Newark, with three core users in mind: the tourist, the business traveler and the New York resident flying out of an unfamiliar airport. The prototype had to show how the product works and demonstrate its key features, as if pitching it for funding.
Starting from friction
Rather than begin with features, the project began with the friction points that come up again and again in airport travel: tools scattered across separate apps, terminals that are hard to read on a first visit, and trips that span several airlines and bookings. Each became a design requirement, and each maps directly to a part of the app.
One place for the whole day
Liftoff is organized around a persistent bottom bar (Home, My Trips, Search, Map and Profile) with search raised at the center as the fastest route to anything. The home screen leads with the traveler’s location and active boarding pass, followed by four core actions: Check In, Airports, Book a Flight and Flight Status. Below, an airport directory lists shopping, food, drinks, lounges and restrooms with counts and a terminal map.
An identity built for motion
The brand pairs a classic serif wordmark with an orange plane trailing an arc, set against a deep blue gradient that carries through every screen. Orange is reserved for action (navigation, search and alerts) so the next step is always the brightest thing in view.
What’s next
Liftoff was delivered as a clickable Figma prototype and a presentation poster. The natural next step is the journey to and from the airport itself: comparing taxi, rideshare, LIRR, subway and NJ Transit by time and cost, so the app covers a traveler’s day from front door to gate.
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