SKYWARD
Empowering Companies to Manage Drone Operations Worldwide.
Creating the platform that enables commercial drone operations.
I worked at Skyward between 2014–2017 where I led all design efforts, including the company website and the SAAS product platform. Integrating with front-end, back-end, and geospatial engineering teams, I conducted user research, contributed to the product vision, organized that vision into a product backlog, and then executed the design against sprint goals.
When I joined Skyward we were five people with an idea. By the time I left, we had forged partnerships with drone operations companies from around the world, top UAV hardware and software companies, and NASA. Skyward was acquired by Verizon.
Challenge
Regulations were lagging behind innovation
New competitors were entering the market
Autonomous aircraft would have to integrate into existing regulated manned airspace
Solution
To better understand the needs and pain points of regulators and operators I interviewed them in legal jurisdictions. I also found people in the US operating in a legal grey area and talked to them about their needs and challenges.
By testing our ideas with real users, I designed a platform that enables companies to plan, execute, and document legal drone operations worldwide. The platform integrates with manned flights and alerts, allowing operators to communicate with air traffic controllers.
We partnered with regulators, lawmakers, drone makers, and users worldwide.
Unmanned flight is allowing companies in a wide array of industries to achieve their goals at a fraction of the cost of manned-flight operations while reducing their carbon footprint and mitigating risk to both property and life. Companies and fleet operators use Skyward to scale faster and easily manage complex processes.
When I was at Verizon HQ sometime later for the kickoff of an unrelated project, I toured the Innovation Center, a center for showcasing some of the organization’s most innovative work. To my surprise and delight, Skyward was featured prominently.
Responsibilities
USER RESEARCH
PRODUCT STRATEGY
DESIGN SYSTEM
BRAND STRATEGY
CREATIVE DIRECTION
INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
FUNCTIONAL SPECIFICATIONS
WEBSITE DESIGN
DESKTOP & MOBILE APPS DESIGN
USABILITY TESTING
INTERACTIVE PROTOTYPES
View of restricted and unrestricted airspace
Managing aircraft screen
Live airspace view for operation planning
Skyward design system sample
The Skyward platform
Research - on site with clients
Flight log view
Featured at the Verizon innovation center in San Francisco
Information architecture sample
Annotated wireframe sample
Annotated wireframe sample
Urban Skyways, the first demonstration of commercial, end-to-end autonomous flight