Icelandair

Starting point

This is the system I set out to redesign, so it’s where I spent the most time. The essentials are all here. Films, music, a flight map, the meal menu. What stood out to me as a passenger was how much everything shares a single grid, which made it harder to tell sections apart, and how few cues there were that I was flying Icelandair specifically. Those were the most obvious places to start.

Movies
Music
Music — genres
Navigation menu
Flight info
Navigation
The menu is an icon grid without previews, so I found myself tapping in and back out to discover what was inside each section.
Structure
Films, TV and music all browse in a similar way. A bit more visual separation between them could help orient riders faster.
Sense of place
I noticed very few references to Iceland itself, which felt like a natural opportunity for the redesign to build on.

SAS

Clear structure

SAS has a really clear structure that I learned a lot from. A fixed top nav. Today’s Flight, Entertainment, Eat & Drink. Meant I always knew where I was, and the editorial tiles made browsing feel curated. The one thing I noticed was that the food cards and games felt a little visually different from the home screen, which made me think about how much consistency matters across a system.

Entertainment home
Movies
Food & drink
Flight map
Games
Navigation
The persistent top tabs gave me the whole map from the first screen, so I never had to guess where things lived.
Structure
Editorial tiles group content with intent, and films filter nicely by genre, audio and subtitles.
Consistency
The food cards and games felt a little separate from the core blue system. A reminder of how much visual consistency ties a product together.

Finnair

Most polished

Finnair was the most refined of the three, and I took a lot of inspiration from it. A persistent bottom bar kept every section one tap away, and the home screen runs a flight timeline marking meal windows and sleep time, which I thought was a genuinely thoughtful detail. Food ordering uses clean 3D imagery with real prices, plus a live nose camera and a 3D globe map. The one thing I found myself wondering was how the experience might feel even more distinctly Finnair. Which got me thinking about identity in my own redesign.

Home
Movies
Flight camera
Flight map — globe
Flight map — route
Food & drink
Navigation
A persistent bottom bar — Overview, Entertainment, Flight, Food — meant I never had to dig to find anything.
Context
The flight timeline was the standout for me: meal windows and sleep time visible at a glance, before I even thought to look.
Identity
It’s beautifully made; I just found myself wishing for a few more touches that felt specifically Finnair. That sparked ideas for my own work.

Where they stand

CriteriaIcelandairSASFinnair
Navigation●Menu takes a few taps●Clear top tabs●Always-present bottom bar
Content structure●Single shared grid●Editorial tiles●Sectioned & curated
Identity●Room for more local character●Clean, fairly neutral●Polished, could go further
Flight map●Mostly text-based●Interactive map●3D globe + explore
Food ordering●Paper menu, crew service●On-screen, slightly off-style●3D imagery, clear pricing