San Jose Mineta International Airport.
Making movement feel intuitive
This project started with a slightly unusual challenge: designing a website for a brand that hadn’t even launched yet.
The airport had just developed a new identity built around its Fly Simple mantra and handed over a print style guide filled with typography, colors, imagery, and iconography. My role was to translate that static brand into a living digital experience, defining how those elements would behave online while building a modular system that could support everything from operational information to traveler resources.
Airport websites are essentially giant information machines, so the challenge wasn’t just making the site look good. Travelers need to find flight data, terminal maps, airlines, parking, and amenities quickly, often while they’re already on the move. The design focused on simplifying that complexity through clear hierarchy, flexible modules, and layouts that made key information easy to scan.
A lot of attention went into the presentation of flight data. It’s not glamorous content, but it’s where the experience either succeeds or fails. The goal was to make it feel intuitive and highly functional, while still reflecting the airport’s visual identity rather than defaulting to a generic utility interface.
The breakthrough came when the airport’s signature airfoil shapes began to influence the layout system. Those forms became a subtle visual thread throughout the experience, tying the interface back to the brand in a way that felt natural rather than decorative.
Accessibility was built into the process from the start. Color contrast, typography, interaction patterns, and layout decisions were all designed to meet WCAG standards, ensuring the experience remained clear, usable, and reliable for a wide range of travelers.
