Karen Lou

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Talulah

Reimagining flight education to be engaging, organized, and supportive for pilots-in-training.

ROLE

UI/UX Designer

TIMELINE

Fall 2025 (8 week sprint)

SKILLS

UI/UX

Product Thinking

Visual Design

TOOLS

Figma

Talulah

Reimagining flight education to be engaging, organized, and supportive for pilots-in-training.

ROLE

UI/UX Designer

TIMELINE

Fall 2025 (8 week sprint)

SKILLS

UI/UX

Product Thinking

Visual Design

TOOLS

Figma

CONTEXT

Current pilot education platforms are confusing, outdated, and fragmented for student pilots.

Obtaining a private pilot's license is the first step in an aviation career, allowing holders to fly for personal use. Requirements include ground training, flight training, solo practice, and practical and written tests.

Despite growing global demand for pilots, the training system has changed little since the 1950s. Structural and experiential flaws make it difficult for students to succeed and instructors to teach effectively.

Over 80% of students who begin flight training never complete it and obtain their license.

THE PROBLEM

An outdated and inefficient training system plagues the pilot pipeline, creating both a severe pilot shortage and a quality crisis in the industry.

PAIN POINTS

Disorganized curricula

Fragmented tools

Undertrained instructors

Lack of progress visibility

How might we transform flight training from a disorganized collection of tools and lessons into a structured, trackable journey that students can confidently complete?

THE PROCESS

01. Inspiration

FIGURE 01

Our team's inspiration boards. Main inspirations included Duolingo's friendly, gamified UI and visual progress checkers often found in fitness tracker apps.

FIGURE 01

Our team's inspiration boards. Main inspirations included Duolingo's friendly, gamified UI and visual progress checkers often found in fitness tracker apps.

02. Lo-fi

FIGURE 02

Laying out all of the information for the dashboard after the initial briefing.

FIGURE 02

Laying out all of the information for the dashboard after the initial briefing.

03. Sitemap

1 step forward, 2 steps back

Ultimately, there were too many features required for this platform to start with lo-fi right off the bat. Our team went back to the drawing board and created sitemaps in order to better digest the information.

FIGURE 03a

Back to the basics: working with an extremely dense brief called for sitemapping first

FIGURE 03a

Back to the basics: working with an extremely dense brief called for sitemapping first

FIGURE 03b

Final consolidated sitemap!

FIGURE 03b

Final consolidated sitemap!

04. Putting it together

Moving into high-fidelity

By this point, the graphic design team we were working with had finalized Talulah's branding kit. Our team translated their ideas onto our mid-fidelity wireframes, and Talulah started to come to life!

FIGURE 04

The component set made for our high-fidelity wireframes using Talulah's new branding.

FIGURE 04

The component set made for our high-fidelity wireframes using Talulah's new branding.

OUR SOLUTION

Talulah’s breakthrough is treating pilots the way athletes are trained: with structured progression, objective metrics, consistent coaching, and reflective practice.

By digitizing and centralizing every stage of training (preflight, in-flight, and postflight), Talulah transforms scattered tools into one seamless ecosystem.

Centralization

Lesson planning, performance tracking, communication, and reflection all in one place.

Centralization

Lesson planning, performance tracking, communication, and reflection all in one place.

Built like athletics

Preflight modules, interactive scenarios, and readiness checks mimic an athlete’s warm-up. Post-flight reflections and targeted drills mirror film review and training plans.

Built like athletics

Preflight modules, interactive scenarios, and readiness checks mimic an athlete’s warm-up. Post-flight reflections and targeted drills mirror film review and training plans.

Data-driven progress

Every checklist, maneuver, and radio call can be tracked and scored for adequate progress.

Data-driven progress

Every checklist, maneuver, and radio call can be tracked and scored for adequate progress.

TAKEAWAYS

What I learned after Talulah

Prep is key

For a project with a scope as large as Talulah's, taking the time to map out the UX and organize everything on paper is essential to move with clarity – especially when the product space is unfamiliar.

Prep is key

Explore horizontally

Because Talulah is so multi-faceted, designing multiple iterations of the same screen, interaction, or feature allowed us to weigh the options of each and make informed, intentional decisions.

Explore horizontally

Because Talulah is so multi-faceted, designing multiple iterations of the same screen, interaction, or feature allowed us to weigh the options of each and make informed, intentional decisions.

Explore horizontally

Because Talulah is so multi-faceted, designing multiple iterations of the same screen, interaction, or feature allowed us to weigh the options of each and make informed, intentional decisions.

Made with love

Last updated 1 20 2026

Made with love

Last updated 1 20 2026

Made with love

Last updated 1 20 2026