Design is often thought of as a means to create beautiful products and provide simple and easy to use access to specific services. However, at Virgin Atlantic, design is much more than that. It’s about problem solving and in order to be effective at proper design, one needs to become an expert in human behaviour.

This does not imply that every individual within a company structure must be an expert in human behaviour, but that the design team must be able and willing to think creatively and focus on the broader picture.

For Virgin Atlantic, service design begins with the understanding of basic customer needs. They don’t just look at emotional connections, but also the functional and practical aspects of their needs as well. They connect with their customer base through a wide range of tools, including feedback, customer satisfaction surveys, observing specific behaviours and tendencies, and other methods.

One they have the concepts in place and understand what needs can be filled, they begin to design the solution, not focused on the customer as the end user, but through the lens of Virgin Atlantic itself. In other words, they focus on how to fulfil the need or solve the problem in the ‘Virgin Atlantic’ way.

Virgin Atlantic is the second largest airline carrier in the UK and it was the first to introduce in-flight entertainment to the industry. It has been innovative and revolutionary from its inception, so design and creativity have been a part of the corporate culture from the beginning.

Still, executives and design experts within the company understand that it’s not enough just to be creative; they must also be in touch with the customers’ needs and wants. They believe that even if you design something that is beautiful and impressive at all levels of the system, if it’s not in tune with the customer and doesn’t fill a desire or need, then it’s going to be exceedingly difficult to sell.

The way that Virgin Atlantic has been successful through the years is that they understand design needs to come from a service-oriented culture that is attuned to the wants and needs of the customers, rather than on the products or services that are being offered.

Products and services are relatively simple to bring from idea to concept, but to determine the best manner of design that will tap into the heart of the core target market is something that encompasses a broad range of design features. The Head of Design for Virgin Atlantic believes that it’s the ‘people’ that are the determining factor of a company’s success, not necessarily the products that it offers or delivers.

Design is an extension, or expression of the brand of a company. They developed ‘break-out’ spaces, rather than meeting rooms and for the flight crews, they created a Clubhouse atmosphere for them so that they could feel like they were customers of the business as well. By focusing on the core needs of people, the design process extends the brand to every level of the business.