What can product designers learn from airport architects?

The hidden design principles that make millions of stressed travellers navigate airports effortlessly and what do they teach us about digital design?

The article includes an interview with Tijmen van Houweninge, former flight dispatcher and flying academy student.

Airports are essential infrastructure providers that support aviation's role as a driver of major economic and social benefits. An airport is often the first impression of a city — it's the front door to the city — and many designers and city planners recognise its role in city branding!

Some airports look like cities themselves with attractions that entertain travelers. Airports have evolved beyond being just transitional spaces. However, most people don't want to spend more time in the airport than they have to. An airport can become a tool that shapes the perception of your trip. Efficiency has become a very important feature, which affects satisfaction levels during the trip. Does this sound familiar to you? "Oh, we were so stressed because we couldn't find our gate." or "I arrived late and it was so annoying to find a bus to the city." It feels great when processing is almost invisible and effortless. This comes down to experience design.

Airports incorporate numerous systems, such as security, baggage handling, runways, aircraft movements, etc. Architects must construct buildings that accommodate three modes of traffic: people (passengers), bags, and flights. This requires keeping in mind different levels, security measures, and human behaviour. Designers need to balance the needs of both passengers and aircraft.

As the aviation industry has grown, airports have become more complex, not only in their configurations but also in the variety of spaces they offer. This means people need help with navigation inside. As I got into airport design, I realised that I have much to learn as a product designer from architects. Here are some points that I found interesting:

Clear mental models: creating conceptual boundaries

Just as airports have landside/airside divisions, digital products need clear conceptual boundaries to help users understand where they are in the system. As you enter the building and go through the security check, you know that you are on the «safe» side. This isn't merely an architectural convenience, it's a powerful mental model that instantly communicates to travellers where they are in the journey process and what functions are available to them.

Users of the digital products also need to understand where are they in the current process, how to move between different functionalities or pages and what is the next required action. The most successful digital products, like the most intuitive airports, don't require excessive signage or instructions. Visual design and information architecture can do the magic and create an environment than feels natural to follow.

When designing next time, I'll ask myself: Are the conceptual boundaries as clear as an airport's landside/airside division? Do users always know which "side" of the product they're on?

Reducing cognitive load: design as a stress-relief

Airports use environmental design to reduce stress — lighting, clear paths, and spatial flow. Similarly, digital products should minimise decision fatigue through thoughtful interface design.

Although traveling is exciting, the process could be quite stressful. You're navigating unfamiliar territory, managing time constraints, and making countless micro-decisions while potentially dealing with language barriers or travel anxiety. Airport architects understand this psychological reality and design environments that actively work to reduce cognitive burden rather than add to it. Big windows provide natural light creating an immediate sense of openness and orientation. After passing the control area, passengers can immediately see the airside, which helps them to understand where they should be moving.

Think of how the flights search apps, like Skyscanner or Vueling, are handling this. Rather than presenting users with dozens of different options and pricing variables, they start with a simple choice between a few pre-configured options. In order to reduce the cognitive load and decision fatigue of the users, the interface shall remain deceptively simple.

During the design process, I'll ask myself: How do I create a flow state for the user? Does the navigation feel effortless?

Environmental design reminds me that reducing mental friction isn't just about usability — it's about creating spaces where people can think clearly and stay calm.

This short interview gives some insights from someone who has experienced airports from multiple perspectives — as an employee and as a traveler.

Having seen airports from both an employee and passenger perspective, what design elements do you find most effective at reducing traveler stress or confusion?

Proper signage and logical layouts are crucial. For example, Schiphol (Amsterdam Airport) divides traffic mainly into Schengen (a zone where internal borders have been abolished, allowing for free movement of people within the region) flights and international flights, but if you start from the wrong building, it's quite a long walk to the other one. Displaying information in a way that people end up at the right terminal and get funneled into the right building without thinking too much about it helps tremendously.

What I noticed when I traveled to and from work was how important spaciousness is. There is a lot of space where you could walk through, so it doesn't feel cramped and people can stand to the side to look at information signs. But during periods of construction, when hallways were shut down and spaces became more compact while passenger volume remained the same, you could feel people becoming more stressed. It becomes a more agitated space when it's tight and people need to rush through, bumping into others who are trying to navigate.

So for pure passenger comfort, it comes down to proper information and a comfortable amount of space where everybody can move around freely.

What's something about airport design that most passengers don't notice but significantly impacts their experience?

The backbone of easy and functional travel is a well-functioning baggage handling system. Nothing ruins your trip more than having your bag lost, delayed, or never arriving at all. There is extensive design that goes into these systems — from the computerised side with conveyor belt sorting systems to the human interaction points.

The largest point of failure in baggage handling is usually the transition between the computerised system and the baggage handlers themselves. At Schiphol, we worked with a system where every bag movement had to be registered. You scan the baggage label, you scan the cart it goes onto, and if the move isn't authorised, you're notified immediately. Although a bit convoluted, this design helps prevent cross-loading or misplacement of baggage.

There's also the physical infrastructure the airport is responsible for maintaining — luggage carts might be old, covers might be ripped, which can lead to suitcases falling out during transport. All these small details significantly impact the traveler's overall experience, often without them realising it.

For travellers without checked baggage, modern European airports have well-managed gate booking systems. Your gate doesn't typically change unless something goes wrong, and your plane should already be there or close to arrival when you reach your gate. This creates a streamlined process, although I think the boarding structure across the industry could still be improved for efficiency.

What aspects of airport design seem to create the most bottlenecks or friction points for both staff and travelers?

Security and documentation checks are obvious bottlenecks. In the Netherlands, we're quite privileged with our security system — it seems very efficient, especially after changes made during the COVID period. I rarely see long security lines anymore.

However, security is still stressful for infrequent travelers who aren't sure what to do. Passport control can also be problematic — while usually European citizens can use electronic gates that process quickly, I've been to airports where I had to wait 40 minutes because only two staff members were working the documentation checks.

Boarding queues are another bottleneck, though even with low-cost carriers, boarding shouldn't take more than 15 minutes because planes are on tight schedules. I believe airports can most improve through better security layout design and processing methods.

Could you share examples of good security processes you've seen?

Amsterdam Schiphol was one of the only places in Europe where you could leave your toiletries and liquids inside your toiletry bag, inside your carry-on. You only needed to remove your belt or high shoes. Not having to rummage through baggage for liquids made the process much smoother.

Unfortunately, they had to discontinue this practice because other airports weren't adjusted to the new program. People traveling from Schiphol could take more than 100ml containers, but then couldn't bring them back, resulting in items being thrown away. The less you have to remove, the easier the security process becomes. Simple metal detectors aren't used much anymore because they generate too many false positives requiring pat-downs. More sophisticated scanning technology is beneficial.

What technological innovations do you think will have the biggest impact on how people navigate and experience airports in the future?

Improved navigational planning would be transformative. While we have apps with airport maps showing where stores and gates are, there isn't yet a widely adopted way to plan an actual route. Being able to visualise your path through an airport using GPS data would help people's peace of mind tremendously. This would also give passengers better time management tools — knowing walking distances, expected wait times at security, and how long it will take to reach gates. This could reduce passenger tardiness, which is a significant cause of delays.

(The interview was conducted well before Apple's WWDC25, where they have introduced an ability to aid navigation in airports with access to indoor maps, however no route planning has been announced yet)

On the operational side, there's a constant shift toward making manual labor easier. Baggage handling is physically demanding, and companies are trying to conform to European and Dutch regulations about physical workloads. I expect to see increasing use of robotics for baggage handling to take the load off people, though I think this transition will be slow. Humans are still faster at loading bags than robots in time-critical situations.

Conclusions

As you can see, there is a lot of work put into minimising the frictions, which are not just operational changes. Thinking not only in terms of the tasks that need to be completed by the user, but of the whole emotional journey around those, can create the most exceptional products. When empathy becomes rigorous, it creates experiences that feel almost magical in their effortlessness.

That invisible care of people can go sometimes unnoticed, precisely because it works so well, but it creates the feeling of the "first class."