— Case Study · 2024-2025
Space Needle
Designing the complete digital ecosystem for one of Seattle's most iconic landmarks, from in-tower camera experiences to ticketing kiosks, web flows, partner platforms, and internal operations.
- Role
- Senior Product Designer
- Industry
- Travel & Entertainment
- Platform
- Web · Kiosk · Tablet
- Duration
- 12+ months
- Team
- 20+
Context
The Invite
Space Needle brought me in to design tablet interfaces for their in-tower camera experiences: Oculus Selfie, Halo Selfie, SkyHigh, and more. What started as a focused UI project evolved into a long-term partnership across the entire digital product ecosystem.
What Followed
The Space Needle had multiple disconnected digital touchpoints, including in-tower tablets, ticketing kiosks, web purchase flows, box office tools, and internal management systems, each built independently without a unified design language or experience logic.
The Outcome
Over the course of the engagement, I redesigned and unified the entire ecosystem: camera experience tablets, ticketing kiosks, web purchase flows, box office interfaces, an internal management platform, and Spacebook, all adapted for partner attractions Chihuly Garden and Glass and Seattle Top Tix.
My Role
I was brought in as Senior Product Designer to design tablet interfaces for Space Needle's in-tower camera experiences, and ended up staying for over a year as the scope expanded to cover every digital touchpoint the attraction operates, from guest-facing kiosks and web flows to the internal platform that runs day-to-day operations.
Across the engagement I worked on six distinct products serving three very different audiences: tourists experiencing the tower for the first time, on-site staff handling ticketing and sales, and operations managers controlling pricing, inventory, and scheduling across all channels. Each product had its own context, constraints, and success criteria, and all of them had to work together as a single coherent ecosystem.
What I Owned
With Whom
How I Worked
Product Transformation
One ecosystem. Six products. Three brands.
01 — In-Tower Camera Experiences
Designing the magic inside the tower
My first project at Space Needle was designing tablet interfaces for three distinct in-tower camera experiences. Each had its own context, camera setup, and guest flow, but all shared the same constraint: it had to work for anyone, instantly, with no prior experience.
- →
Oculus Selfie: overhead shot looking straight down through the iconic glass oculus stairs
- →
Halo Selfie: 360° camera experience on the outer observation ring
- →
SkyHigh Selfie: photo experience at 520 feet on the open-air deck
- →
Touchscreen tablet UI designed for guests of all ages and tech familiarity
- →
Instant photo preview and delivery to the SpaceBook app
- →
Optimized for high-traffic, fast-paced guest interactions
02 — Ticketing Kiosks
Reimagining self-service ticketing
Self-service ticketing for one of Seattle's busiest attractions, redesigned for speed, clarity, and two very different kiosk formats. The design had to handle everything from a single adult ticket to complex group bookings, without friction.
- →
Full redesign of standard ticketing kiosk UI
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New large-format kiosk interface for high-traffic entry points
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Streamlined ticket selection, date picking, and checkout flow
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Accessibility-first design for diverse guest demographics
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Consistent experience across both kiosk form factors
- →
Designed for speed, with average transaction time reduced significantly
03 — Web Purchase Flow
Tickets online, on any device
The web purchase flow had to convert visitors into buyers on desktop and mobile, for guests planning ahead and for last-minute purchases. Clear pricing, smooth checkout, and zero unnecessary steps.
- →
End-to-end web ticketing flow for Space Needle
- →
Responsive design across desktop and mobile
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Date and time selection with real-time availability
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Add-on experiences integrated into the purchase flow
- →
Streamlined checkout with minimal drop-off points
- →
Optimized for both planned visits and impulse purchases
04 — Box Office
Designed for the people on the ground
The box office interface is used by Space Needle staff every single day for selling tickets, handling modifications, managing groups, and processing payments at the counter. Speed and reliability were non-negotiable.
- →
POS interface designed for on-site staff at the ticket counter
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Fast ticket lookup, date and time modification, and cancellation flows
- →
Group booking and multi-ticket management in a few taps
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Bundle and promo discovery, so staff can quickly find the best option for each guest
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Real-time availability and capacity visibility across all sessions
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Integrated payment processing across multiple tender types
05 — Internal Management Platform
Powering operations behind the scenes
The management platform gives Space Needle operations teams full control over every variable that affects the guest experience: pricing, inventory, schedules, discounts, bundles, and real-time sales data across all channels.
- →
Pricing configuration by month, week, day, and individual time slot
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Ticket inventory and capacity management per channel
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Bundle, package, and discount configuration
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Real-time sales tracking across kiosks, web, and box office
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Schedule management for experiences, sessions, and time slots
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Role-based access for managers and operations staff
06 — Partner Platforms
One foundation. Three brands.
Every product designed for Space Needle was adapted for two partner attractions: Chihuly Garden and Glass, and Seattle Top Tix. Same underlying logic, same component architecture, completely different brand expressions.
- →
Kiosk UI adapted for Chihuly Garden and Glass
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Kiosk UI adapted for Seattle Top Tix
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Web purchase flow adapted for both partner platforms
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Brand token system enabling full visual differentiation
- →
Shared component architecture across all three brands
- →
Partner onboarding accelerated through reusable foundations
Camera tablets, kiosks, web flows, box office, management platform, and Spacebook.
Space Needle, Chihuly Garden and Glass, and Seattle Top Tix, all sharing unified design foundations.
Standard and large-format ticketing kiosks, both redesigned from the ground up.
One unified foundation powering all touchpoints across all three brands.
Reflection
01
Designing for tourists means designing for people who have never used your product before, and may never use it again. Clarity and speed are everything.
02
When one design system powers three brands, the architecture decisions you make early determine how much freedom, or constraint, every team has later.
03
The internal tools that staff use every day matter just as much as the customer-facing ones. A well-designed back-office makes the whole guest experience better.
— Get in touch
Let's create
something
meaningful
Open to senior product design roles and select freelance engagements — research, UX, UI or design-systems work. If you're solving a hard problem and need someone to make it feel obvious, I'd like to hear about it.