Los Angeles. EVA Air, a Taiwanese five star airline that provides premium service to its customers to over 60 international destinations, challenged Designworks to enable the brand to compete with other progressive airlines with the creation of its new business class seat. EVA asked the dedicated global aviation team of Designworks to use their first-hand experience of global cultures, to provide solutions that complement their own identity whilst strengthening their premium, unique and global positioning.
Whilst strategically maintaining ties to traditional elements of the brand, the target was to step away from a ‘conventional’ seat design built off heritage, and move towards a more unique and mature design, creating bold and differentiated experiences for its passengers. Approaching this challenge by focusing on the end-to-end passenger in-cabin experience, including meal service access and user friendly feature design, Designworks’ approach incorporates streamlining stowage, whilst maximizing spaces for productivity and entertainment.
“At a time where consumer expectations continue to rise across their daily brand interactions, mobility industries must constantly adapt to rapidly changing customer needs”, said Design Director Johannes Lampela from Designworks’ LA Studio. “For the aviation industry this means balancing flexibility with a structured environment, providing privacy without isolation, as well as complete connectivity within a premium and relaxed setting. We recognized that EVA business class experiences needed to focus on bringing fresh and memorable interactions to its passengers, making service, design, and brand work together. Our goal was to take a proven seat platform and make it unique to EVA”, he continues. From privacy, service, interaction, stowage, and amenities, the design team explored the holistic passenger experience.
For EVA, both the cabin environment and seat need to represent the mature, confident, contemporary and tailored approach to the EVA customer experience. Heavily influenced by architecture and furniture design, an intentionally muted, warm color palette is used as part of the seat design, to complement the colorful accents provided by EVA signature service and amenities. By creating a seamless space that integrates features cleanly and provides ample horizontal work surfaces, the design language focuses on professional travelers seeking a productive yet relaxing environment.
Wool carpet, natural leather and rich custom textiles elevate the seat to a true luxury product, whilst keeping it comfortable and durable at the same time. The highest level of attention to detail has been considered throughout the customer experience – even the color choice of the flight attendants uniform during the meal service has been carefully planned and curated – to ensure a premium, highly customized environment unique to EVA.
The five star on-board service offered, coupled with design characteristics created for an international business audience, reflect Taipei’s strong standing as a global business hub. Drawing upon the in-depth local market knowledge Designworks has access to, the team infused elements from each of these markets to provide a truly global, premium solution for EVA and its international customer base.
The new seat design is showcased on the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.
SOURCE: BMW Group
