KLM Care Tag

Client

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines

Team

Ruben van der Vleuten

Wouter Zijlstra

the problem.

KLM wanted to fulfill their mission of "providing customers a high quality service adaptable to their changing needs", by helping their passengers to better navigate the confusing canals of their primary operating city, Amsterdam.

My Role

Physical Product Design & Testing

Packaging Design & Branding

Duration

8 Weeks – Summer 2017

the solution.

The KLM Care Tag gives real-time tips and tricks to master the streets and canals of Amsterdam based on your location - it's your own personal city guide.

Note: I do not discuss the branding or packaging work-streams within this case study as much of that is still under NDA since it involved the brand identity and guidelines of KLM - I am happy to speak to the work I did within that work-stream during interviews.

design challenge.

How might KLM extend their care for their customers after the travelers have deplaned in Amsterdam?

With thousands of people and bicycles darting around, and a daunting canal system to master,

traveling around the city of Amsterdam can often be overwhelming for tourists.

In just January of 2017, over 1 million people visited the city. By the year 2025, many forecasts predict this number will increase by as much as 200% – reaching 25 million people per year. Together with Paris and Lisbon it hosts the most visitors per inhabitant in Europe.

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines asked for a way to extend their care for their customers even after they have landed in Amsterdam.

design solution.

KLM Care Tag – Your Personal Guide to Amsterdam

Our team teamed with the KLM creative team to design created a solution to help travelers feel like they had their "own city guide every step of the way".

The KLM Care Tag is an audio luggage tag with inbuilt GPS that can be simply attached to any bag or suitcase. Voice messages, pre-recorded by KLM’s flight crews, give real-time useful tips and tricks to master the streets and canals of Amsterdam based on the user's location.

The KLM Care Tag does not require an internet connection or mobile phone and it automatically plays the pre-recorded messages once the user steps within a certain radius of the point of interest. As it has no connection to the cloud or internet, no usage data is sent to KLM or to anyone. Thousands of KLM Care Tags were produced and given away for free to passengers flying into Amsterdam on KLM.

the campaign.

We collaborated with DDB & Tribal Amsterdam, who did the strategy and concept for the advertising campaign while we designed and manufactured the Care Tag. Our team produced several thousand units, in 5 different languages (English, Chinese, German, Portuguese and Russian).

ideation.

Our team spent time with the KLM representatives understanding the impact they wished to garner by creating something extra for their passengers. The two main impact learnings were:

This product should allow KLM to mirror the impeccable in-flight experience and service on the ground in Amsterdam, affecting a travelers trip long after they leave the airport
This product would be combined with an advertising campaign to promote KLM and increase the number of return passengers

While most of the deliverables and learnings from that meeting (and our resulting team ideation sessions) cannot be shared, below are some concept sketches of the Care Tag idea as it evolved over the course of our meetings and the design process.

Screen Shot 2020-10-12 at 7.35.44 PM.png

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Screen Shot 2020-10-12 at 7.34.15 PM.png

rapid prototyping.

Once the initial concept was approved, we moved into the rapid prototyping phase where a teammate and I worked to create a preliminary 3D model and print it on the FormLabs Form SLA 3D Printer.

We then created several iterations of the shell, altering the size and shape based on grip comfort tests, weight distribution issues and introductory user testing.

Simultaneously our electronics team (on which I assisted), worked to create a custom PCB - Printed Circuit Board - for the interior of the device. The Care Tag necessitated a speaker, USB port for charging, an LED to indicate when it was dying or successfully plugging in, a dial to adjust the volume, a battery to hold the charge and a button to switch the device on/off.

Screen Shot 2020-10-12 at 7.35.20 PM.png

reliability testing.

After several rapid prototyping iterations, we created a looks-like-works-like shell, a complete PCB and complete code, all of which needed to be tested before the manufacturing orders could be sent in.

I conducted performance testing on the sample device by walking around Amsterdam and ensuring that all of the voice messages triggered when I entered the pre-determined radius. (This was my favorite part!)

Also at this time, our team did material evaluations to determine the proper materials for the casing and strap - that materials evaluation cannot be shared at this time, but I am happy to speak to it in interviews.

Screen Shot 2019-01-18 at 12.38.38 PM.pn

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manufacturing.

Once the product was approved by all necessary parties, we placed the manufacturing order for a small batch of 300 units. Since this was the initial batch, we committed to doing the assembly in house.

Unfortunately, when we received the PCBs all of the LEDs were soldered on backwards and since LEDs only allow current to flow in one direction, none of them lit. As our team worked to assemble 300 boxes for the packaging and properly fold 300 instructional pamphlets, I re-soldered all 300 of the LEDs and ran tests to ensure that current would flow properly.

Once we began placing the PCBs within the casing we realized that we hadn't provided enough clearance for the power button to fit through the casing. The long term solution was to adjust the model and ensure that our manufacturer was meeting the spec, but for the batch of 300 we had to file down the hole in the shell until the button fit properly.

After about 4 days of non-stop assembly work the batch of 300 was complete and shipped to KLM customers around the world.

a final look.

Screen Shot 2019-01-18 at 12.38.29 PM.pn

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what I learned.

Build unforeseen issues into your timeline

There are challenges on every project, so leave yourself some time to overcome or pivot!
Account for tolerance/clearance issues in your specs when using manufacturers

Understand the motivation behind client asks

We were able to quickly ideate possible products to help achieve KLM's goal because we spent time upfront understanding KLM's core brand values and their goal for this project

update.

The Care Tag became a successful marketing and engagement tool for KLM, and several thousand were produced in five (5) different languages: English, Chinese, German,
Portuguese and Russian.

KLM Care Tag

Client

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines

Team

Ruben van der Vleuten

Wouter Zijlstra

the problem.

KLM wanted to fulfill their mission of "providing customers a high quality service adaptable to their changing needs", by helping their passengers to better navigate the confusing canals of their primary operating city, Amsterdam.

My Role

Physical Product Design & Testing

Packaging Design & Branding

Duration

8 Weeks – Summer 2017

the solution.

The KLM Care Tag gives real-time tips and tricks to master the streets and canals of Amsterdam based on your location - it's your own personal city guide.

Note: I do not discuss the branding or packaging work-streams within this case study as much of that is still under NDA since it involved the brand identity and guidelines of KLM - I am happy to speak to the work I did within that work-stream during interviews.

design challenge.

How might KLM extend their care for their customers after the travelers have deplaned in Amsterdam?

With thousands of people and bicycles darting around, and a daunting canal system to master,

traveling around the city of Amsterdam can often be overwhelming for tourists.

In just January of 2017, over 1 million people visited the city. By the year 2025, many forecasts predict this number will increase by as much as 200% – reaching 25 million people per year. Together with Paris and Lisbon it hosts the most visitors per inhabitant in Europe.

​

design solution.

KLM Care Tag – Your Personal Guide to Amsterdam

Our team teamed with the KLM creative team to design created a solution to help travelers feel like they had their "own city guide every step of the way".

​

The KLM Care Tag is an audio luggage tag with inbuilt GPS that can be simply attached to any bag or suitcase. Voice messages, pre-recorded by KLM’s flight crews, give real-time useful tips and tricks to master the streets and canals of Amsterdam based on the user's location.

​

the campaign.

We collaborated with DDB & Tribal Amsterdam, who did the strategy and concept for the advertising campaign while we designed and manufactured the Care Tag. Our team produced several thousand units, in 5 different languages (English, Chinese, German, Portuguese and Russian).

ideation.

Our team spent time with the KLM representatives understanding the impact they wished to garner by creating something extra for their passengers. The two main impact learnings were:

​

This product should allow KLM to mirror the impeccable in-flight experience and service on the ground in Amsterdam, affecting a travelers trip long after they leave the airport

This product would be combined with an advertising campaign to promote KLM and increase the number of return passengers

​

While most of the deliverables and learnings from that meeting (and our resulting team ideation sessions) cannot be shared, below are some concept sketches of the Care Tag idea as it evolved over the course of our meetings and the design process.

rapid prototyping.

Once the initial concept was approved, we moved into the rapid prototyping phase where a teammate and I worked to create a preliminary 3D model and print it on the FormLabs Form SLA 3D Printer.

​

We then created several iterations of the shell, altering the size and shape based on grip comfort tests, weight distribution issues and introductory user testing.

​

reliability testing.

After several rapid prototyping iterations, we created a looks-like-works-like shell, a complete PCB and complete code, all of which needed to be tested before the manufacturing orders could be sent in.

​

I conducted performance testing on the sample device by walking around Amsterdam and ensuring that all of the voice messages triggered when I entered the pre-determined radius. (This was my favorite part!)

​

Also at this time, our team did material evaluations to determine the proper materials for the casing and strap - that materials evaluation cannot be shared at this time, but I am happy to speak to it in interviews.

manufacturing.

Once the product was approved by all necessary parties, we placed the manufacturing order for a small batch of 300 units. Since this was the initial batch, we committed to doing the assembly in house.

​

​

After about 4 days of non-stop assembly work the batch of 300 was complete and shipped to KLM customers around the world.

a final look.

what I learned.

Build unforeseen issues into your timeline

update.

The Care Tag became a successful marketing and engagement tool for KLM, and several thousand were produced in five (5) different languages: English, Chinese, German, Portuguese and Russian.

​

I used my Care Tag the entire time I was in Amsterdam to impress my other non-local friends with fun facts :)

The Care Tag became a successful marketing and engagement tool for KLM, and several thousand were produced in five (5) different languages: English, Chinese, German,
Portuguese and Russian.