United Airlines · Safety Risk Management
United Safety Hub replaces a legacy safety risk management system. The external vendor's build ignored United's design system and tested badly. My job was to turn research findings into fixes the vendor couldn't misread.
This work is under NDA. The public version tells the story with details generalized and artifacts removed. The full case study is available on request.
Safety risk management software is where near-misses become policy. When United replaced its legacy system, the new vendor-built platform arrived with inconsistent UI patterns, confusing terminology, and workflows that buried critical actions in nested popups.
The first round of usability testing put a number on it: a SUS score of 42 out of 100, far below the industry benchmark of 68. One participant summarized the problem better than any metric: it felt like a reorganization of the old system's data, still overly complicated.
I audited the vendor's deliverables against United's Orion design system and documented 40+ violations. Not as complaints, as specifications: exact components, exact styles, exact behaviors, each tied to a research finding or a standard. Vendor accountability works when the requirement is unambiguous.
Two rounds of moderated testing with policy owners and safety representatives fed a prioritized fix list across three categories: navigation consistency, actionable guidance, and design system alignment. Every finding shipped as an implementable requirement, and I worked with the developers through implementation.
The score went from 42 to 60. The benchmark is 68. One release cycle of specification and testing closed most of the gap, but not all of it. The remaining work was scoped and prioritized when the engagement ended.
An 18-point SUS improvement in a single release cycle, a 43% relative usability gain, and a vendor working from specifications instead of interpretations. The platform went from testing as a liability to trending toward the industry benchmark.
Screens, the violation audit, and testing detail are protected to respect United's confidentiality. If we're talking about working together, ask and I'll send you the password.
Or email hello@studiogridline.com · I have the password