Where's open map
Helping users navigate uncertainty
Providing clarity and confidence in a time of uncertainty by making global travel restrictions easy to understand.
Client
Skyscanner
Services
Art direction Design Motion design Performance marketing
Industries
Travel
Date
2020
Results
Skyscanner became the 5th most trusted travel brand during the pandemic
The map email alerts have led to increased engagement from our customers
Rise in open and click-through rates that are 3-4 times higher than our usual average
Global rebound: fastest-growing flight meta in 2022
Widely recognised in the press as a brand that handled the crisis with empathy and agility with #WeWill campaign and Where’s Open map cited as best practice
Project background
As international borders shifted daily under the impact of COVID-19, travellers faced an overwhelming challenge: understanding where they could and couldn’t go. Our research showed that confusion around restrictions was the single biggest barrier to people even considering travel. Complex rules, conflicting information, and a lack of clear guidance left would-be travellers uncertain and disengaged.
To address this, Skyscanner developed an interactive, colour-coded map that simplified global restrictions into a single, easy-to-use tool. It was designed to help people cut through uncertainty, restore confidence, and make informed decisions about when and where to travel next.
The campaign
Once the tool was built, my role was to design and lead the campaign that would connect travellers with it. The challenge was not only to drive traffic but also to build trust in a moment when confidence in travel was at an all-time low.
I developed a multi-channel campaign spanning social media, display banners, and in-product placements, supported by motion assets for stronger engagement. Creative variants were tailored for two core goals:
Driving activation - encouraging clicks through to the interactive map itself, where travellers could explore restrictions in real time.
Building retention - testing variants that promoted newsletter sign-up for destination-specific alerts, helping us maintain an ongoing relationship with users.
Every execution was designed to be clear, reassuring, and actionable — cutting through uncertainty with a simple message: you can see exactly where the world is open, right now.
Final results
The campaign quickly became one of Skyscanner’s most effective responses to the pandemic, restoring clarity and confidence for millions of travellers. The Where’s Open map was widely recognised in the press as a best-practice example of how a brand could respond with empathy and agility, often cited alongside the #WeWill campaign.
The impact extended beyond awareness:
Skyscanner rose to become the 5th most trusted travel brand during the pandemic.
Email alerts linked to the map drove significantly higher engagement, with open and click-through rates 3–4 times above average.
The initiative strengthened customer relationships, increasing retention through destination-specific updates.
As travel began to rebound, Skyscanner emerged as the fastest-growing flight meta in 2022.
Together, the tool and campaign demonstrated how solving a clear user pain point could drive both short-term engagement and long-term brand resilience in a time of global uncertainty.