Service design / Systems design / UI & UX / 2025
Designing a clearer path from international discovery to space-service collaboration.
AERO was developed in 2025 for the Practice of System Design and Management course at Keio University, in collaboration with SSIL, a business cooperative based in Nihonbashi, Tokyo. SSIL connects space-focused research labs and start-ups with organisations outside the space sector.
The brief was open-ended: help SSIL gain international recognition, become discoverable by international clients, and promote Nihonbashi as a space-industry area.
Interviews with SSIL representatives revealed a challenge beyond promotion. Potential clients did not clearly recognise the value of space services, while the cooperative’s diverse capabilities and structure made early inquiry handling and project coordination difficult.
International clients needed a simpler way to understand what SSIL could offer and initiate an inquiry.
SSIL needed a coordinated process for reviewing those inquiries and identifying relevant member capabilities.
We initially explored Nihonbashi broadly, then considered space tourism. Interviews with SSIL representatives redirected our focus towards how people understand the space industry and how SSIL could manage their interest. The concept shifted towards a service connecting external discovery with internal inquiry coordination.
Understand the relevance of SSIL’s services, submit an inquiry, and receive clear communication about its progress and potential fit.
Collect and review inquiries centrally, coordinate the evaluation process, and understand members’ capabilities and availability.
Understand relevant inquiries, ask questions, communicate their capacity, and decide whether to participate.
The public-facing experience introduces SSIL and space services, then guides interested visitors towards a structured inquiry. Internally, the inquiry enters a shared database and a staged review process involving project managers and relevant members.
The proposed architecture included an inquiry submission platform, an inquiry database, a project manager interface, a member interface, and a response and resolution process. The prototype used a Notion-based inquiry-management interface and AI-assisted summarisation and prioritisation to support request review.
Understand SSIL and its offering.
External · prospective clientSend a structured inquiry.
External · prospective clientProject manager reviews the inquiry.
Internal · SSILRelevant members communicate fit and capacity.
Internal · SSILProject manager coordinates assessment and response.
Internal · SSILShared inquiry database supports internal review. AI assistance supports summarisation and prioritisation; project managers and members conduct the assessment. Subsequent match introduction was outside the system scope.
All team members contributed to problem framing, concept development, and project direction. My primary responsibilities were UI/UX design and Figma prototyping of the website, integrating the service components, and verifying that the connected prototype worked as intended.
I designed the website experience in Figma to help visitors understand SSIL’s business model and offering, then find the inquiry pathway. I also worked on connecting the components into a coherent service flow and checking the prototype against the system requirements.
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The website introduces SSIL and space services before guiding visitors towards contact. This responds to the understanding gap identified during problem framing.
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Structured input feeds into the database and review workflow so that the public interface has an operational counterpart.
New inquiries remain initially under project manager control before member involvement. SSIL’s review supported this approach because unrestricted early contact from members could complicate coordination.
The team verified more than half of the system’s functions using inspection, analysis, demonstration, and testing. All nine functions listed in the final verification table passed their reported checks, including inquiry input, notification, access, prescreening, and archiving. This demonstrated the tested functions rather than complete verification of the entire system.
The team surveyed more than 20 English-speaking professionals from non-space industries. Respondents generally perceived the landing page as internationally oriented, and a majority reported understanding space services. Many still struggled to identify an application relevant to their own industry.
SSIL reviewed a video demonstration and the Notion inquiry database. Feedback supported initial project manager control and described the database as intuitive. SSIL wanted more specific company and sector information, but questioned whether prospective clients would complete a lengthy form without sufficient motivation.
The project delivered a connected service prototype, documented verification results, and validation findings from external professionals and SSIL. It demonstrated an approach to international discovery and inquiry coordination while identifying where the proposed service needed further development.
Explaining space services was only the first step. Visitors also needed examples relevant to their own industry before recognising a reason to engage. A next iteration would prioritise targeted use cases and test how to gather useful inquiry information without imposing excessive effort.