How We Fixed the Self-Service Chaos at Natbag Airport

The Project

You’re jet-lagged. It’s 2AM.

You walk up to a shiny border control kiosk. There’s a screen playing a video you can barely see, instructions you don’t fully get. You place your passport... and nothing happens.

The video keeps looping. Maybe it’s trying to explain something? Maybe not. You tap the screen. Try again. Still nothing.

You sigh. Wave at a guard.

He points you to the back of a very long line.

Ugh..

Ben Gurion Airport’s self-service border control kiosks were meant to speed things up: scan, match, go. Instead, they were sending travelers straight back to human officers: confused, frustrated, and wondering how the “high-tech system” in the “Start-Up Nation” couldn’t even recognize a passport photo.

The border control kiosk is the first thing travelers see when they land and the last thing they do before leaving the country. Not exactly the place you want confusion, delays, or a UX meltdown.

But that’s exactly what was happening at Natbag Airport.

Until Mondeo stepped in and redesigned the experience from the ground up.

01.

Passport Placement Fails

Most users weren’t placing their passports correctly. The machine couldn’t match the photo page to their face, so the gate didn’t open.

02.

Pick Up Your Passport… Eventually?

After successful verification, travelers must remove their passport to open the gate. No one told them. The video doesn’t mention it. The on-screen message is too small to notice.

The result? People just stood there… waiting.

Low-contrast UI under harsh lighting

Missing guidance for core actions

One mistake = full process failure

No recovery paths for small errors

Total reliance on user guesswork

In other words: classic case of design ignoring reality.

Our Approach:
Make It Make Sense

We rebuilt the entire instructional experience around what users actually do, not what we wish they’d do.

High-contrast visuals that work under any lighting

Audio + visual instructions in multiple languages

Final-step clarity so no one misses the passport pickup moment again

Step-by-step animated guidance, synced with system feedback

Immediate, intuitive feedback at every step

And (crucially) it all runs within the existing hardware and design constraints of the airport kiosks

Prototyping the Invisible

We designed and tested multiple flows in the field, using real traveler behaviors to shape each iteration.

Solving the Final Step:
Passport Pickup

That awkward “why isn’t the gate opening?” moment? Gone.

We replaced the silent UI with an animated reminder and clear verbal cue. The traveler sees (and hears!) that they need to grab the passport.

The gate opens. They move on.

The Double Gate Dilemma

Some stations had a second challenge: double gates, designed to stop two people from sneaking through at once. Instead, it confused everyone. We broke the flow into a simple, comic-style visual story, displayed directly on the machine.

Each step, one action

One action, one response.

People got it instantly.

Passport placement errors dropped significantly

Fewer travelers needed staff intervention

Lines moved faster, flows stayed smooth

Travelers didn’t notice the UX, which means it worked

The Bottom Line:
Design Is in the Details

Border control isn’t just security. It’s also one of the few moments where you ask people to follow exact instructions under stress, jet lag, or a language barrier.

That’s not just a design challenge. That’s a design responsibility. We designed a UX so clear, it fades into the background. Because the best UX? You don’t even notice it’s there.