Small Boat Navigation System

University project – 2 weeks, individual project – 2024

Brief: Design a map overlay based on the OpenBridge design principles.

This was a sprint in the ‘Screens’ course at AHO working with OCEAN INDUSTRIES CONCEPT LAB.

I decided to design a simplified navigation system for small personal boats. I constructed the scenario to work around:

A group of young adults are heading home from a party by boat on the south-east coast of Norway. The owner and ‘captain’ of the boat has a lot of experience in boats and her confidence in her own knowledge about the route home is high after a few drinks. However, due to the low light conditions and her state of mind, this journey could be very dangerous. Therefore, the whole group will benefit from a navigation system that seamlessly works with the user to create a delightful and safe journey.

Based on this scenario, I decided to design a planning tool that helps the user generate the safest route to their destination quickly and easily. The thought behind this was that the user should be able to see the safest route without spending a lot of time planning and setting up themselves. I also designed a concept for how the navigation system would look in use during boating. The scenario helped me focus on stripping the UI of all irrelevant information.

Concept walkthrough video

I designed the concept in light and dark mode, but for the purpose of viewability, the concept walkthrough video is in light mode. A dark mode demonstration is underneath the main video.