Back to Top

Context

Research

Truths

Direction

Models

Home

THE PROBLEM / CONTEXT

The V1 had proved the market demand. The next challenge was building a product worthy of that signal. Something that didn't just engage users but gave organisations a new lens entirely: a Net Safety Score that could quantify behavioural risk and resilience.

THE ASK

➤

Build the core product that scales 0-1

➤

Establish UX frameworks + Foundational Research

Establish the UX frameworks
+ Foundational Research.

➤

Setup a Product Team

THE PROBLEM / CONTEXT

The V1 had proved the market demand. The next challenge was building a product worthy of that signal. Something that didn't just engage users but gave organisations a new lens entirely: a Net Safety Score that could quantify behavioural risk and resilience.

THE ASK

➤

Build the core product that scales 0-1

➤

Establish the UX frameworks
+ Foundational Research.

➤

Setup a Product Team

UX FOUNDATIONS

UX FOUNDATIONS

Models, Doodles and Frameworks.
Joining as the first designer meant starting from zero - no process, no tools, no product culture. This is the story of what had to happen before a single screen could be designed - The invisible work that made everything else visible.

Research & Discovery

UX Frameworks

First Principles

TL;DR

This is a case study of being the first design hire. It's about navigating ambiguity and establishing UX foundations. It's how I did quick research, used thinking models and built a team.

Get in Touch

Back

Explore INSIGHTS

2 in 3 wellbeing issues are work-related. None feel work-addressable.

Seafarers knew where the stress came from. What they lacked was any sense that the organisation could or would do something about it.

User Insight

No way to measure Risk -

let alone predict it

Organisations tracked performance metrics but had no reliable way to quantify crew resilience - no score, no baseline, no way to act proactively.

Orgnisational Insight

The voice of the seafarer is effectively muted.

With no safe, direct channel to surface concerns, issues went unspoken. This compounded disengagement, eroding trust, and widening the gap between crew reality and org awareness.

User Insight

Solutions exist in the market but don't connect in any meaningful way



Emergency services, training programs, surveys - the tools exist but each worked in isolation, with no shared data, no continuity, and no way to build on each other.
continuity

Industry Insight

Interventions reached leadership -
not the crew.

Most existing initiatives like onboarding, training and surveys reached a maximum of 20% of leadership. The frontline workforce remained largely untouched.

Orgnisational Insight

Visibility stopped at the Vessel

Organisations had data on assets, routes and compliance. Almost none on the people operating them -their stress levels, engagement, or early warning signs of burnout.

Orgnisational Insight

Low utilisation is not apathy,
It's Friction.

Less than 6% of enterprises use emergency psychological support. Not because crews don't need it, but because the barriers to access like stigma, process, visibility. All made it effectively unreachable.

Industry Insight

Safety and wellbeing are treated as separate problems.

Mounting evidence shows a direct correlation between crew wellbeing and safety outcomes. Yet organisations continued to manage them through entirely different functions.

Industry Insight

Click or Drag

Solutions exist in the market but don't connect in any meaningful way

Emergency services, training programs, surveys - the tools exist but each worked in isolation, with no shared data, no continuity, and no way to build on each other. continuity

Industry Insight

Visibility stopped at the Vessel

Organisations had data on assets, routes and compliance. Almost none on the people operating them -their stress levels, engagement, or early warning signs of burnout.

Organisational Insight

Safety and wellbeing are treated as separate problems.

Mounting evidence shows a direct correlation between crew wellbeing and safety outcomes. Yet organisations continued to manage them through entirely different functions.

Industry Insight

Interventions reached leadership - not the crew.

Most existing initiatives like onboarding, training and surveys reached a maximum of 20% of leadership. The frontline workforce remained largely untouched.

Organisational Insight

Low utilisation is not apathy, It's Friction.

Less than 6% of enterprises use emergency psychological support. Not because crews don't need it, but because the barriers to access like stigma, process, visibility. All made it effectively unreachable.

Industry Insight

2 in 3 wellbeing issues are work-related. None feel work-addressable.

Seafarers knew where the stress came from. What they lacked was any sense that the organisation could or would do something about it.

User Insight

No way to measure Risk - let alone predict it

Organisations tracked performance metrics but had no reliable way to quantify crew resilience - no score, no baseline, no way to act proactively.

Organisational Insight

What we learnt

We distilled our findings into insights across three levels: industry, organisation and user. Gathered via primary/secondary research and business intel - these became the foundation to trace back our future decisions.

Understanding the turf

Understanding the turf

➤

Understand core market need where the industry falls short in Safety & Wellbeing.

➤

Identify who we're really designing for and what they actually need.

➤

Gain actionable and testable insights into their goals and motivations.

Example Questions:

  • What problem are we really solving?

  • Why does this problem exist?

  • Who does this problem affect and how?

    Who does this problem affect

    and how?

  • How are we equipped to solve this?

  • What are core insights of our V1 App?

  • Do our Dashboard Users care about this problem?

    Do our Dashboard Users care about

    this problem?

Explore Research

View Notion Doc

NON-

LINEAR

BY NATURE

💬 My open tabs

  • What kind of team do I need to hire?

    Team Building

  • What should be our Tool Stack?

    Design Ops

  • What do we build in-house vs What to hire vendors for

    Operations

  • How to ship Dashboard and Mobile in parallel?

    Porduct Strategy

  • What can we learn from our V1 product?

    Research

The truth about 0-1 journeys

In a 0-1 setup, you're hiring while you're researching. You're choosing tools while you're running workshops. You're building the plane and the runway at the same time.

NON-

LINEAR

BY NATURE

💬 My open tabs

  • What kind of team do I need to hire?

    Team Building

  • What should be our Tool Stack?

    Design Ops

  • What do we build in-house vs What to hire vendors for

    Operations

  • How to ship Dashboard and Mobile in parallel?

    Porduct Strategy

  • What can we learn from our V1 product?

    Research

The truth about 0-1 journeys

In a 0-1 setup, you're hiring while you're researching. You're choosing tools while you're running workshops. You're building the plane and the runway at the same time.

Where Research Became Direction

Where Research Became Direction

Good research doesn't answer everything. It tells you what to bet on.

THE STRATEGIC ANCHOR

➤

V1 had already shown us something valuable - Users spent significant time on the app voluntarily, offline, at sea.

➤

Some features had genuine traction and we let that behaviour lead.

Establish the UX frameworks
+ Foundational Research.

Establish the UX frameworks
+ Foundational Research.

➤

The new experience was anchored in self-discovery and flexible engagement. Built for the reality of life at sea.

What's this App about?

A multi-utility app for frontline workers. Built around daily stress, resilience, and the reality of life at sea.

Organisation side - every interaction feeds into the HPI score - a single risk metric built from behavioural data.

Approach

By helping Users identify their thresholds within 6 Wellbeing dimensions via -

• Psychological support
• Mindfulness exercsies
• Learning modules
• Cognitive games

What's this App about?

A multi-utility app for frontline workers. Built around daily stress, resilience, and the reality of life at sea.

Organisation side - every interaction feeds into the HPI score - a single risk metric built from behavioural data.

Approach

By helping Users identify their thresholds within 6 Wellbeing dimensions via -

• Psychological support
• Mindfulness exercsies
• Learning modules
• Cognitive games

The invisible work that

makes design matter

BULDING Credibility Before FLEXING Craft

The invisible work that
makes design matter

BULDING Credibility Before FLEXING Craft

The invisible work that

makes design matter

BULDING Credibility Before FLEXING Craft

By asking the right questions

Getting THE team to care about the problem

By asking the right questions

Getting THE team to care about the problem

By asking the right questions

Getting THE team to care about the problem

My Decision Filter for Innovation

And when to not reinvent

the wheel

My Decision Filter for Innovation

And when to not reinvent

the wheel

My Decision Filter for Innovation

And when to not reinvent

the wheel

Mental Models Worth Keeping

Three thinking tools that actually got used in the wild and moved

things forward on the crazy days.

Three thinking tools that actually got used in the wild and moved things forward on the crazy days.

UX Retention Goals