Cross-platform native application design
Role
Lead digital designer
Responsibilities
UX research, UI design
Background
Safe Transport Victoria (STV) is responsible for ensuring the safety and regulation of the state’s transport systems, including public transport, roads, and maritime operations.
STV has a popular and important boating safety handbook, which was only available in PDF. They wanted this resource to be turned into a native application and learning tool, accessible on both mobile and desktop.
Our goal was to translate the handbook’s detailed content into a format that would be accessible, intuitive, and user-friendly.
Discovery
To align on the project’s goals and gather insights into the specific needs of the end-user, which spanned a large and diverse audience of over 400,000 people, we carried out a discovery workshop with the client.
This workshop led us to understand the primary reasons users reference the handbook: self education and staying on the right side of the law. Consequently, we were able to identify important chapters and top tasks. Against this, we analysed the information architecture, retaining information that aligned with the app’s requirements, and removing any that didn't.
In addition to the above, the client also identified this project as an opportunity to increase the public’s understanding of their role and presence.
Overall, we established that the solution needed to:
- Ensure a smooth and intuitive app, users can navigate easily.
- Highlight important sections of the handbook.
- Create a seamless transition between PDF and app.
Solution
With a solid understanding of the project, I designed the wireframes.
Quick links were added to the top of the homepage, allowing direct access to sections we recognised were most important during discovery. Followed by a dedicated area for campaign banners and the 4 chapters selected for the app.
Within the lower levels, I added ‘back’ and ‘next’ buttons to the top and bottom of each page, mimicking chapters in a book. These were labelled with the relevant section’s title for additional clarity.
Chapters were colour coded for easy navigation, applying one brand colour to each chapter.
Chapter buttons had accents of their respective colour to identification, with a full application on hover for desktop.
For additional engagement, I applied some fun visual elements to the design, including the Safe Transport pattern and an ocean image in the background.
The successful transformation of the STV maritime safety handbook marked a significant achievement for both our team and the client. By leveraging key insights gained during the discovery phase, we were able to create a user-friendly, accessible app that effectively met the needs of over 400,000 users.
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