Seagull
This international award-winning web app was sparked when a family of data-collecting organizations throughout the Great Lakes struggled with the lack of a centralized database. Since Seagull took flight, it is used by scientists, meteorologists, researchers, and even casual fishermen and kayakers.
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Create an innovative database for water scientists and Great Lakes users by pulling data from real-time platform reporting, forecasted model data, and archival data.
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A responsive web app was created in order to service both the power users—who would likely view data visualizations on their desktop, and casual users—who would likely want quick access to realtime data on their mobile device. Special attention was paid to anchor all data to geographical coordinates. In other words, every piece of data can be tied to the map for easy context. This was a brand new solution in the world of water data.
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I was the Lead UX Designer throughout the entire project. When the VP of Experience went on leave, I absorbed her responsibilities of leading the product vision and roadmap. I worked in tandem with project managers, a team of full-stack developers, and client stakeholders.
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Since its launch in April 2022, Seagull has soared high. It is bringing together organizations who have never been able to collaborate due to lack of data access. It has catapulted the digital transformation of the industry and invigorated new research. Seagull has even caught the eye of federal grants for preservation efforts. International organizations are paying attention and hoping to collaborate with the new technologies being championed by the Great Lakes and Seagull.
Discover & Define
With a lot of exciting and competing ideas, we needed to gather focus quickly to ensure we built the right thing. Dozens of hours in workshops to learn the water data world and its challenges, and dozens more hours prioritizing those challenges into an MVP strategy.
Workshops • User Interviews • Personas • User Flows • Product Roadmap
Understanding the existing product, ERDDAP, and its shortcomings was imperative as we learned how to get in the minds of water scientists. ERDDAP had extremely powerful data processing APIs, but the information architecture was a nightmare. The good news was that we could take what ERDDAP had already solved for and enhance off of that.
Design & Deliver
With validated goals and personas, it was time to put pen to paper—er, pixels to screens. A functioning prototype that felt like the real thing was created so it could be tested with real users. Special attention was paid to the micro interactions with the map and the data visualizations.
Wireframe • Prototype • Usability Testing • Design System
The aggregated data from a series of unmoderated usability tests where users were asked to perform tasks in the prototype. Users had difficulty understanding data visualizations on mobile, so we adjusted the designs accordingly.
Bonus!
Here’s an infographic to better explain all the complexities and capabilities behind Seagull.
