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Role

Service Designer

I led an end-to-end process emphasise on user research and the digital transformation of the organisation’s platform. Worked closely with the stakeholders to interpret the requirements and research the current service.

By researching the current state of the dive centre findings presented interpretations of the customer’s relationship with the dive centre and the overall service.

A user centred strategy, addressing both the needs of the users and dive centre was implemented and focused on identifying key requirements and factors that define and affect it.

Research - Part I

Requirements gathering and discovery research

To understand the service and the organisation's goals, it was necessary to sketch out the whole structure of the dimensions of how the customers and the service interact.

Sketching out all the channels customers use to reach the dive centre and the possible issues they might have and obstacles they might come across. The research involved the business analysis, investigation of local dive centres and observations in the dive centre

As part of the discovery stage, the research involved research methods: autoethnography, stakeholder and user interviews and online survey.

Stakeholder Interviews

This approach helped me get a more detailed look into the company’s background and their service portfolio, their targeted audience, the history and current state of their digital presence, their relationship with its clients/users most importantly their vision and goals.

Main findings:

User Interviews

Were conducted in the dive centre, which helped me recognise a typical user attitude towards the service and the digital platform. I was also able to better understand the user needs with existing clients and new clients.

Online Survey

To get more information on the users, their experiences, motivations, attitude and feelings about the physical and digital presence, I created an online survey with open and closed questions.

What do we know by now..

The raw data were explored then begane to spate, sort out and combine them using qualitative coding.

According to the research, the things participants appreciated the most in connection with the experience they had with the dive centre were the staff’s kindness and professionalism, which made them feel safe. Based on the interviews, I was able to create personas, service blueprint and user journeys.

Sketch of customer dimension
User Journey
Service Blueprint
Research - Part II

Additional research of the digital platform

Landing page of Marine Sport DC

The website created 15 years ago had only had minor changes done to the content and one change to the English site, redesign of the visual. The design patterns were outdated, the overall look and feel of the page varied between different language pages and as for the first impression did not serve as a trust creating factor.

To determine the redesign goals, I used the gained information from the preliminary research done with the users and customers, i.e. user research in the dive centre through interviews and the online survey. During this process, I additionally applied the following research methods :

HEURISTIC EVALUATION

Using the guidelines, I went through the website and inspected the latter to acknowledge usability issues.

The primary purpose of the website is to establish an effective communicational and informational channel for its users. The latter provides access to three sites, and each site supports a single language.

The original German version of the Marine Sport dive center Home page

Marine Sport DC - German home page, created in 2000

The original italian version of the Marine Sport dive center Home page

Marine Sport DC - Italian home page, designed in 2000

The redesigned English version of the Marine Sport dive center Home page

Marine Sport DC - English home page, redesigned in 2012

Identifying main goals

After analysing all the information gained in research 1 and 2 and with the help of the created service blueprint, I was able to provide recommendations to the business in the physical environment.

Regarding the digital environment, I was able to present the following conclusions:

VISUAL DESIGN

First steps toward the redesign ..

By gaining a better understanding of the user needs I was able to create new visuals of the design.

I started by designing the key pages, i.e. wireframes in low fidelity and had them tested with users in the dive centre.

The latter helped identify some pain points that I needed to revisit, for example, apply changes to the content inventory.

Low Fidelity Wireframes
Initial Site Map
Iterated Site Map

Moving on to high fidelity

After creating the basic layout of the page, I moved on to a more detailed look and the hierarchy of content on pages. High fidelity designs with style guides were created based on all findings and included checkpoints with users and stakeholders.

Typography

RESULT

A fully functional website was created, i.e. coded and launched in all four languages. The platform became a window to the organisation and the service they offer, which fully covered the users’ needs in allowing them to easily find what they came for.

The website now had a simplified navigation system with beautiful pictures showing the visitors what they can see and and highlighted contact information on top and bottom.

Each page showcased a clear presentation of that page with easy to find information, and an additional section for most important information about the overall services offered.

Website

Visit Marine Sport DC to see the live site.

Deliverables: User Research, Service Blueprint, Affinity Diagram, Wireframes, Functional Prototype, Website

Methods employed: Autoethnography, Diary Study, Empirical & Theoretical Research, Grounded Theory, Heuristic Evaluation, Online Survey, Observation, Service Design, Structured Questionnaire and Interviews, SWOT analysis.

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