Subaqua
An app made to improve freediver’s diving trips
PROCESS HIGHLIGHTS
BACKGROUND
RESEARCH
Design challenge and responsibilities overview
Why Subaqua?
Desk Research
More Case Studies
The Process
Challenge
Timeline
Research
Synthesis
Ideation
Final Designs
Reflection
Disciplines
Responsibilities
Tools
Opportunity
Class Prompt: Design an app for a community.
Designing an app that aims to bring a more convenient way for freedivers to get prepared for their diving journey.
Diving is pretty awesome. But planning for a dive, can be troublesome.
The process of planning requires careful consideration of factors such as weather, tides, diving partner, and more... each categories takes great efforts to plan. I came to wonder, how can we improve diving process?
Before diving into designs, I wanted to first look at what challenges divers commonly face when planning a dive. After doing some research, I realized how disconnected the current experience really is. Weather plays a huge role in a successful dive, yet most new divers struggle to make sense of complex reports like tides and wind. On top of that, information about dive sites is scattered across different platforms like Google and Facebook groups, making it hard to plan confidently. Lastly, finding a reliable dive buddy with a similar skill level is difficult, and it’s not always easy to know who to trust.
July 4-25, 2024
User Experience Design
UX Research
Figma
Notion
After Effects
Design Thinking
Wireframing
Prototyping
User Interface Design
1
2
3
4
5
Desk Research
Persona
Developing a Solution
Final Prototype
Conclusion
Wireframes
Expert Interviews
Diving Process
Mosaic
UX/UI & Product Design
Movie Planning Web Tool for Beginner Filmmakers
Forbes Magazine
UX/UI & Product Design
A Redesign for Forbes Magazine’s Mobile App
RESEARCH
Expert Interviews
What is so hard about dive planning? With this question in mind, I conducted interviews with professional free divers to gain insight into their experiences and discover ways in which the diving process could be improved.
I found accessories and community building to be the most comment topic during interviews with experts and diving coaches.
Diving
Accessory
Online
Communities
Most experienced divers choose to use dive watches to monitor important information such as time, temperature, and depth during their dives.
Additionally, dive watches can also save diving data and generate dive logs, allowing divers to track their progress over time.
There are plenty of active free diving communities on Facebook/Google. People would share their experiences and initiate diving events in their area. These communities are a valuable source of information for divers who are seeking advice and recommendations.
RESEARCH
Diving Process
After gaining some initial insights into the diving process, I decided to attend freediving classes to deepen my understanding and experience about the situation.
The process roughly goes like: Plan -> Dive -> Review. While there are many steps and procedures involved in each of these phases, I learned that one of the most crucial aspects of diving is monitoring weather and environmental conditions.
Divers should check on weather, environment information frequently, and observe the tide pattern before going into the water.
SYNTHESIS
IDEATION
User Persona
Developing a Solution
With all this in mind, I developed a user persona to represent our ideal user. Sophie is a 23-year-old Marine Biology student based on Vancouver’s central coast with two years of diving experience. She’s curious about marine life, values planning for a smooth dive, and enjoys tracking her personal growth. Her main challenges include unreliable dive site information and difficulty finding dive buddies. She’s driven by a love for the ocean, freedom of movement in water, and a strong interest in marine exploration.
After research, I analyzed the findings, and created some flow graphs to help understand the structure and goals of this app. How would the user’s navigate through the app. What would be the main goals of the app.
IDEATION
Wireframes
After establishing the design direction, I began crafting high-fidelity wireframes to bring the concept to life. These wireframes focused primarily on the user experience and several other key features central to the user.
REFLECTION
FINAL DESIGNS
Conclusion
Final Prototype
Navigation Overview
Comprehensive dive site information
Export plan for buddy finding
Review past dives
Dive watch use case
Working on Subaqua gave me a new perspective on designing for specialized user groups. Unlike previous projects, this one required me to dive deeper into the habits, frustrations, and motivations of a very specific audience—divers. I learned how to distill scattered community insights into clear design opportunities, and how to prioritize features that solve real, overlooked problems like weather misinterpretation or unreliable dive partner coordination. This project pushed me to balance function and clarity while designing with empathy. It also made me more confident in crafting narrative-driven case studies that not only showcase design, but the reasoning behind every decision. More than anything, Subaqua reminded me that good design often begins with listening.
The navigation bar features a launch screen with a map view for easy exploration of dive sites, a Dive Log and Saved Spots screen for convenient access to past and future dives, and a Profile screen for managing dive equipment and personal settings.
The dive site page providing users with essential planning information. The displayed information is simplified and color-coded for easy readability at first glance. Additional details like map styles and reviews are organized further down the hierarchy, presenting a more in-depth look of the dive site.
With the export feature, users can easily share their dive site plans on social media. The plan includes a concise description of the dive site and the partner requirements, increasing the chances of attracting the right diving partner.
After completing a dive, a pop up will appear, displaying the information of the last dive. Users can review the details from the dives and view a 3D dive route generated from their watch data.
While diving, the dive watch can switch between various modes to cater to different needs. These modes include the diving mode, which displays the current dive's depth and time; surface mode, which indicates the duration of the surface interval until the next dive; and dive buddy monitor mode, which shows the dive buddy's position.
Subaqua
An app made to improve freediver’s diving trips
PROCESS HIGHLIGHTS
BACKGROUND
RESEARCH
Design challenge and responsibilities overview
Why Subaqua?
Desk Research
More Case Studies
The Process
Challenge
Timeline
Research
Synthesis
Ideation
Final Designs
Reflection
Disciplines
Responsibilities
Tools
Opportunity
Class Prompt: Design an app for a community.
Designing an app that aims to bring a more convenient way for freedivers to get prepared for their diving journey.
Diving is pretty awesome. But planning for a dive, can be troublesome.
The process of planning requires careful consideration of factors such as weather, tides, diving partner, and more... each categories takes great efforts to plan. I came to wonder, how can we improve diving process?
Before diving into designs, I wanted to first look at what challenges divers commonly face when planning a dive. After doing some research, I realized how disconnected the current experience really is. Weather plays a huge role in a successful dive, yet most new divers struggle to make sense of complex reports like tides and wind. On top of that, information about dive sites is scattered across different platforms like Google and Facebook groups, making it hard to plan confidently. Lastly, finding a reliable dive buddy with a similar skill level is difficult, and it’s not always easy to know who to trust.
July 4-25, 2024
User Experience Design
UX Research
Figma
Notion
After Effects
Design Thinking
Wireframing
Prototyping
User Interface Design
1
2
3
4
5
Desk Research
Persona
Developing a Solution
Final Prototype
Conclusion
Wireframes
Expert Interviews
Diving Process
Mosaic
UX/UI & Product Design
Movie Planning Web Tool for Beginner Filmmakers
Forbes Magazine
UX/UI & Product Design
A Redesign for Forbes Magazine’s Mobile App
RESEARCH
Expert Interviews
What is so hard about dive planning? With this question in mind, I conducted interviews with professional free divers to gain insight into their experiences and discover ways in which the diving process could be improved.
I found accessories and community building to be the most comment topic during interviews with experts and diving coaches.
Diving
Accessory
Online
Communities
Most experienced divers choose to use dive watches to monitor important information such as time, temperature, and depth during their dives.
Additionally, dive watches can also save diving data and generate dive logs, allowing divers to track their progress over time.
There are plenty of active free diving communities on Facebook/Google. People would share their experiences and initiate diving events in their area. These communities are a valuable source of information for divers who are seeking advice and recommendations.
RESEARCH
Diving Process
After gaining some initial insights into the diving process, I decided to attend freediving classes to deepen my understanding and experience about the situation.
The process roughly goes like: Plan -> Dive -> Review. While there are many steps and procedures involved in each of these phases, I learned that one of the most crucial aspects of diving is monitoring weather and environmental conditions.
Divers should check on weather, environment information frequently, and observe the tide pattern before going into the water.
SYNTHESIS
IDEATION
User Persona
Developing a Solution
With all this in mind, I developed a user persona to represent our ideal user. Sophie is a 23-year-old Marine Biology student based on Vancouver’s central coast with two years of diving experience. She’s curious about marine life, values planning for a smooth dive, and enjoys tracking her personal growth. Her main challenges include unreliable dive site information and difficulty finding dive buddies. She’s driven by a love for the ocean, freedom of movement in water, and a strong interest in marine exploration.
After research, I analyzed the findings, and created some flow graphs to help understand the structure and goals of this app. How would the user’s navigate through the app. What would be the main goals of the app.
IDEATION
Wireframes
After establishing the design direction, I began crafting high-fidelity wireframes to bring the concept to life. These wireframes focused primarily on the user experience and several other key features central to the user.
REFLECTION
FINAL DESIGNS
Conclusion
Final Prototype
Navigation Overview
Comprehensive dive site information
Export plan for buddy finding
Review past dives
Dive watch use case
Working on Subaqua gave me a new perspective on designing for specialized user groups. Unlike previous projects, this one required me to dive deeper into the habits, frustrations, and motivations of a very specific audience—divers. I learned how to distill scattered community insights into clear design opportunities, and how to prioritize features that solve real, overlooked problems like weather misinterpretation or unreliable dive partner coordination. This project pushed me to balance function and clarity while designing with empathy. It also made me more confident in crafting narrative-driven case studies that not only showcase design, but the reasoning behind every decision. More than anything, Subaqua reminded me that good design often begins with listening.
The navigation bar features a launch screen with a map view for easy exploration of dive sites, a Dive Log and Saved Spots screen for convenient access to past and future dives, and a Profile screen for managing dive equipment and personal settings.
The dive site page providing users with essential planning information. The displayed information is simplified and color-coded for easy readability at first glance. Additional details like map styles and reviews are organized further down the hierarchy, presenting a more in-depth look of the dive site.
With the export feature, users can easily share their dive site plans on social media. The plan includes a concise description of the dive site and the partner requirements, increasing the chances of attracting the right diving partner.
After completing a dive, a pop up will appear, displaying the information of the last dive. Users can review the details from the dives and view a 3D dive route generated from their watch data.
While diving, the dive watch can switch between various modes to cater to different needs. These modes include the diving mode, which displays the current dive's depth and time; surface mode, which indicates the duration of the surface interval until the next dive; and dive buddy monitor mode, which shows the dive buddy's position.
Subaqua
An app made to improve freediver’s diving trips
PROCESS HIGHLIGHTS
BACKGROUND
RESEARCH
Design challenge and responsibilities overview
Why Subaqua?
Desk Research
More Case Studies
The Process
Challenge
Timeline
Research
Synthesis
Ideation
Final Designs
Reflection
Disciplines
Responsibilities
Tools
Opportunity
Class Prompt: Design an app for a community.
Designing an app that aims to bring a more convenient way for freedivers to get prepared for their diving journey.
Diving is pretty awesome. But planning for a dive, can be troublesome.
The process of planning requires careful consideration of factors such as weather, tides, diving partner, and more... each categories takes great efforts to plan. I came to wonder, how can we improve diving process?
Before diving into designs, I wanted to first look at what challenges divers commonly face when planning a dive. After doing some research, I realized how disconnected the current experience really is. Weather plays a huge role in a successful dive, yet most new divers struggle to make sense of complex reports like tides and wind. On top of that, information about dive sites is scattered across different platforms like Google and Facebook groups, making it hard to plan confidently. Lastly, finding a reliable dive buddy with a similar skill level is difficult, and it’s not always easy to know who to trust.
July 4-25, 2024
User Experience Design
UX Research
Figma
Notion
After Effects
Design Thinking
Wireframing
Prototyping
User Interface Design
1
2
3
4
5
Desk Research
Persona
Developing a Solution
Final Prototype
Conclusion
Wireframes
Expert Interviews
Diving Process
Mosaic
Forbes Magazine
UX/UI & Product Design
UX/UI & Product Design
Movie Planning Web Tool for Beginner Filmmakers
A Redesign for Forbes Magazine’s Mobile App
RESEARCH
Expert Interviews
What is so hard about dive planning? With this question in mind, I conducted interviews with professional free divers to gain insight into their experiences and discover ways in which the diving process could be improved.
I found accessories and community building to be the most comment topic during interviews with experts and diving coaches.
Diving
Accessory
Online
Communities
Most experienced divers choose to use dive watches to monitor important information such as time, temperature, and depth during their dives.
Additionally, dive watches can also save diving data and generate dive logs, allowing divers to track their progress over time.
There are plenty of active free diving communities on Facebook/Google. People would share their experiences and initiate diving events in their area. These communities are a valuable source of information for divers who are seeking advice and recommendations.
RESEARCH
Diving Process
After gaining some initial insights into the diving process, I decided to attend freediving classes to deepen my understanding and experience about the situation.
The process roughly goes like: Plan -> Dive -> Review. While there are many steps and procedures involved in each of these phases, I learned that one of the most crucial aspects of diving is monitoring weather and environmental conditions.
Divers should check on weather, environment information frequently, and observe the tide pattern before going into the water.
SYNTHESIS
IDEATION
User Persona
Developing a Solution
With all this in mind, I developed a user persona to represent our ideal user. Sophie is a 23-year-old Marine Biology student based on Vancouver’s central coast with two years of diving experience. She’s curious about marine life, values planning for a smooth dive, and enjoys tracking her personal growth. Her main challenges include unreliable dive site information and difficulty finding dive buddies. She’s driven by a love for the ocean, freedom of movement in water, and a strong interest in marine exploration.
After research, I analyzed the findings, and created some flow graphs to help understand the structure and goals of this app. How would the user’s navigate through the app. What would be the main goals of the app.
IDEATION
Wireframes
After establishing the design direction, I began crafting high-fidelity wireframes to bring the concept to life. These wireframes focused primarily on the user experience and several other key features central to the user.
REFLECTION
FINAL DESIGNS
Conclusion
Final Prototype
Navigation Overview
Comprehensive dive site information
Export plan for buddy finding
Review past dives
Dive watch use case
Working on Subaqua gave me a new perspective on designing for specialized user groups. Unlike previous projects, this one required me to dive deeper into the habits, frustrations, and motivations of a very specific audience—divers. I learned how to distill scattered community insights into clear design opportunities, and how to prioritize features that solve real, overlooked problems like weather misinterpretation or unreliable dive partner coordination. This project pushed me to balance function and clarity while designing with empathy. It also made me more confident in crafting narrative-driven case studies that not only showcase design, but the reasoning behind every decision. More than anything, Subaqua reminded me that good design often begins with listening.
The navigation bar features a launch screen with a map view for easy exploration of dive sites, a Dive Log and Saved Spots screen for convenient access to past and future dives, and a Profile screen for managing dive equipment and personal settings.
The dive site page providing users with essential planning information. The displayed information is simplified and color-coded for easy readability at first glance. Additional details like map styles and reviews are organized further down the hierarchy, presenting a more in-depth look of the dive site.
With the export feature, users can easily share their dive site plans on social media. The plan includes a concise description of the dive site and the partner requirements, increasing the chances of attracting the right diving partner.
After completing a dive, a pop up will appear, displaying the information of the last dive. Users can review the details from the dives and view a 3D dive route generated from their watch data.
While diving, the dive watch can switch between various modes to cater to different needs. These modes include the diving mode, which displays the current dive's depth and time; surface mode, which indicates the duration of the surface interval until the next dive; and dive buddy monitor mode, which shows the dive buddy's position.
