Orcasound is a global community of designers, researchers, developers, and marine scientists working to build innovative, open-source software and hardware to listen for endangered orcas to help conserve them. Our main project Orcasound listening web-app connects underwater microphones (hydrophones) to your headphones, no matter what browser, operating system, or device you prefer.
Since a Kickstarter in 2017, our community have challenged itself to build an ever-growing suite of open source software and applications to help save orcas by spreading awareness about the endangered Southern Resident Killer Whales (SRKW) that seek salmon along the west coast of North America.
Orcasound website went through two iterations. First iteration resulted in an MVP. The second and current iteration went live in 2020 with the feature addition of a responsive web design.
Now we are working on the iteration #3 to re-design a complete overhaul of the listening web app.
Lead UX Designer & Researcher - Listening Web App Redesign
The current state listening web app has major design and accessibility issues.
We want to redesign "Our North Star" the final design iteration of Orcasound Listening Web App with industry best practices in research, design and accessibility with a user-centred approach.
We have:
interviewed our stakeholders
workshopped with our designers and developers to benchmark web app's current state
conducted some internal and external research, evaluations, and design audits
created a road map and user flows
conducted a full competitive audit
iterated designs
tested web app's usability and
delivered designs
Our weekly notification signups reached over 4K since the initial project launch.
Our first time visits for a single day exceeded 1K in November 2023. This is a vast improvement.
Since the launch of the listening web app, signing up to receive notifications for live orca activity increased on a daily basis.
Single day first time visit and other user engagement activities show that we have a growing interest in site usage.
Continue gathering user feedback
Improve site accessibility further