Building an Underwater App for Coral Monitoring
Organization
Coral Gardeners
Project Type
iOS App
Role
Sole UX/UI Designer
Tools
Figma, Notion
The Problem
Coral Gardeners’ restoration team was relying on fragmented tools like Google Maps, spreadsheets, and messaging apps to monitor coral nurseries and restoration sites. This made data collection time-consuming, hard to centralize, and prone to errors.
Research Methods
Field Observations
I spent time with the restoration team, observing how they recorded data on slates and later transcribed it. This helped me identify pain points like water-damaged notes and redundant data entry.
User Interviews
I conducted interviews with team members to better understand their challenges, preferences, and vision for an improved system.
Key Insights
Difficulty managing large volumes of data
Team members struggled to track thousands of coral fragments spread across multiple nurseries.
Slow data transfer process
Manually writing notes underwater and later transcribing them introduced delays and inefficiencies.
Lack of real-time access
Team members needed a way to instantly view and update coral health data in the field, even without an internet connection.
User Flows
Based on my research, I designed concise and intuitive user flows to assist the team in demanding underwater environments. Aware of the physical challenges divers face, I optimized each screen and interaction to minimize friction and support their specific tasks. To promote accuracy and consistency, the app includes a clear, guided monitoring process.
Monitoring flow
Data Collection Journey
To simplify the fieldwork process, I focused on reducing the number of steps required to collect and share data. With the Reef App, team members can now record observations directly on site.
Ideation & Wireframing
Using the insights, I've developed low-fidelity wireframes that focused on simplified data entry flows optimized for field use and map-based navigation to easily locate and update coral structures.
Prototyping & Testing
I created an interactive prototype and tested it with the team. Based on iterative feedback, we improved form layouts for faster data entry, enhanced contrast and readability for better underwater visibility.
Final Design
The Solution
The Reef App transformed coral monitoring by offering a structured, real-time data collection system and a scalable platform that grew from supporting one team to many.
Results & Impact
Reduced data entry time by 50%.
Improved coral health tracking, enabling faster intervention.
Strengthened team collaboration with centralized data.
Lessons Learned
Real-world field testing is essential
Designing for tough environments requires iteration.
Simplicity wins
Restoration teams need intuitive, frictionless workflows.
Scaling requires adaptability
The app evolved from one team’s tool to a multi-team platform.
