Keeping Tāmaki Makaurau safe while swimming
Website updates for Safeswim while working as a UX/UI designer at Daylight.
Read about the process
Auckland beaches frequently experience unsafe water quality standards, and the Safeswim platform is how Auckland Council keeps the public informed. The Council approached Daylight to enhance the existing platform, making it easier for people to quickly access the information they need to stay safe at the beach.
- UX/UI designer working alongside Head of Design.
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Contributed to wireframes, prototyping, and responsive designs.
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Collaborated with internal teams and client to simplify a complex UX.
The existing information architecture was functional but overloaded. We explored ways to restructure the content in a more intuitive way, grouping related data and simplifying entry points into beach-specific information. This ensured that both regular and first-time users could easily understand how to use the site.Once final designs were approved, I created all required screen variants for handoff to developers. This included every possible beach status scenario, ensuring clarity and consistency across conditions like “safe to swim,” “caution,” or “high risk.” I also QA’d the responsiveness of components across screen sizes, ensuring the design worked equally well on desktop, tablet, and mobile.
We took a mobile-first approach to save design time and prioritise usability, knowing most users would be checking beach safety from their phones. This insight came from Google Analytics, so we designed for mobile from the start, with the interface scaling smoothly up for desktop.The card-based layout worked well as each beach can have different safety recommendations that change daily. Designing this as a flexible, modular template allowed us to handle varying content while keeping things consistent. We packed a lot of information into a small space, making sure safety warnings were always surfaced first, followed by other cards in order of importance.
The creative team at Daylight also produced some amazing assets to weave throughout the interface. These were tailored to key beaches and really elevated the overall UI, adding warmth and personality to the experience.