A zero-to-one project, designing a responsive web application to digitise and streamline the super yacht charting process, removing friction for multiple stakeholders
Website
Responsive Web App
*Client name removed for confidentiality
Team
Me - Lead Product Designer, 1 x Junior Product Designer, 2 x Full Stack Engineer, 1 x Product manager
When
Mar - Sep 2022
Responsibilities
Research, Ideation, IA, Wireframes, UX/UI Design
Overview
Our client, a luxury yacht charter broker, approached us with a vision to create the "Airbnb" for super yacht charters. The idea was to develop a platform that catered to every stakeholder in the chartering process, including owners, charterers, and crew.
Leveraging their comprehensive market research, we took the lead in designing the venture and developing a minimum viable product (MVP) that would help our client secure further funding.
The problem
The super yacht charter process has remained stagnant for decades, relying heavily on email, phone calls and face-to-face meetings to arrange charters. This approach often results in mistakes, miscommunication, and frustration when information shared is lost or inaccurate. Our client sought to revolutionise the industry by creating a digital solution that streamlines the entire process for both charterers and vendors, ensuring efficiency, transparency, and eliminating unnecessary redundancies.
Business requirements
Deliver a polished, feature rich MVP that meets the high expectations of a discerning market
Provide value to multiple stakeholders in the ecosystem including yacht owners, brokers and charterers
Develop the product in a limited timeframe and budget, necessitating strategic trade offs
Research
Our client had previously invested in comprehensive market research carried out by a top consultancy firm (big 4). We carefully reviewed the insights from this research and benchmarked competitors to familiarise ourselves with this new industry. These insights served as the foundation for our design process, helping us identify pain points and opportunities to enhance the existing workflow.
Key insights
Lack of accessible information
Up to date information (such as about boats and crew) is a concern for charterers and is often out of date or inaccessible.
Uninformed feedback & pricing
Vendors want to make more informed charter pricing decisions. Currently the only feedback they receive is from the few charterers who fill out paper feedback forms.
Process inefficiencies
Many back and forth interactions and document sharing between parties and across platforms leads to information being lost and not kept up to date. All parties often find themselves chasing for simple status updates and document sharing.
Lack of online payments
Charterers (especially younger charterers) want to be able to pay online but this option is not widely available.
Uncontrollable costs
Charterers often are not kept up to date with how costs are accounted for and often left frustrated when presented with large bills at the end of the trip.
Feature prioritisation
We analysed the insights, formulated "How Might We" questions, and brainstormed a range of ideas. Working closely with our stakeholders, we developed a project roadmap and prioritised the features for the MVP, strategically balancing scope with time and budget constraints. Through workshops, we evaluated and ranked feature ideas based on difficulty and desirability, retaining only the most essential elements for the MVP. Our primary focus was on eliminating the most significant sources of friction.
Designing the solution
Branding
Taking guidance from our client we worked with an external brand consultant to develop brand guidelines for the product and an initial lightweight design system to keep the team organised.
Examples of the brand guidelines
Screens from the search and book charter journey
Search & book charters
Booking management
Yacht owners and central agents can manage their fleet and handle bookings directly within the app. Each yacht and charter is assigned a dedicated broker and owner contact for personalized management. Additionally, users must be verified before they can charter, ensuring security and trust.
Creating a listing
Yacht owners and brokers create listings through a guided, step-by-step process, with prompts for owners to verify yacht images during listing creation. Owners can also set high and low season rates and define discount policies for longer charters, ensuring charterers are well-informed about costs.
Additionally, a verification process was established where listings must be submitted for review, maintaining the platform's quality and reliability.
Key screens from the search and book flow
In app messaging
The current process, reliant on email and phone calls, often results in long email chains and fragmented information sharing. By integrating messaging within the app, all relevant users can share and view up-to-date information directly within the context of the charter. Brokers can easily prompt charterers to complete necessary verification checks and update the trip status, streamlining communication and reducing confusion.
Key screens from the search and book flow
Improved ‘on charter’ experience
Charterers are prompted to complete an online preference sheet to ensure their expectations are met. In the current process, charterers often face unexpected large bills at the end of the charter, leading to concerns about the charges. In our solution, the yacht captain and staff can add any additional expenses and receipts directly to the charter area, which are then shared with the principal charterer. This keeps them informed of costs in real-time, ensuring they remain in control of their spending.
Results
We received excellent feedback from both the client and stakeholders, who were impressed by the product's comprehensive functionality. The product has already been successfully used to secure additional investment, and the team is now planning for a launch in early 2025.
As we move forward, there are several areas we'd like to test and iterate on. These include the usability of the in-app messaging system, the effectiveness of the expense tracking feature in maintaining transparency for charterers, and the overall user experience during the yacht selection process. By refining these elements, we aim to further enhance the platform's value and user satisfaction.