Citizens
Climate & Tech.

Citizens of the Great Barrier Reef. Engaging people, scientists, innovators and communities from around the world in the future of the Reef. A tech platform that brings the world's most inspiring conservation ideas and actions to life. Connecting people behind a common purpose.

Citizen's site →

Citizens of the Great Barrier Reef cover

Role

Lead Product Designer. Crafted the identity of the Great Reef Census, then consolidated the work into a design system and communications protocol.

Collaborated with Tech Lead Som Meaden and CEO Andy Ridley to define the strategy and ecosystem. Designed the platform's UX and UI, ran qualitative testing, and worked closely with marine scientists, conservationists and divers to launch a world-first climate-action initiative.

Output

  • Citizens GBR brand guidelines
  • The Great Reef Census site (case study below)
  • Survey submission tool
  • Image analyser tool
  • Citizen scientist dashboard
  • Detailed reporting tool
  • Fundraising page
  • Citizens GBR site updates

Case Study

The Great Reef Census.

The initiative: A world-first citizen-science effort to survey the Great Barrier Reef.

Why: The Reef stretches 2,300km and contains over 3,000 individual reefs, but only 5–10% of it is regularly surveyed. As climate impacts accelerate, scientists and managers need up-to-date data on individual reefs to target their resources. The Census trials new ways of using citizen science to track how the system is changing year on year.

The platform: An ecosystem connecting scientists, divers, skippers, snorkellers and anyone who cares, all behind one cause. From a conservation perspective, the goal was to mobilise people globally to contribute to reef monitoring. From a user perspective, the work was to make something as complex as environmental science and reef management feel easy to understand, engage with, and act on.

Deliverables
  • The Great Reef Census site
  • Survey submission tool
  • Image analyser tool
  • Citizen scientist dashboard
  • Detailed reporting tool
  • Fundraising page
  • PR, social and fundraising creative

Design.

01 / 2
Citizens GBR: brand and site
Brand & site
Great Reef Census: survey submission tool
Great Reef Census: survey tool

Ways of working

I follow the double-diamond creative process, guided by customer activity, pain points and feedback. Agile methodologies: research, design, learn, repeat.

  1. 01

    Inception

    Question and inform the product brief, set requirements and business objectives, and get backing from the business to kick-start the initiative.

  2. 02

    Research & discovery

    Diverging. Testing strategy. Quantitative and qualitative. Continue to refine data findings to support design thinking.

  3. 03

    Concept

    Draft hypothesis and validate with customers. Test, iterate, test, repeat.

  4. 04

    Define

    Consolidate learnings, enhance designs. Play back to business. Get ready to roadmap.

  5. 05

    Development

    Technical design for development. Build, test, iterate.