Cetasol
How can ships teach their captains to save fuel?
Cetasol AB, Gothenburg, Sweden. 2021-2022
My role: Head of UX
Cetasol is a startup in marine sustainability, founded in 2021. They provide “an innovative IoT and SaaS platform for sustainable marine commercial operations”.
Or, in plain English, they put sensors on vessels and instruct captains how to operate more energy efficiently.
Their platform, which I participated in developing, is called the iHelm.
What I did there:
Designing for guidance with dignity
As head of UX and part of the initial startup team, my role was to make sure we quickly gained an understanding of the customer perspective, their current needs and pain points.
We knew we were at the cusp of a new technology era in the otherwise conservative maritime industry. Therefore, we aimed to put the users and customers at the center of our development from the start, which would in itself set us apart from most competitors.
My contribution ranged from hands-on UI designs in Figma, to doing user research and interviews, providing insights into user behavior and motivation, and designing the on-board interfaces and company website.
I was also aiding the CEO in tasks like writing grant applications, and overall contributing to shaping the business after the user’s needs, in close collaboration with the CEO and the rest of the team.
Designs: On-board interface and admin web interface
Outcomes
This project is still ongoing and Cetasol is currently expanding across Europe, Asia and other markets.
Methods
User interviews, contextual inquiry, user research, Jobs-to-be-done analysis, website layout and design, UX writing and content design, marketing, close collaboration with developers, strategic user insights advise, agile development.
Tools
Figma for wireframing
Miro for collaboration
Trello for project management
What I learned there
Conducting user research in the appropriate context has been a key success factor when working with the marine commercial segment. The work environment on a ship is very different from an office and many environmental and contextual factors need taking into account.
Also, being part of a startup core team, this work taught me a lot about business development, time-to-market strategies, marketing strategies, and other invaluable lessons.
How I leveraged my talent stack
