In my role as a Senior/Lead Product Designer, I spearheaded the development of the first beach safety dashboard, a project that underscored the importance of cross-collaboration with all stakeholders to iterate quickly and deliver a solution that could potentially lead to larger partnerships with county and city lifeguard teams.

The Need for a New Solution

We initiated this project using Lean UX methodology, driven by insights from a close partnership with Trevor, a lifeguard battalion based in Huntington Beach. Trevor highlighted a significant gap in the market: beachgoers currently lack access to real-time information about the safety and risks associated with their local beaches. For example, over a recent weekend, more than 400-500 beachgoers were stung by stingrays, a preventable situation had there been timely warnings available .

Collaborative Design Process

Given that this was the first dashboard of its kind, it was crucial to work closely with Trevor to ensure that we could gather and display vital information on a daily—or even dynamically timed—basis. This would allow beachgoers to have the most up-to-date safety information before they set foot on the sand.

Our team was small but agile, consisting of myself as the designer, one full-stack engineer, and Trevor as our subject matter expert. We knew from the outset that this dashboard could serve as a powerful conversation starter for broader partnerships with city and county lifeguard teams. The goal was to demonstrate that transitioning from an analog to a digital process would not only save time and money internally but also provide significant value to the community and ultimately save more lives.

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Hypothesis

“If we provide real-time beach safety information, then beachgoers will feel more confident in their decision to swim.

Minimum Viable Product (MVP):

Through discussions with Trevor and other stakeholders, we quickly realized that the platform needed to address more than just stingray incidents. The dashboard could offer valuable, real-time data on rip currents, high surf advisories, weather updates, and other hazards that beachgoers need to be aware of. By expanding the scope of the project to include a wider variety of beach safety concerns, we could significantly increase its utility and impact.

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