Vela
The only surf forecast with customizable recommendations

UX design

2022

9 months

Client
CareerFoundry (study project)
Date
August 2021
Role
UX Designer
Website

Introduction

As a passionate surfer, I often witnessed the struggle of deciphering complex weather forecasts to find the perfect surf spot.
This inspired me to create Vela, a surf forecasting app that offers personalized recommendations based on individual abilities and preferences.
This project, part of my UX design studies at Careerfoundry, marked my first end-to-end design journey.

Filling the gap in the market
To differentiate Vela from platforms like magicseaweed.com and surf-forecast.com, I conducted a detailed competitor analysis.

This revealed a significant gap:
Existing platforms overwhelmed users with tons of non-personalized data, which is hard to understand.

Recognizing this, I positioned Vela to provide tailored, user-friendly insights for both novice and experienced surfers.
What I did
Understanding Users
Through user interviews and surveys, I created user personas that guided all design decisions.

These personas highlighted the need for a tool that simplifies complex forecasts and provides actionable recommendations, setting the stage for Vela’s unique value proposition.
First designs
I started with low-fidelity sketches, evolving them into mid-fidelity wireframes.
A card sorting exercise informed the app’s intuitive navigation, ensuring users could easily find features like the essential filter for personalized surf spots.
Usability testing
Before moving to high-fidelity designs, usability testing revealed key navigational challenges, such as users struggling to locate the filter button.
This feedback was pivotal, prompting strategic design adjustments like repositioning the filter for better visibility and accessibility.

High-Fidelity Design

In the final design phase, I merged the home screen with the surf spot map, streamlining user flows and enhancing functionality. By adhering to material design guidelines, I ensured Vela was both aesthetically pleasing and practical.
Committed to inclusivity, I prioritized accessibility by enhancing color contrast and ensuring form fields were clearly labeled. These adjustments made Vela usable for individuals with varying visual abilities, aligning with WCAG standards.

Conclusion
Vela came out as a transformative tool, empowering surfers with personalized insights that enhance their experience.
This project not only enriched my skills as a UX designer but also underscored the power of user-centered design in creating meaningful, impactful solutions.
Testimonials
What my clients have to say

Working with Oscar has been an incredible experience.

From the very start, he truly understood my vision and guided me with insightful direction throughout the entire process.

His support and advice were invaluable, and thanks to our collaborative work and his expertise, I now have a stunning visual brand identity from logo to brand guidelines that perfectly represents my new brand, HerWealthCove.

He has an amazing ability to bring ideas to life, and I couldn’t be happier with the results.

If you’re looking for a designer who’s not only talented but also deeply invested in making your brand shine, I highly recommend Oscar!

Deeksha Beeharry

Portfolio Risk Manager

Working with Oscar has been a tremendous experience for our team in building our Truforth, Mastery 12X website.

He captured our vision and purpose with excellence!

His creativity, expertise and ability to communicate effectively helped to create a dynamic website for us!

We’re grateful for our experience with Oscar personally and really felt he understood and valued our goals.

We had a tight project deadline, and he followed through in a timely, diligent fashion!

His skills and feedback added great value to communicating our vision, purpose and mission.

As we grow and expand, we look forward to exploring future projects with Oscar.

Ed Garner

Leadership Coach

As a professional who changed from fashion entrepreneur to Product Designer, I had taken courses on professional re-direction, but I didn't have clear steps on how they applied specifically to my personal brand as a Product Designer.

With Oscar I learnt what makes me unique as a product designer, my strategy, the niche that makes me happy, and I filled in all the blanks I had and didn't keep wasting time because I didn't have the right strategy for me.

Now I have clear steps to follow day by day, to build a solid, authentic and professional personal brand.

Attracting better projects and opportunities that will make me grow professionally and personally.

Thank you Oscar for giving us value and making it easy and fun!

Rossana Gomez

Product Designer

I completed Oscar's mentorship program, and it was an amazing experience!

He provided constant support, and I learned a lot from him.

Thanks to his guidance, I found the right approach and now know exactly what to do next.

Thank you, Oscar, for everything!

Blanka Calija

UX Designer

I worked with Oscar on various projects.

His skills are vast and his way of working immensely professional.

He is the kind of person you ask for a task and he delivers beyond your expectations.

He is not only a designer but valuable team member contributing to all sorts of ideas and projects.

He uses both, heart and soul and you can let him run by himself.

Thank you for all Oscar!

Sascha Grumbach

CEO / GreenMiningDAO

Oscar gave me a hand with my logo and brand guidelines, and his work was mind blowing.

We had a call to understand what he did and what I wanted, and in very few words, he completely understood what I was after, what emotions I wanted to communicate through the logo, and somehow (I say it was magic) he absolutely managed to translate my words into an image that I never thought it could be possible.

It sounds obvious, but I think it is rare to find someone that it is actually designing for the client, instead of designing for himself and what he wanted.

And I think this, coupled with his creative genius, is what makes Oscar so good in what he does.

Camila Godoy Donoso

CEO / Company

Working with Oscar was easy and professional.

Communication was clear and he did what he said he was going to do.

What really stood out to me though, was that I had a sense he really understood what I was going for in the design (and usability), asked good clarifying questions and then implemented it, using his own judgement to handle details but also escalating decisions where appropriate.

One of the smoothest design relationships Ive had.

Highly recommend

Abbas Hajizadeh

Founder / Ardent
Read case study

Oscar redesigned our Kaboni website and delivered an amazing, professional, completely new website and all the content to our agreed timeline.

A pleasure to work with and highly recommend him.

Phillip Stovold

CEO / Kaboni
Read case study

By redesigning my practice's website, Oscar truly exceeded my expectations.

He modernized our site, bringing it up to date and greatly simplified our daily doings by integrating an online booking tool.

This reduces the admin and organizational work on our front desk staff immensely.

The collaboration with Oscar was incredibly smooth. He took charge of the project, delivering everything we discussed and more.

I highly recommend Oscar to anyone in need of a competent designer and will definitely return to him for future projects.

Dr. Guido Horn

CEO / Urologisches Zentrum Kaltenkirchen
Read case study
Back to projects