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Summer Intern Showcase

Mercury Mobile App Home Page Redesign

UX/UI Design Intern: Brynn Davis

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Introduction

About Me

Overview

  • Incoming Senior @Purdue University
  • Major: UX Design
  • Minors: Psychology & Organizational Leadership

UX/UI Design

Summer Intern

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01

Initial Research & Insights

03

Final Design Walkthrough

05

Recommendations

02

Pain Points

04

Resolved Pain Points

06

Takeaways

Agenda

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Initial Research

Competitive Analysis

Audit of Similarities Between Other Vehicle App Experiences

  • ~12 App Experiences
  • Analyzed trends in the industry and things that are resonating with users

Existing Data from Users

User Complaints & Unmet Needs

  • Reddit & Various App Store Reviews
  • Majority of complaints and unmet needs are voiced through these platforms

Stakeholder Interviews

Engaged stakeholders to identify key strengths, pain points, and opportunities from diverse organizational perspectives.

  • 5 Stakeholders in various areas
  • 5 main pages in current Mercury Marine App

Previous Research Usability Concerns

Opportunity Areas Identified in Previous Research

  • SmartCraft Connectivity Research
  • Took an ongoing activity and leveraged their findings: the stories are the same

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Poor Information Hierarchy & Discoverability

Critical information, features & resources difficult to find due to cluttered layouts & lack of visual hierarchy

Unintuitive Interactions

Interface patterns (expandable menu & extensive nav bar) create friction and increase cognitive effort

Quick description about the section.

Ineffective Support

Software updates, instructional content & help resources lack visibility, context, and guidance, making them easy to overlook

Lack of Visual Engagement

Users and stakeholders felt the app relied too heavily on grayscale elements, making the experience feel less engaging and visually distinct.

Slow Performance

Delayed loading of features, data & app content interrupts workflow & reduces trust in the experience

Pain Points

User Pain Points Identified in Research That Guided Design Solutions

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Final Design Walkthrough

Experience Enhancements Validated by Research and Testing Results

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Before

“It is hard to know what is all on the app and find everything in it.”

User

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Vertical Scroll

Improves discoverability, faster access to information, and stronger visual hierarchy make key features easier to find, prioritize, and use.

Before

After

“I saw that there was something cutoff there, so I usually just scroll when I see that.”

User

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Before

“Toggling between multiple vessel engines should be made more efficient from the main vessels app page instead of going into each vessel configuration to select the engine”

User

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Vessel Tile

Transforms the Home screen into a central hub by surfacing key vessel information, controls, and actions directly on the dashboard, reducing the need to navigate to a separate vessel page for common tasks.

Before

After

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Vessel Selection Dropdown

Enables users to quickly switch between vessels directly from the Home screen, ensuring the vessel tile always displays the most relevant data and controls for the selected vessel.

“I really like this vessel selection method rather than having both vessels on the same page.”

User

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Engine Button

Access engine-specific details such as specifications, manuals, and tutorials across connected engines from a tab controlled popup.

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Devices

Provides a centralized area for device management, allowing users to view device details, install software updates, access troubleshooting tools, and find support resources in one place.

“I can see it needs an update without you telling me. I like having a place to find everything for that device.”

User

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Vessel Settings

Manage vessel details, control which devices are displayed, and customize vessel-specific settings from a centralized location.

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Never Connected

Not Connected

Connected w/ NOKI, Dual Engine

Connected

States

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Before

"If you didn't know you could select more, you might look at the app and say it has limited functionality — you might not even know there's more in the background."

User

"So I pushed on this and then now I can lift it up. I didn't know that. It's hidden there. I did not know this menu went up."

User

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Horizontal Scroll

By surfacing tutorials, devices, and related resources in a more accessible format, users can discover content more easily, browse more efficiently, and explore without adding visual clutter.

Before

After

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Before

User defaults to “more” if they cannot find something

“More” label lacks a descriptive mental model, increasing cognitive load during navigation.

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Simplifying Navigation

By prioritizing key destinations and aligning with familiar mobile patterns, users can navigate more confidently and reach important features faster.

Before

After

"I really like how everything is right here and I don’t have to search through other pages."

User

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Poor Information Hierarchy & Discoverability

Critical boating information, features & resources difficult to find due to cluttered layouts & weak visual hierarchy

Unintuitive Interactions

Interface patterns create friction and increase cognitive effort

Quick description about the section.

Ineffective Support

Software updates, instructional content & help resources lack visibility, context, and guidance, making them easy to overlook

Lack of Visual Engagement

Users and stakeholders felt the app relied too heavily on grayscale elements, making the experience feel less engaging and visually distinct.

Slow Performance

Delayed loading of vessel data & app content interrupts workflows & reduces trust in the experience

Pain Points

User Pain Points Resolved in Design Solutions

Consolidating multi-vessel/engine experience and footer nav bar creates a simpler navigation experience, allows user to reach live data easier & adds value back to home page

Navigation Simplicity

Replacing expandable menu with vertical scroll & surfacing high-priority content on home screen makes key features & resources easier to find/ access

Hierarchy & Discoverability

Replacing complex interaction patterns with familiar vertical scrolling experience reduces friction & makes browsing content more natural

Intuitive Interactions

Presenting support resources, tutorials, and device management through dedicated horizontal carousel increases visibility & makes content easier to discover

Effective Support

Expanded beyond grayscale by introducing brand-aligned colors, in response to user and stakeholder feedback for a more engaging experience.

Palette Exploration

Consolidating key vessel information on home page reduces unnecessary calls to cloud & APIs, creating a more efficient experience

Performance & Efficiency

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Recommendations

Screen Sizes

Adapt and optimize the experience for tablet, landscape, and larger mobile screen sizes to ensure consistency across devices.

Additional Testing

Test the redesigned experience with boat owners to confirm improvements in navigation, discoverability, and task completion.

Enhancing the Boating Experience

Features such as trip planning, boating how-to's, weather/radar integration, and interactive animations offer opportunities to increase engagement beyond core vessel management.

Where To Go From Here?

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Takeaways

What Did I Learn?

All Feedback is Good Feedback

Every piece of feedback helped me improve and strengthen my designs.

Ask, Ask, Ask

The more questions I asked, the better I understood the problems I was solving.

Importance in Thinking Outside the Box

Stepping beyond the app's existing color palette and exploring broader brand standards helped me create a more flexible, engaging, and cohesive experience.

Balancing User and Business Goals

Creating successful solutions meant finding the right balance between user needs, stakeholder priorities, and technical constraints.

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Thank You!

Connect with me on LinkedIn! @Brynndavis11

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Icons Components

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Use Cases

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Icons Components