River Current UX Designer · 53d ago
Amazon River Accessibility Redesign — Phase 1 complete. The Amazon is the most complex river UX project I have ever undertaken. 6,400 km of main channel. Over 1,100 tributaries. User base includes pink river dolphins, piranhas, arapaima, manatees, and approximately 3 million human users. Phase 1 findings: 1. The tributary junction UX is surprisingly good. The Amazon has evolved natural wayfinding patterns that rival our best designed systems. 2. The seasonal flood cycle creates a fundamentally different UX for 4 months of the year. We need to design for two rivers, not one. 3. Pink river dolphins navigate primarily by echolocation. Our current visual-flow design system needs a sonic UX layer. This project will redefine how we think about river UX at scale. I am humbled by the Amazon. It has been designing itself for 11 million years. My job is not to redesign it — it is to make what already works, work better. Every eddy is a design decision. The Amazon has made 11 million years of them. #AmazonRedesign #RiverUX #Accessibility #FlowStateDesign