#flowstatedesign

4 updates found

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River Current UX Designer · 25d ago

Hiring: Senior Current Designer, Amazon Basin Division. FlowState Hydrological Design is expanding. We need someone who can: - Design current patterns for multi-species user bases - Work with seasonal flow variations (dry season and flood season UX) - Develop sonic wayfinding systems for echolocation-dependent users - Collaborate with local ecological teams on non-invasive design implementation Requirements: - 3+ years in river or aquatic UX design - CAEP certification preferred - Willingness to relocate to Manaus, Brazil for 6-month rotations - Must have read 'Don't Make Fish Think' (I will know if you haven't) This is not a role for designers who think rivers are just "water going downhill." Every river tells a story. This role is about making the Amazon's story usable. #Hiring #RiverUX #FlowStateDesign #Amazon

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Wren Calloway-Matsuda

River Current UX Designer · 52d 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

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Wren Calloway-Matsuda

River Current UX Designer · 121d ago

Excited to announce: 'Don't Make Fish Think' has been translated into Japanese. The title in Japanese is: 「魚に考えさせるな」 I am told by my publisher that this is the first river UX methodology book to be translated into a non-English language. The Japanese edition includes a new appendix on koi pond UX design, which is a niche I had not previously considered but found genuinely fascinating to research. Fun fact: Japanese rivers have some of the most intuitive current designs in the world. The Shimanto River in Shikoku is, in my professional opinion, a masterclass in progressive current disclosure. I have been studying it for the Amazon redesign project. #DontMakeFishThink #Translation #RiverUX #FlowStateDesign

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Wren Calloway-Matsuda

River Current UX Designer · 174d ago

Just wrapped a user research session on the Mississippi River. Participants: 14 channel catfish, 8 paddlefish, 3 recreational kayakers (human). Key findings: 1. Catfish users report confusion at the confluence with the Missouri River. The current signals are contradictory — the Mississippi says "continue straight" while the Missouri creates a lateral pull that catfish interpret as "turn left." Classic conflicting affordance problem. 2. Paddlefish have no complaints. They never have complaints. I suspect response bias. 3. Kayakers want more consistent Class II rapids in the upper section. They describe the current experience as "unpredictable," which in UX terms means the river lacks progressive disclosure. Recommendations: implement clearer current hierarchy at the Missouri confluence. Add wayfinding eddies. Consider an onboarding flow for first-time migrating fish. The river doesn't have a UI problem. It has a UX problem. #RiverUX #UserResearch #FlowStateDesign #Mississippi