Client

Shoft Shipyard

Role

Lead Product Designer

Timeline

3 months

Platform

Desktop Web App

Domain

Maritime Defense

Year

2021

The Challenge

Shoft Shipyard was contracted to develop an autonomous surface vessel fleet management system for the Indian Navy's coastal surveillance program. Shore-based operators would manage multiple unmanned vessels simultaneously — monitoring sensor data, overriding autonomous decisions, and coordinating patrol missions across the western seaboard.

The core design challenge: how do you give a single operator confident situational awareness across an entire fleet of autonomous vessels, while ensuring they can intervene decisively when autonomy confidence degrades — especially in high-traffic shipping lanes like the Mumbai-Kochi corridor?

In naval operations, information overload kills. The interface must surface the right data at the right moment — nothing more, nothing less. I led the end-to-end design of this system over three months, from operator research to delivered prototype.

01

OODA Loop Framework

Structured every screen around the military decision cycle — Observe, Orient, Decide, Act. Operators don't browse; they execute. The interface guides them through each phase with escalating urgency, aligned with Indian Navy standard operating procedures.

02

Autonomy Confidence Scoring

A 0–100% confidence metric for each vessel's autonomous decision-making. Green (≥80%) means the system is performing well. Amber (50–79%) flags degradation. Red (<50%) triggers override recommendations. This graduated model prevents alert fatigue during extended watch rotations.

03

Dark CIC Aesthetic

Modeled after Combat Information Center environments at INS Karwar and Shoft's own bridge simulator facility. Dark backgrounds with high-contrast cyan, amber, and red indicators optimized for 12-hour watch shifts in dimly lit command rooms.

04

Progressive Disclosure

Fleet overview → vessel selection → deep-dive detail. Operators start broad and drill down only when something demands attention. Critical alerts surface at every level, but detailed diagnostics stay one click away — reducing cognitive load under pressure.

Domain Expertise

I spent four years as a mechanical engineer at Shoft Shipyard — designing hull structures, working with classification societies (Indian Register of Shipping, Lloyd's, DNV), and understanding how vessels operate in the demanding conditions of the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal.

That experience shaped every decision in this interface. I know that sea state data isn't just a number — it determines whether a 12-meter ASV can maintain sensor accuracy in monsoon swells. I understand that CPA (Closest Point of Approach) is the metric that determines collision risk, not distance alone. And from time spent with Indian Navy operators during sea trials, I learned how decisions are actually made under pressure in a CIC environment.

This is the difference between a designer who researches maritime operations and one who has lived them.