The Key to Boating for Everyone: Designing New Means of Accessing Marine Vessels

Abstract

The point of interest of this project was to develop a new means of onboarding marine vessels. The thesis has been done in collaboration with Volvo Penta. The aim has been to evaluate how a vessel equipped with their propulsion and electronic vessel control system’s method of unlocking can be developed for the next generation of boating. Upon examining the marine market as well as neighboring markets it was discovered that connectivity and Internet of Things are fields which can elevate the experience of onboarding, therefore, the thesis sought to develop a new unlocking system that gave users an expanded access to their marine vessel. The design process of the project has been done by gathering insight from different stakeholders and potential users. After the user research was compiled, it was applied in a design process where concepts for a new system were ideated. The process resulted in a new proposed system for unlocking marine vessels. The new system includes both a digital interface and a new physical key fob. The two represented artefacts for front end interaction in the system and were designed based on usability theory. Further, they were developed in an iterative, human-based design process, where continuous evaluations with potential users were a key deciding factor