Ken Disbennett - Disney Cruise Line

Roles

Along with a co-design lead, I redesigned the Disney Cruise Line Navigator App. I proposed and built an upscale, yet distinctly Disney interpretation of the first generation on-board cruise companion app.

Product Design Lead•Production Design Lead •Skills Mentor

Responsibilities

The redesigned navigator app aimed to increase awareness and usage of the on-board app. With low app store ratings, the re-design needed to improve the app quality and introduce new features such as onboard chat, and digital experience booking.

Design Strategy•Executive Alignment (Director + VP) •Prototyping•Production Design•Information Architecture•Design Systems•Design Documentation•User Research•Accessibility Compliance

The Challenge

After 2 years in the market, the Disney Cruise Line Navigator app had outgrown its architecture. The executive sponsors determined a new design system, introduced by the recently launched Disneyland App, could solve some of the issues the Navigator App was experiencing.

High Level Goals

•Modernize the design style

•Simplify the navigation (the original was too linear)

•Create a menu that was scalable to the future roadmap

Mapping the Guest Needs

With minimal to no analytics to inform the redesign, the first step in the process had to be establishing the key areas to focus our efforts. By combining the trends from app store reviews, quotes from post-sailing guest surveys, and input from a focus group interview, my team created an illustrated journey map to visualize the opportunities and pain points of our guest.

Guest Centric Goals

•Improve feature awareness

•Reduce number of taps to access content

•Simplify on-ship activity planning

Navigation & Content Strategy

The apps core feature set was divided into two main categories, both with different guest goals.

The first category was exploring onboard activities during the cruise. Features in this category included a daily schedule, a list of venues with scheduled activities, and deck plans outlining those venues.

The second category was focused on the guest's personal voyage information. This category covered features like onboard chat, the guest's schedule, and important ship information needed at various points throughout the sailing.

Product Design Goals

•Access core features in < 3 taps (avg. was 5)

•Centralize and voyage info & personal details

•Increase engagement during voyage by >10%