Vessel Registry System Redesign

Role: Sr. Service Designer & UI/UX Design Lead
Team: Vessel Registry System Redesign
Duration: 12-month agile engagement
Focus: Service modernization, accessibility, information architecture, stakeholder alignment
Platform: Web portal (public- and staff-facing components)

Transport Canada’s Vessel Registry System was running on a legacy infrastructure with outdated UI, complex forms, and unclear navigation. Users—including vessel owners, lawyers, and marine businesses—found it difficult to register or transfer vessels, leading to delays, high abandonment rates, and increased support burden.
The system also struggled to meet modern accessibility standards, and internal staff relied heavily on manual workflows to process registrations and requests.

As the Lead UX/UI Designer, I was tasked with overhauling the entire user experience for the vessel registry platform.
My goals were to:

• Redesign complex, form-heavy workflows to improve usability and reduce friction
• Align the platform with canada.ca design system and WCAG 2.1 accessibility guidelines
• Improve internal tool usability for Transport Canada staff
• Conduct research with internal and external users to shape a user-centered design strategy

Service Design & Research

• • Redesign complex, form-heavy workflows to improve usability and reduce friction
    Align the platform with canada.ca design system and WCAG 2.1 accessibility guidelines
    Improve internal tool usability for Transport Canada staff
    Conduct research with internal and external users to shape a user-centered design strategy

UX Research & Discovery

• • Led user interviews and co-design sessions with marine lawyers, shipping companies, and registry staff
  • Conducted end-to-end service mapping and journey analysis
  • Created personas and usage scenarios to understand user pain points and define edge cases

UI Design & Accessibility

• Redesigned high-volume forms (e.g., vessel registration, bill of sale, mortgage) to reduce user errors
• Streamlined the form logic and layout to reduce time-on-task by grouping related fields and adding contextual help
• Applied the canada.ca Web Design System for brand and accessibility consistency
• Prototyped and tested user flows using Figma, iterating based on feedback from both internal and external stakeholders

Agile Delivery & Governance

• • Created epics, user stories, and acceptance criteria in Jira
  • Worked in Agile sprints with product managers, developers, and policy teams
  • Delivered sprint demos to the Assistant Deputy Minister and senior leadership teams
  • Collaborated with security, legal, and DevOps teams to ensure compliance and integration with other federal services

Change Management

• • Facilitated training workshops and onboarding materials for over 200 staff and operators.
  • Delivered stakeholder presentations including briefings to senior executives and the Minister of Child Services.

 Reduced form abandonment by 30% within the first release

• Decreased support calls related to vessel registration by 40%
•  Achieved WCAG 2.1 AA compliance across public-facing forms
• Built a reusable design pattern library for Transport Canada digital services
• Created alignment between business goals, policy needs, and real user experience

• Figma
• Jira
• Confluence
• Canada.ca Design System
• Accessibility Audits | WCAG 2.1 | A11Y Project Checklist
• Journey & Process Mapping
• Agile | Scrum
• Co-Design Workshops & Cohorts