Visual design · UI design · Digital learning 4 min read

Exploring the Maritime World

An e-learning course for Lloyd's Register that introduces the basics of the maritime industry.

Laptop showing the course title screen "Shipping activity sectors and vessel types" over an aerial view of a container port, with the course menu and the challenges and opportunities screen floating beside it on a deep navy background

Role: Digital designer, responsible for the visual design, UI, graphics and animation style
Team: Learning designers, animators and a project manager
Timeline: 2025
Tools: Photoshop, Illustrator, Evolve
Impact: A dense, technical subject made visual and easy to follow

01 · Problem

Making a vast, technical industry easy to explore.

Lloyd's Register is a global maritime services provider, working in classification, compliance and advisory across the shipping industry. They needed a course introducing the fundamentals of the maritime world: the scale of the industry, its main sectors and actors, vessel types, value chains, new technology, and the challenges and opportunities ahead. It was published in Evolve, so every visual had to work within that tool while still feeling modern and immersive.

Course menu with six topic cards, each with an aerial photo of ports, marinas or ships and a View button, one locked until the previous topic is complete

02 · Research & insight

Technical content, a fixed toolset and a need to feel immersive.

I worked from the course content, a wide range of topics with a lot of technical information, and from what Evolve could do as a publishing tool. My role was to turn that into a visual language that made the subject feel approachable and kept learners moving through the course.

Insight 01 Technical content needed to feel approachable, not dense.
Insight 02 Every visual had to fit Evolve's layouts and components.
Insight 03 Six topics and an assessment needed one consistent style.

03 · Solution

Aerial imagery, clear UI and diagrams that bring the maritime world close.

Page over a deep blue sea background comparing the Empire State Building (381 metres) with the Ever Alot container ship (400 metres) in white line drawings, with an aerial photo of a tanker's bow

Backgrounds relevant to every topic

I created background images for each topic from aerial views of ships, ports and open water, so learners always feel at sea. They set the tone while leaving clear space for text and interactions.

Interaction with four cut-out aerial photos of ships, labelled dry cargo, liquid cargo, specialised cargo and others, above a "What's next?" section

UI and graphics that fit together

I designed the UI and graphics to sit on the backgrounds as one system: buttons, cards, icons and cut-out ship images that learners select to explore each type of vessel.

Diagram of the interdependencies between the marine fuel, shipbuilding and maritime operational value chains, with icons, steps and dashed arrows

Complex information made clear

Diagrams and infographics break down topics such as value chains and how they depend on each other, using a consistent set of icons, arrows and labels.

Animated video frame in flat illustration style showing people on a video call, a forklift, shipping containers and a woman presenting data

Style and assets for the animation

I created and designed the assets and visual style for the course animations, so the videos feel part of the same experience as the rest of the course.

Challenges and opportunities page with seven teal icons, covering topics such as climate, people, security and energy, arranged around an aerial photo of a tanker

04 · Impact

A technical subject turned into a visual course that met the client’s expectations and learning objectives.

05 · Reflection

What I’d take forward

Every tool has limits. Working within Evolve showed me that creativity and flexibility can push a tool further than expected, finding solutions that feel fresh and immersive without being impossible to build.