Arkly Platform

Transforming Climate Complexity into Clarity and Self-Reliance

In an era of systemic dissolution, chaos often arrives with a name. In 2021, it was Hurricane Ian. Such events reveal a critical truth: our most precious resources—brainpower, imagination, and time—are being squandered by cognitive waste. When people face overwhelming complexity, they freeze.

The Challenge

This was the challenge faced by the founders of HighTide Intelligence. A team of coastal-raised, brazen Stanford engineers, they had peeled away from the corporate masses to tackle the hard problems on the horizon. They possessed the data—a powerful SASS model that could forecast storm surge and sea-level risk with incredible accuracy. But this power was locked away, accessible only to governments.

Meanwhile, the people on the front lines, particularly proactive homeowners and community anchors, were left to navigate a storm of incomprehensible data and opaque insurance policies. The HighTide team lacked a crucial intermediary to bridge their powerful engine with the human need for clarity. This gap was causing a system failure, wasting the potential for real-world resilience.

They asked us to help them answer the essential question: How do you transform a complex, proprietary tool into a simple, intuitive system that empowers radical self-reliance?

The Mission

Our mission for this project was unequivocal: eliminate the cognitive waste that paralyzes homeowners facing climate risk. We were not just designing a product; we were architecting a new flow of information, transforming complexity into clarity to midwife the future. The goal was to conserve the cognitive and energetic resources of individuals, liberating their potential to act.

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The Metamorphosis

To achieve this, we initiated a metamorphosis—transforming the murky, inaccessible data nymph into an elegant, free-flying dragonfly of a solution.

Deconstructing the Landscape: We began by deconstructing the existing digital landscape to map the sources of cognitive overload. We surveyed established sense-making tools like Zillow and Google Maps to understand the public's established mental models for spatial information. We analyzed specialized platforms like RiskFactor and RocketFlood, not as competitors, but as case studies in risk communication. We saw how clear navigation could divide complexity into approachable questions and how delightful illustrations could bring a human touch to the starkness of data. This audit revealed a clear path: the solution demanded a map-first interface that felt both intuitive and humane.

Designing for Clarity: Our design process was guided by a core value: empowering the individual through simple, map-centric experience provides instant context. The UI leverages minimal clicks and clear visuals, turning a sea of data into a single, understandable picture. Grounding abstract data in the user's most personal context—their home.

• Intuitive Language: Eliminating jargon to speak directly and respectfully.
• Visual Clarity: This is our principle of "Spatial Sensibility" in action: arranging information to be intuitively understood, delivering clarity and sovereignty to the user. Creating a clear visual hierarchy to rank risk and provide immediate understanding.

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The design was centered on a specific family archetype: a middle-aged woman, a homeowner, deeply invested in the safety of her family and the fabric of her community. She is proactive and influential, often a central node in her social network on platforms like Facebook. To honor her limited time and empower her agency, we designed a system for sovereignty. This meant:

Anticipatory Design: A clear, visual risk ranking to give her immediate context, designing for the future human who needs to make long-term decisions. By incorporating HighTide's 100-year forecasts, the system is designed for the future human. It empowers homeowners to move beyond short-term fear and engage in long-term, strategic planning for their family’s safety and financial future.

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The Solution

The result is Arkly, an intuitive system where complexity is transformed into creative breakthroughs. It is a calm, clear voice in the coming chaos. The transformation was palpable, symbolized by the redesign of the brand identity itself—from something functional yet generic to a logo mark that embodied clarity and purpose.

The Arkly system delivers:

• Clarity through a Map-First Experience: Grounding abstract data in the user's most personal spatial context—their home.

• Sovereignty through Actionable Frameworks: Providing direct, clear, and un-intimidating pathways to insurance providers and mitigation experts.

• Courage through Understanding: Translating complex flood risk data into simple, actionable insights that empower homeowners to move past fear and take courageous, decisive action.

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Arkly, A System for Self-Reliance

Home page: Before

Home page: After

Map Interface: Before

Map Interface: After

Flexible Web to Mobile Interface

Arkly now stands as a testament to the power of human-centric design in the face of systemic challenges. It successfully bridges a powerful data engine with the people who need it most, empowering them to navigate the shift with confidence.

By making a complex subject simple, we fulfilled our primary purpose as design engineers. We provided the tools for radical self-reliance, helping a pioneering company fulfill its own vision and positioning them as a crucial guide for a new, more resilient epoch.

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"HighTide Intelligence had the pleasure of working with Tastemaker Studio on UX design for Arkly. Si's expertise helped to make a complex subject matter like flood risk simple. With tremendous work ethic, the studio delivered a beautiful design that perfectly captured our vision. We are thrilled with the end product, and highly recommend Tastemaker Studio to anyone looking for a skilled and dedicated UX designer."

Adrian Santiago-Tate, CEO of HighTide Intelligence