UI & Visual Design System
Choosing a finish for a yacht is a high-stakes decision. Colour needs to feel right, perform flawlessly, and enhance the boat from every angle — yet traditional colour selection methods often rely on flat swatches and imagination alone.
AkzoNobel partnered with Wax Digital to design the user interface for the Awlgrip 3D Colour Visualiser — a digital tool created to help owners and applicators explore, compare and specify Awlgrip finishes with confidence.
Awlgrip’s colour range is extensive, technical and premium by nature. The challenge wasn’t access to information — it was how that information was experienced.
The interface needed to:
Support inspiration without overwhelming users
Enable accurate product decisions
Feel unmistakably premium and on-brand
Work seamlessly across mobile and desktop
All while accommodating existing brand guidelines and input from multiple stakeholders.
The core design problem was clear:
how to simplify a complex specification process without oversimplifying the product.
Wax Digital was responsible for the concept, UX thinking and complete visual design system for the application.
Our scope included:
User journeys and interaction flows
Wireframes and layout logic
A scalable UI and component library
Responsive designs for mobile and web
Development was delivered by an external agency, using our designs as the blueprint for build.
We approached the interface as a guided visual experience, not a traditional configurator.
The design focuses on clarity and restraint — allowing users to move through a step-by-step journey that feels controlled, intuitive and reassuring. By reducing friction and unnecessary UI, the experience keeps attention where it matters: on the yacht, the finish and the final result.
Key design principles included:
Minimal UI to reinforce Awlgrip’s premium positioning
Strong hierarchy to make choices feel manageable
Immersive 3D visuals to support confident comparisons
Consistency and precision across all device sizes
The result is an interface that feels calm, deliberate and considered — mirroring the care taken when specifying a real-world finish.
Interactive 3D visualisation
Users can explore finishes applied to different boat types, viewing results from multiple perspectives to understand how colour behaves in context.
Boat-specific customisation
From powerboats to superyachts, the experience adapts to different vessel profiles, helping users visualise outcomes relevant to their needs.
Comprehensive colour and product selection
The interface provides structured access to Awlgrip’s colour range, pairing inspiration with accurate product selection.
Specification handover
Selected colours and products can be downloaded and shared, supporting clear conversations between owners and applicators.
The Awlgrip 3D Colour Visualiser was successfully launched and well received internally by AkzoNobel teams. More importantly, it delivers real value to end users, helping them move from uncertainty to clarity, and from inspiration to informed decision-making.
This project demonstrates how considered UI design can elevate complex, technical products — not by adding more, but by carefully refining the experience.
For Wax Digital, it showcases our ability to partner with global brands on digital product interfaces where brand, usability and precision all carry equal weight.
With over two decades of experience, Wax Digital delivers precise, strategic design solutions tailored to global businesses in scientific and technical industries. We streamline marketing workflows, enhance communication across teams, and accelerate time-to-market, helping you achieve measurable, lasting results. Our deep understanding of complex technical markets allows us to go beyond expectations, acting as a trusted extension of your marketing team. Our focused structure means we can pivot effortlessly, aligning with your priorities at every stage.