Sea glass hunting is one of those quiet obsessions shared by thousands of people on coastlines everywhere. Yet until now, the knowledge of where to actually find it lived scattered across forum threads, private groups and word of mouth. Seaglassmap changes that: a free, crowdsourced map where every pin is a real beach, dropped by a real collector who found glass there.
Our mission covered the full journey, from naming and visual identity to a live product with collectors in 29 countries.
An interface that feels like the shoreline
We wanted the product to feel like the thing it celebrates: calm, luminous, a little bit magic. Soft seafoam tones, rounded typography and a painterly coastal atmosphere set the mood, while the interface itself stays sharp and fast. The star of the show is the map: a 3D globe you can spin from Iceland to Thailand, where every spot carries photos, the colours found there, and how easy it is to reach.
Built around contribution
A crowdsourced product lives or dies by how easy it is to give back. We obsessed over the contribution flow: dropping a spot takes about a minute, with a name, the colours you found and a photo. Structured tags like "Grail find" or "Loads of glass" make every entry instantly readable, and instantly useful to the next visitor.
You're not combing alone
Beyond the map, we designed a community layer that rewards curiosity: comments on spots, badges for exploring new coastlines, collections to save the beaches you dream about, and a leaderboard of the explorers who put the most on the map. The result is a product people come back to even when they are nowhere near the sea.
Content that pulls people in
To grow organically, we paired the product with a set of field guides written for search and for humans: what sea glass is, how to read a find, where the best beaches are, country by country. These guides bring in collectors from Google every day and convert them into contributors.
The result is a living map: 241+ spots shared across 29 countries by a community of 200+ beachcombers, and counting. Proof that a niche passion, taken seriously and designed with care, can become a place people love.
Project Details
Client: Seaglassmap
Year: 2026
Type: Product Design, Branding, Web App
