I started with an estimation of the UX maturity of the company which was level 2 (Interested) out of 6 according to Johan Berndtsson’s UX maturity estimation model. My next move was to create a stakeholder map, then do competitive research and familiarise myself with the market research data we have collected.

I proceeded with identifying the main use cases that need to be reflected in the Sono mobile app and performed research of the main user groups.

Afterwards, I started working on the creation of personas and user scenarios, based on the information I received from the market research team. As a result, I created two personas: one for the car owner and one for the car sharing member.

User persona

In addition, I made a design review in which I incorporated the 10 Nielsen usability heuristics. The outcomes identified multiple inconsistency issues, need for an information architecture update, need for a notification concept and more.

Together with the PO we created a long list of issues which we prioritised and then created Jira tickets based on them.

Then I realised that as the product was growing, we were missing a customer lifecycle map, therefore, I created it and then we polished it together with the PO. It illustrated, not only what are the different stages of the customer lifecycle but also what data is needed at each stage.

When I started in the team there were some app screens which were entirely designed in PowerPoint.

The app navigation needed a solid rework, therefore I performed a workshop for definition of the information architecture, where I used the card sorting method in order to define the priority of each item in the main navigation.

App navigation rework

One of the first tasks during my onboarding was to create 3 user journey maps for the following use cases:

• Car sharing (including private car sharing and ride pooling)
• Power sharing (special feature of Sono Motor which is suppose to enable EVs to share the power they store with other vehicles, devices or even with a home)
• Automotive companion app (supporting app that allows the users to perform hardware command on the car and see relevant information)

User journey map

I collected my learnings and used the user journeys to start creating UI Flows and sketching the app.

My job included both research and hands-on work. What is more, we were running pilots (small controlled experiments) in order to validate our assumptions which allowed me to have direct access to the potential users of The Sono App. I integrated the Design Thinking process in the work of our agile digital product development team.

After I have received a user story from the PO (sometimes I received only requirements which I shaped into user stories via the 3C method), I created wireframes and then lo-fi interactive prototypes in Figma.

I used the prototypes for user testing in the showroom, as well as a touch screen laptop and a mobile phone with the Figma Mirror App on it. In addition, I also performed A/B testing, and Fake-door testing in order to identify what would be the next most needed feature we will develop, the next payment method we’ll integrate, etc.

Based on the polished hi-fi wireframes, the UI designer created the screens which we marked a final after UI design validation.

Wireframes

At a certain point the PO decided that we need to include not only EVs but all types of vehicles (ICEs, telematics, non-telematics and the Sono Motors car – the Sion). This increased the complexity of the app immensely. Apart from that I had to rework the home screen of the app, the map and pin concept, the insurance process integration.

I worked on improving the onboarding in the app and planned a rating system for collecting user feedback.

Part of my job was to create multiple demos for refinement meetings and present the UX design progress in almost every sprint review.

Wireframes

After the app release I conducted user interviews in order to create a more relevant persona and understand better the pain points of the users and the reasons why they weren’t using the app.

I realised we needed to invest time and effort in the integration of UX metrics and user tracking system which collects data. This was going to be a game-changer in the way the PO makes decisions because it was time for the team to start generating more relevant solutions based on data-driven decisions.

We integrated Tableau successfully and hired a business analyst who I was working closely with.

What is more, I created a design review of the already existing parts of the app (every 6 months) as the app was quite inconsistent in terms of UX and UI design in the beginning and also when a new PO took over. In addition, I hosted design feedback workshops with main stakeholders, including customers, investors and the CEOs of the company.

Eventually, I became the lead of the design competence cluster which I created. Then, I was responsible for hiring new designers for 2 squads.

UX design review

UX maturity estimation

While I was working with Sono, we implemented UX design metrics, I created a UX strategy and a UX roadmap which we followed in order to improve the user experience and build a product which reflects the needs of the majority of car owners and community members.

We jumped from level 2 to level 4 in terms of the above mentioned estimation of the UX maturity of the organisation.

Conclusion

All in all, working on the Sono App opened multiple opportunities and also brought a lot of learnings regarding team synergy, communication, implementation of the good practices and working in a highly productive way in order to meet the project goals.

The next logical step in my career was to start my own business and let my work be my quality statement.

Case study: Sono Motors Case study: BlueID Case study: IBM

User persona

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Interactive mobile prototype in Adobe XD

Part of the style guide and component library