A daily frustration turned into a consumer product.

Automotive · Medium App

The client.

A tradeswoman with a lifelong interest in cars and a garage full of projects. She has young kids and is consistently time-poor. The idea came from her own life: managing vehicle-related admin across multiple cars and never having the right information when she needed it.

The idea.

A consumer app that consolidates everything vehicle owners currently keep track of across emails, glove boxes, filing cabinets, and their own memory. The kind of information that's scattered everywhere until the one moment you actually need it, and then you can't find any of it.

The client wanted something that felt effortless. You set it up once, and the app handles the rest. Reminders, records, documents. All in one place. No more scrambling.

The challenge.

The biggest challenge was scope. The client had a long list of features and ideas, including AI-powered elements and deep customisation. Left unchecked, the app could have easily become a six-month build that tried to do everything and did none of it well.

There was also a technical integration question that needed answering before development could begin. We identified it early and flagged it as the most important pre-development task so the client could start that process in parallel with design.

On the design side, the product needed to work across multiple contexts with different rules and data availability. The UI had to handle that without confusing the user or making the complexity visible.

The process.

Week 1. Branding and user flows

I presented two brand directions. One leaned into the niche audience, the other targeted a broader consumer market. The client chose the inclusive version, which gave the product broader appeal from day one. We then mapped the core user flows and identified where manual fallbacks were needed.

Week 2. Design refinement

We refined the core input experience in detail, working through visual styling, accessibility, colour schemes, and how to handle edge cases cleanly. This is where the main interaction of the app took shape.

Weeks 3 to 5. Prototype and handoff

I built a phone-ready prototype the client could tap through in a browser. She confirmed this was exactly what she needed for investor conversations. We planned one more feedback pass to incorporate input from users with different use cases, then prepared the design for developer handoff.

A key piece of advice I gave the client: make your changes now, in the design phase. Once development starts, every change request mid-build costs time and money. Get it right in the prototype.

The result.

A complete brand identity and Figma design covering every screen. A phone-ready prototype link for investor demos. A shared design file for ongoing collaboration and feedback.

She'd seen what happens when founders go the cheap route — static screenshots that can't attract investment. She wanted something you could pick up and use. That's what she got.

What made this project work.

• The client experienced the problem daily. She wasn't guessing about what users need because she was the user.
• Choosing the inclusive brand direction early gave the product broader appeal beyond the enthusiast market.
• Flagging the key technical dependency early meant the client could start that process before development even began.
• Keeping the MVP focused prevented scope creep and gave the product a clear story for investors.

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