product design
Simplifying vehicle transfers through software for the Department of Motor Vehicles
To comply with my non-disclosure agreement, I have redacted proprietary information in this case study. All information in this case study is my own and does not necessarily reflect the views of the company.
role
UX design, research
industry
Automotive
timeline
6 weeks
team
Solo
project brief
Vehicle owners are inconvenienced by outdated state government systems. This software startup was hoping to digitize easily lost paper documents so that users could avoid tiresome trips to the DMV.
project outcome
I designed a user-friendly, secure mobile application that could send digital documents from one vehicle owner to the next. This future-state product design would transform and expedite how state governments issue vehicle transfers.
key results
62
Adobe XD screens to visualize a digital vehicle transfer for leadership and sales.
Thousands
of dollars generated in multi-year B2B deals to sell the software to state governments.
2 quarters
of product development accelerated with user research, and information architecture.
problem
Where is my title?
Vehicle owners store their paper documents in a glovebox or filing cabinet that goes disregarded for years.
The paper trail left by the DMV is a burden for people who are unable to keep track of their documents or visit the DMV physically for renewals.
"I put my paper title in a file cabinet and forgot about it."
– user interview
target user
One persona was Mark, a new dad who needs to upgrade his car and is too busy to visit the DMV.
Persona
Empathy map
use cases
Why would you need a digital document for your vehicle?
Since I didn’t know much about the automotive industry, I researched why you need various documents like a title or registration.
​
The use case I chose to focus on was selling your vehicle since it involved multiple stakeholders, possible bad actors, and touch points with the DMV.
Use cases for digital vehicle documents
exploratory research
Enabling technologies
in mobile wallets
A primary feature of the mobile app would integrate with mobile wallets, such as Apple Wallet, to store digital versions of vehicle documents.
Other industries use digital wallets for
-
credit cards
-
boarding passes
-
concert tickets, and more
Use cases for mobile wallets
analogs
Security parallels in digital IDs
I stumbled upon news that Apple launched the first digital driver’s license in Arizona in March 2022 and found significant parallels:
-
Digital IDs presented only the information needed for each interaction.
-
Local authorities could not force anyone to hand over their personal device.
-
Biometric or two-factor authentication securely verified your identity.
​
These security concerns over centralized control of user data were from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to the Department of Homeland Security (DHL).
Mobile ID from the Arizona Department of Transportation
journey map
Empathizing with transaction anxiety
I translated the findings of my user interviews into two sets of journey maps.
I realized how messy, complicated, and tiring people’s lives are, and how we could all use some simplification to our schedules.
A user feels frustrated when they can't find their paper documents and skeptical when they're negotiating with a potential buyer online.
user flows
Uncovering unexpected use cases with user flows
I needed to simplify the back-and-forth between a seller and buyer.
I created multiple iterations of user flows to
-
organize my thoughts
-
create a dialogue with my product owner
-
uncover unexpected use cases, such as a buyer backing out mid-way through the transfer process.
Cardsorting
prototyping
Storyboarding offline and online transitions
Designing for a future state inherently involves designing for the transition from in-person to remote processes.
To visualize this progression, I drew three storyboards:
-
a paper transfer
-
a hybrid transfer
-
a digital transfer
​
For a seamless integration, I learned the importance of creating “breaths,” or moments of reflection, in the app’s user experience to accommodate off-screen interactions.
project results
Prototyping secure flows to influence buy-in from states
I moved to wire framing, prototyping, and usability testing, though I am unable to show these 62 Adobe Xd screens because it's proprietary information.
The final screens are now being used in preliminary sales with state governments to visualize the concept of digitization–a concept that is foreign to most prospective partners. As states begin to support digital documents, the company has these UX deliverables to accelerate product development.
key results
62
Adobe XD screens to visualize a digital vehicle transfer for leadership and sales.
Thousands
of dollars generated in multi-year B2B deals to sell the software to state governments.
2 quarters
of product development accelerated with user research, and information architecture.
my takeaways
How to get creative and conduct user research at a company with little understanding of UX.
How to protect user agency and privacy when digitizing processes that involve centralized governments.
How to design a trustworthy, user-friendly app that simplifies multi-step processes among multiple parties.