Product Design

Land Rover Connected
App

OVERVIEW

Elevating the connected car experience.

The Land Rover app has a myriad of smart app functions such as the ability to remotely adjust the temperature or locate and arm your vehicle. Although very powerful, the app is riddled with inconsistent UI, along with branding. With the help of a few colleagues, I took the initiative to revise the app. This was a personal project of mine that turned into a client facing project given our client’s enthusiasms.

Role

Solo Product Designer

DURATION

18 Weeks

CHALLENGE

How can we redesign the existing app with all its functionalities and provide an experience that is synonymous with the Land Rover brand?

Outcome

An improved connected car experience.

While this project started as a personal one, I saw a business opportunity to engage our Land Rover client through Deloitte’s networks. This prototype was presented to executives at Land Rover Jaguar and is under consideration for details surrounding launch.

View Invision Prototype

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Design Process

Understanding the problem space.

I started by going through app reviews to understand how users are feeling about the current app.

Of the several themes present in the reviews, one key pain point stood out. Users pointed out that the vehicle they purchased is over $100k but the app falls short and does not deliver the same experience. The disappointment with the app led some to even say that this is their “first and last Land Rover.”

Review from the iOS store.

I began by looking at the current navigation of the app. I realized that in order to navigate through the app, users have to use the chevron on the top right or swipe through right or left to get to various vehicle settings.

I decided to break this up and instead create a bottom tab bar with each section. This allows the user to jump between to a section of their choice rather than swiping numerous times to get to a specific section. I established that we needed six bottom tabs.

  • Vehicle tab to access your vehicle settings.

  • Maps tab to locate your vehicle, receive directions to it and search up addresses and send them to your vehicle.

  • Help tab to get assistance in the event that your vehicle is broken down or has been in a crash.

  • Pets tab to enable Pet Mode.

  • Settings tab for the app settings.

Redesigned bottom navigation based on findings.

Tiny chevrons located on the top are the only way the user is able to navigate the app.

Wireframes

Research to design.

Once the research was completed, my team and I created wires, which were then turned into high-fidelity screens.

Wires for various screens in the app.

One way to authenticate the app is by entering the vehicle VIN number which will enable or disable features based on what the car is capable of. Additionally, the VIN number can also tell what the car actually looks like. A challenge I personally have with the app is that I don’t feel connected to my car. With the VIN information, I wanted to be able to bring up an image of the car that allows users to see their vehicle. We decided to take it a step further and have the vehicle move to show whether it is unlocked, if the lights are on, if the trunk is open and etc.

About a good 1/6 of the screen has been allocated to the image of the vehicle. This allows the user to get visual feedback on the vehicle status and also to remind them of their car.

constraints

Understanding the technical constraints of our solutions.

Prior to designing the app, a significant amount of time and consideration went into studying the Land Rover brand. The Land Rover brand has always been synonymous with exploration, discovering even the most remote parts of the world and yet at the same time, allowing passengers and drivers to be in a luxurious and comfortable environment. In order to ensure these attributes of the brand were carried over, all the icons in the app can be found inside the vehicle and on the key fob. All the colours to denote selected/unselected states are taken from the car’s interior. The image used in the background of the app, is similar to what is found inside the vehicle’s center dashboard. Furthermore, the fonts are consistent with what is being used inside the vehicle. There had to be a concept of familiarity between the app and the vehicle for users to feel connected to their car.

The image used in the center console (top screen) is the same one being used in the app. The icons used on the key fob and throughout the vehicle are the same icons used in the app. This is done to create a sense of familiarity between the app and the vehicle.

Enhancements

Additional features to accent the brand.

During our research, my team and I found that most Land Rover owners have a pet. The elevate the experience further, we created Pet Mode.

Every time we run into shops or step out from the vehicle vehicle, we leave our pets inside. I created a feature that allows you to start the engine, open the windows, set the climate and more so that pets are comfortable and safe inside the vehicle. The car sends push notifications, letting the user know if the timer is running out and the animal has been left for too long inside the car.

This project was done in collaboration with, Divyen Sanganee, Mengxu Zhao, Kamil Siddiqui.

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Lessons

Key Learnings.

Redesigning the Land Rover app taught me about restructuring content to make it accessible, engaging and most importantly, easy to navigate. But while doing so, we need to secure a level of comfort and harmony between what users see in the app and what they experience inside their vehicle.

Recent Works