Driving Trust in a High-Stakes Environment.
Prototype: Provide on interview due to content sensitivity.
Role: Freelance Senior Product Designer UX/UI
Platform: Mobile App (iOS & Android, integrated with Porsche Charging & Navigation ecosystem)
Duration: 8 months (January 2020 – August 2020, off and on)
Tools: Figma, Miro, Jira, Usertesting.com, Adobe XD
Porsche faced a critical challenge in redefining the electric vehicle ownership experience by making charging and navigation not only intuitive and transparent but also worthy of the brand’s luxury promise. EV drivers were overwhelmed by fragmented charging networks, confusing provider contracts, and inconsistent cost structures—pain points that risked undermining Porsche’s reputation for precision and performance. The task was to design a seamless digital ecosystem where finding charging stations, managing contracts, and understanding costs could be effortless, while every interaction upheld the elegance and innovation synonymous with Porsche. This wasn’t just about simplifying complex infrastructure; it was about translating Porsche’s design ethos into a confidence-inspiring EV journey that balanced utility with brand precision, ensuring drivers felt the same trust and exhilaration in digital touchpoints as they did behind the wheel.
Empathize - Listening to Drivers Behind the Wheel
To design a digital companion worthy of Porsche, I immersed myself in the owner experience. I interviewed drivers, observed their daily routines, and gathered stories from dealerships about common frustrations with existing tools.
Themes quickly surfaced: EV owners worried about charging visibility on long trips, while traditional drivers craved better personalization and seamless remote control of their vehicles. Quotes like “I shouldn’t have to guess where my next charge is” and “The app should feel as refined as the car” shaped the foundation of every design decision.
Research - Benchmarking Luxury and EV Experiences
I studied how other luxury automakers approached their digital ecosystems, from Tesla’s charging-first app design to BMW and Audi’s focus on personalization. Beyond automotive, I also looked at fintech and travel apps that excel at clarity, trust, and real-time feedback.
Research revealed gaps unique to Porsche: fragmented visibility into charging networks, inconsistent experiences across vehicles, and limited personalization options. Synthesizing these findings, I identified opportunities to create a more unified, driver-focused experience—one that combined Porsche’s performance DNA with the evolving needs of EV adoption.
Analysis & Planning - Turning Insights into a Roadmap
After research, I clustered insights into themes using affinity mapping. Charging visibility, remote access, and personalization consistently ranked as the most urgent needs for Porsche owners. These became the backbone of our design priorities.
I built journey maps to visualize how owners discovered, connected, and relied on the app in daily driving. Workshops with stakeholders aligned business goals with user expectations, producing a phased roadmap: launch with charging and vehicle controls, then expand into deeper personalization and Porsche ecosystem services.
Wireframing - Sketching the Road Ahead
I translated key owner needs into low-fidelity wireframes, sketching out dashboards, charging flows, and remote vehicle controls. Working in grayscale kept the focus on layout, hierarchy, and clarity rather than Porsche’s brand aesthetics.
These wireframes helped validate assumptions early. Owners and stakeholders could react to simplified flows—checking charging status, unlocking doors, or planning a trip—before design polish was added. This step reduced risk and gave everyone confidence in the direction before we moved into high-fidelity design.
Design Systems - Translating Porsche DNA into Digital
Building on Porsche’s heritage of precision and performance, I created a design system that extended the brand’s DNA into every pixel of the app. Typography mirrored Porsche’s clean instrument clusters, while the color palette balanced performance red accents with understated neutrals.
Reusable components—charging modules, vehicle control cards, and notification patterns—ensured consistency across features. By codifying these patterns in Figma, the system accelerated collaboration with engineers and gave Porsche a scalable digital language that could evolve across future apps, in-vehicle interfaces, and Apple CarPlay.
Design - Brining Porsche Precision to Digital
With the system foundation in place, I elevated wireframes into high-fidelity designs that embodied Porsche’s craftsmanship. Dashboards emphasized speed and clarity, while charging screens highlighted range confidence with bold typography, intuitive iconography, and real-time feedback.
Every interaction reinforced Porsche’s premium DNA—smooth transitions mirrored the feeling of driving, while clean layouts minimized distraction. Whether unlocking doors remotely, checking charging status, or personalizing preferences, the app delivered an experience as refined and performance-driven as the vehicles themselves.
Prototyping - Driving the Experience Before Launch
I built interactive Figma prototypes that allowed stakeholders and Porsche owners to explore key flows—unlocking a vehicle, monitoring charging status, and customizing in-car settings—in real time.
Running simulations in a driving environment gave users the true effect of controlling the vehicle through the app. These prototypes revealed friction points early, from unclear charging visuals to hidden personalization features, enabling rapid iteration before costly development. Prototyping ensured the app felt powerful, intuitive, and distinctly Porsche before it ever went live.
Testing - Validating With Porsche Owners
I conducted usability sessions with Porsche owners to validate flows and features in real-world contexts. Their feedback revealed pain points around navigation, charging visibility, and the clarity of personalization controls.
By running tests in both moderated sessions and simulated driving environments, I observed how users interacted under realistic conditions. Iterating on their insights refined the app into a seamless, driver-focused experience—one that reinforced confidence, reduced distraction, and elevated the connection between driver and vehicle.
Launch - Driving into the Hands of Owners
After months of design, prototyping, and testing, the experience was ready to make its debut. Working alongside developers and product managers, I helped transition the prototypes into production-ready designs, ensuring that every detail — from button states to map interactions — was faithfully implemented.
The launch was a milestone for Porsche, as the My Porsche ecosystem expanded to include payments, navigation, vehicle management, and CarPlay integration in one seamless experience. Customers could now register, manage accounts, locate charging stations, and interact with their vehicle with the same elegance they expect when driving one.
Iterate - Refining the Digital Porsche Experience
Post-launch, I monitored analytics and gathered continuous feedback from Porsche owners. Patterns revealed opportunities to enhance charging route planning, improve personalization options, and simplify remote vehicle controls.
Through iterative updates, I refined navigation flows, optimized performance for EV drivers, and introduced richer customization features. Iteration became an ongoing process of learning and adapting and ensuring the app not only met current needs but evolved with Porsche’s digital vision and the future of mobility.
