A mobile app that helps everyday car owners stay ahead of maintenance — without the stress of navigating overwhelming, unreliable resources.
Completed as part of the UX/UI certificate program, the goal of this project was to research, prototype, test, and validate an idea for a new mobile application.
Many car owners neglect maintenance because navigating the overwhelming sea of online resources — and trusting the shops they find there — feels like more trouble than it's worth. The result is deferred care, unexpected breakdowns, and unnecessary expense.
Build an app for car enthusiasts to connect and share knowledge within their community.
Build an app for the average car owner to track maintenance and find reliable, affordable service nearby.
"WheelWise is your trusted companion to stay ahead of car maintenance tasks without the stress and uncertainty of not knowing what you don't know."
Interviews targeted a mix of car enthusiasts and everyday owners. We expected brand loyalty and community to be the dominant themes. Instead, a clearer and more universal need emerged: reducing the stress and confusion of car maintenance.
I created the sticky notes for the affinity diagram from interview transcripts, then worked with the team to review categories and surface key themes.
After interviews and affinity mapping, the team aligned on a user: Michael, a 26-year-old photographer who depends on his car for work. He does basic maintenance himself to save money but doesn't always have time for larger jobs. He needs to know what's due and when — without hunting across multiple sources to figure it out.
Michael is a 26-year-old photographer who depends on his car for work. He does basic maintenance himself to save money but doesn't always have time for larger jobs. He needs to know what's due and when — without hunting across multiple sources to figure it out.
"Car owners feel strongly that routine maintenance is key to the long-term health of their vehicle. The average car user wants help tracking upcoming tasks and saving money on repairs."
An "I like / I wish / What if" exercise followed by two rounds of dot voting drove the final feature decisions — and confirmed the pivot away from community features toward maintenance tracking and local deals.
Maintenance tracking with notifications, local shop discounts with GPS, vehicle profile and service history log
Community forum, car enthusiast social features, CarFax integration, OBD diagnostic connection
Each team member built and tested their own paper prototype. I then combined the most positively received features into a revised user flow and led the mid-fidelity wireframes. I also created the final hi-fidelity prototype in Figma.
Consolidated paper prototype feedback into revised user flow. Built mid-fi wireframes with a teammate. Created the complete hi-fi prototype in Figma, incorporating all iteration feedback.
Our initial flow began with a login or sign up choice, prompted users for GPS and notification permissions, then guided them to the home screen to add vehicle and maintenance details.
After consolidating paper prototype feedback, I revised the flow to defer permission requests until contextually relevant — and added local deals and a maintenance snapshot to the home screen based on the most positively received features.
User flow revisions moved permission requests further into the onboarding process — giving users context before asking for GPS or notifications. Local deals feature was fleshed out as a core home screen element.
We conducted five moderated user tests with three defined tasks. All tasks were completed successfully. Feedback was captured on sticky notes, organized by theme, and run through a frequency chart and 2×2 prioritization matrix to shape the hi-fi iteration.
I built the complete hi-fidelity prototype in Figma, incorporating all testing feedback. The team's logo and hero car image were provided by a teammate; all other screens, interactions, and UI design are my own work.
The research-driven pivot was the defining moment of this project — it made the app more useful and more broadly relevant. The streamlined notification-based approach and clean interface achieved exactly what we set out to do for the average car owner.
