TomTom

Project Overview

Product: TomTom Mobile Navigation App

Company: TomTom

Platforms: iOS & Android; Carplay & Android Auto

Users: 1M+ active users

Timeline: 2 years

TomTom consolidated multiple consumer mobile apps into a single flagship navigation experience. The goal was to modernize the UI, migrate an existing user base, and establish a product led foundation that could scale across mobile and automotive products.

Outcomes at a Glance

• 500K → 1M active users within ~2 months of launch

• 2× faster design-to-development cycles via hi-fi-first specs

• 10+ features from concept to shipping

• User-driven improvements & features shipped post-launch, easing transition backlash

• 80% of Amigo users retained (Goal of 90%)

• Positive overall sentiment towards new UI

Context & Constraints

• Tight timeline to deliver an internal alpha in ~6 months

• Existing codebase inherited from a previous app (GO Ride)

• Strong legacy automotive design influence within the organization

• Early focus on shipping functionality over visual refinement

This meant early UI decisions had to prioritize feasibility and speed, while keeping a clear path for later modernization.

Phase 1 – Shipping a Coherent UI Under Deadline Pressure

Goal: Enable a fast internal alpha without sacrificing long-term UI coherence.

What I Did

• Designed UI solutions aligned with what engineering could realistically ship under time and technical constraints. Design decisions balanced the architecture coming from GO Ride, designs from Automotive and feature parity with Amigo

• Maintained visual consistency across screens despite limited component maturity via a more flexible design system architecture with a component specific third level of abstraction in the token structure

Why it mattered:

This phase established trust with engineering and allowed the team to hit critical milestones without creating unmanageable UI debt.

Phase 2 — Reclaiming and Modernizing the Visual Direction

Goal: Move beyond “just shippable” UI toward a modern, mobile-first TomTom experience.

What I Did

• Partnered with product leadership to create space for visual refinement post-alpha

• Collaborated with senior automotive designers to align on a shared visual direction

• Translated high-level visual vision into concrete UI explorations and component-level specs

Although organizational changes prevented the full theme from shipping at once, this work directly influenced later UI decisions and system evolution.

Phase 3 — Shipping UI Improvements Driven by Real User Feedback

Goal: Restore user trust and improve usability after public launch.

After launch, the app saw significant backlash due to missing parity and usability gaps.

What I Did

• Partnered with PMs to triage user reviews and support tickets

• Identified UI-related pain points that could be addressed quickly

• Delivered clear UI specs and worked closely with engineers to ship fixes fast

Examples of Shipped Improvements

• Navigation warnings and visual clarity

• Settings granularity and discoverability

• Feature-level improvements such as Winding Routes

• Panel token optimization to expose for map area

Using AI to accelerate craft and iteration

AI became a practical tool in my day-to-day workflow, helping me move faster without compromising quality or consistency.

Micro-animations and interaction detail

I used Figma Make, connected to our design system, to specify micro-animations on small-scale components. This allowed me to explore and document interaction details that would have been very time-consuming with conventional tools, while keeping everything aligned with existing tokens and components.

Illustration set

I used ChatGPT and later Nano Banana to produce a consistent illustration set for the app. Consistency was achieved through a JSON-based style prompt, which allowed me to tweak specific attributes (such as tone, shapes, or color emphasis) while preserving a cohesive visual language across all illustrations. This approach, although still limited as AI image creation keeps on evolving, showed consistent enough to deliver all illustrations needed across the app experience on launch and initial growth phase.

Impact

• Active user base doubled shortly after launch

• User feedback highlighted improved clarity and visual quality

• UI improvements helped stabilize the experience after early backlash

This phase demonstrated my ability to own UI quality end-to-end, from concept through shipped code and real-world feedback.

It looks great. I loved the new version, congratulations on the app.

Key Takeaway

I operated as a senior IC focused on shipping high-quality UI at scale, balancing delivery pressure with long-term visual integrity, and driving measurable improvements after launch through close collaboration with product and engineering.