THE GOAL
Designing a mobile and device experience that brings clarity, control, and confidence to everyday driving.
Working as a freelance product designer at TomTom in Amsterdam, I designed the mobile companion app and the interaction behaviour of their latest consumer device. The work spanned UX and UI design, device-level behaviour, and prototyping, in close collaboration with product, hardware, and engineering teams.
The project focused on translating complex technical behaviour into clear, predictable interactions across app and device, from first-time setup through everyday use.
DEVICE SETUP
I designed the full onboarding flow for pairing and first-time use, turning technical steps into a clear, device-linked sequence. When pairing fails or drops, the app guides users through gentle recovery paths instead of vague errors. Small motion and interaction details explain what’s happening without overload, making setup feel approachable and low-effort.
TUTORIALS
To help users quickly understand the device, I designed short in-app tutorials that explain core light and sound behaviours. Each micro-lesson shows a single pattern with precise timing and simple context, so users learn by seeing rather than reading. The tutorials are optional, calm, and easy to revisit, giving drivers confidence without adding friction to the experience.
DEVICE SETTINGS
The companion app, integrated into the TomTom app, lets users control and understand the device. Screens cover core device states, controls, updates, and reconnection flows, using a calm visual language to reduce technical complexity. The result is a stable, predictable experience, even when the hardware isn’t.
DEVICE UX: LIGHT AND SOUNDS
A central part of the project involved defining how the physical device communicates with the driver. I designed the complete system of light and sound patterns: the colours, the timing, the rhythm, the intensity, and the subtle variations that help a driver understand what the device is trying to say. This system needed to be instantly recognisable without being distracting, and intuitive without requiring explanation.