082018 — 012020
Paris/Tokyo

Nissan Connect

Back in 2018, Nissan launched programs in the U.S., Japan and Europe aimed at creating an ecosystem around its range of electric vehicles, including the Nissan Leaf, the world's best-selling electric car.   

As a product designer, my goal was to help implementing a mobile app connected to the Nissan Leaf to redefine the relationship between Nissan car drivers and Nissan brand. From ideation to prototype, testing and launch, I have been involved at every stage of the product lifecycle and I have helped rolling out the first connected app release on Google Play and App Store. The mobile app is now available in 24 languages across Europe and has been designed for both electric and gas vehicles.

An international cross-functional team involved at every stage of the design process

This project was involving multiple teams spread across the globe as part of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance’s international cooperation. Furthermore, the app had to be deployed across North America, European and Japanese markets which required to walk the fine line between delivering culturally relevant customer experiences and maintaining global brand consistency.

One approach we took to tacke this challenge was by involving global teams in ideation workshops to encourage progress and solving problems as well as in-person workshops to improve communication in teams and create an environment for fresh ideas.

Design system

Working in such a big organisation tighten us in many project principles. Key principles were not documented and although we shared common styles, individual teams made decisions in isolation, leading to inconsistencies and duplication. We also went through plenty of discussions about how to keep design consistent across platforms, while ensuring a seamless integration into existing guidelines from iOS and Android devices.

Together with the Design Lead, we pulled together all of the unwritten rules we used as a team to establish guidelines, shortening the time from design to coded components. Ultimately, we streteched Nissan global branding rules to be more compliant with product specificities such as color accessibility, color contrats and typography. 

Building a headless design system helped us to adapt the components to other brand libraries from the Alliance as well as easily switch the mobile app to dark mode.

Improving our product through feedback

Before launching the application, we conducted several technical user tests to validate the interaction, gauging general understanding and app usability. We were also able to identify major pain points and strategically eliminate them.