Ashton Shechter
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FordPass

 
 

FordPass & Lincoln Way Apps

About a year after Ford & Lincoln initially launched their mobile apps, FordPass and Lincoln Way, it was decided that they had already outgrown their initial design and needed to re-think and re-do nearly all of it. What was labeled as a redesign, was actually so much more than that. We had a set of known features, a set of new features, a few loosely defined goals and many highly dispersed teams. Oh yeah, and we had ten months from start to live in the app store to make the magic happen!

In order to create a more personalized experience for Ford and Lincoln owners, we started by conducting industry research, user research and story mapping and ideation sessions. I led font exploration and research. Once we had a general design direction and scope, we needed to figure out how we would get everything we wanted done, and in time. We integrated design and development teams, on agency and client side, on five continents and nearly a dozen time zones.

With work underway, I realized we weren’t set up for success, so a couple teammates and I took the initiative to improve our entire process – I focused primarily on global design team collaboration. Part of the challenge was solving for different goals and needs between the two brands while being restricted to a single code base. My main focus was to implement new tools, new processes, and a new design language for VML and Ford in order to act as one product driven team while continuing to deliver thoughtful design. 

Through researching and introducing new tools such as Abstract, Sketch and Zeplin, I led our design teams in North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Australia to adopt a more efficient process for global collaborative design. We were able to work on version-controlled files using a shared library to create a consistent experience all over the world - an achievement that hadn't ever been accomplished at VML or Ford.

Learn more about the process, here.

Once we had a process established and work was kicked off, I worked three roles – one training and upholding the process and tools, one maintaining the design system and one leading design for most function heavy section of the app – Move.

In order to ensure the app brought the highest benefit to Ford and Lincoln vehicle owners, I worked in tandem with my UX pair and an analyst to fully design all connected vehicle features. I was integrated into Ford’s tech teams where I attended stand ups, Pre-IPMs, IPMs, Demos, Retros and ad-hoc requirements meetings for the ten development teams concurrently working on building Move. I stayed active in Pivotal Tracker and Slack to efficiently communicate and answer developer’s questions as they arose.

In the end, we didn’t create a perfect product or lead a perfect process, but we learned a lot and we made improvements every day that resulted in a night and day difference from start to finish. I faced countless obstacles and over-came them all for the sake of making the best product possible – and it turned out pretty great, if I do say so myself!

FordPass 2.0 Launch date: July 19, 2018

Lincoln Way 2.0 launch date: August 14, 2018

FordPass rating: 4.5 stars (iOS) 3.7 Stars (Android)

Lincoln Way rating: 4.6 stars (iOS) 2.5 Stars (Android)

 
 
The Dashboard - The app is split up into four “pillars” – Move, Find, Guides and Account. My focus was Move, which includes the main dashboard for the entire app. Here’s just a few of the screens a user could see when they open up FordPass.

The Dashboard - The app is split up into four “pillars” – Move, Find, Guides and Account. My focus was Move, which includes the main dashboard for the entire app. Here’s just a few of the screens a user could see when they open up FordPass.

A Small Sampling - Depending on the user’s goals and vehicles, FordPass provides a variety of experiences. Designing for each potential scenario of each feature proved quite difficult without any actual vehicles to test with and limited requirements – but in the end, I created [50] flexible components to satisfy each vehicle and feature variation. Yay for problem solving!

A Small Sampling - Depending on the user’s goals and vehicles, FordPass provides a variety of experiences. Designing for each potential scenario of each feature proved quite difficult without any actual vehicles to test with and limited requirements – but in the end, I created [50] flexible components to satisfy each vehicle and feature variation. Yay for problem solving!

A Look Inside Our Design System - This is a piece of the system I built in Sketch that each designer across the globe used to build out each of our [5,000] screens.

A Look Inside Our Design System - This is a piece of the system I built in Sketch that each designer across the globe used to build out each of our [5,000] screens.

 
Lincoln Way - The Forgotten Stepchild - At the inception of 2.0, it was determined that there wasn’t enough reason or budget for Lincoln Way to remain a separately designed app – they were now to share core functions, designs and code base. The Lincoln brand guidelines were applied to each FordPass component and screen (much to my dismay).

Lincoln Way - The Forgotten Stepchild - At the inception of 2.0, it was determined that there wasn’t enough reason or budget for Lincoln Way to remain a separately designed app – they were now to share core functions, designs and code base. The Lincoln brand guidelines were applied to each FordPass component and screen (much to my dismay).

Make it Special – but Keep it the Same - Determining what was a feasible deviation from FordPass and what wasn’t proved quite challenging. I helped to add some special Lincoln pizazz that didn’t add too much development time and headaches.

Make it Special – but Keep it the Same - Determining what was a feasible deviation from FordPass and what wasn’t proved quite challenging. I helped to add some special Lincoln pizazz that didn’t add too much development time and headaches.

Improved Efficiency - To make designers’ and developers’ lives easier, I created a Lincoln branded design system that followed the same structure as Ford’s in order to maximize ease of use.

Improved Efficiency - To make designers’ and developers’ lives easier, I created a Lincoln branded design system that followed the same structure as Ford’s in order to maximize ease of use.