Coaching,
not scoring

The strategic problem

Telematics lets drivers reduce their premium by driving more safely. When Howden acquired the company behind Driving Data, the app had a cluttered UX, an onboarding flow whose permission requests confused people and killed activation, and feedback that read as judgment rather than help.

The bigger issue was the plan: build a separate UI for every new insurer. That was the blocker. An app per client does not scale.

My role

I led the re-platforming and UX redesign as sole lead designer, with a design systems specialist half-time. Interviews with drivers about monitoring, feedback and privacy. Redesign of onboarding, permissions, trip scoring and feedback. A/B tests on permission copy and sequencing. And the white-label architecture, which was my proposal and initially unwelcome.

White-label over multiple apps

The original plan meant different apps, different codebases, different maintenance burden. I had watched that pattern fail before.

I proposed a single app, themed and configured per client. The pushback was immediate — stakeholders assumed it would take longer and cost more. So I did not argue, I showed them: two comparable Howden initiatives, one built without a component library and one with. The version with reusable components could be updated in seconds.

We built it. ANWB launched on time, Howden later launched their own white-labelled version, and the architecture opened sales conversations with other insurers.

Permission flows that convert

Telematics needs always-on location, motion detection, notifications, sometimes Bluetooth. Most apps dump all of it on the user at once. Users decline, onboarding fails, and the business model fails with it.

I redesigned around three principles: plain-language explanations tied to a clear benefit, staggered requests made at the moment each permission becomes relevant, and framing that addressed privacy concerns head-on rather than hoping nobody asked.

I ran A/B tests on copy variations with participants I recruited myself. Onboarding drop-off fell by roughly a third.

Feedback that helps rather than grades

The original app scored every trip. A score without context feels like a verdict — drivers who got a low one felt criticised, not helped, and many disengaged entirely.

I rebuilt the feedback around coaching: encouraging language that framed improvement as achievable, specific and actionable suggestions like “brake earlier before junctions” instead of a vague rating, and progress over time so people could see themselves improving.

That changed the emotional dynamic of the whole product. Users were not being watched and graded. They were being helped.

Simpler navigation

Alongside the strategic calls, the core UX needed stripping back: unnecessary complexity out of navigation, a home dashboard centred on recent trips and behaviour trends, and a clear distinction between hardware and phone-based modes.

The goal was an app that felt lightweight and helpful rather than surveillance-heavy.