Mike Gallers — Experience Design & Strategy
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From clipboard to mobile: digitizing vehicle inspections

Replacing paper inspections of new vehicles arriving from the factory with iOS and Android apps that make tracking and auditing fast and searchable.

Four-panel storyboard. A technician tosses a paper inspection toward an overflowing filing cabinet, field research shows techs writing the VIN on every page, the design moves from sketch to prototype to usability test, and a phone app shows a scanned VIN, checklist, photos, and a synced, searchable record.

EXPERIENCE GAP(s) and OBJECTIVE

New-vehicle inspections were done on a paper form on a clipboard. A technician walked around each car, checked off items, and left notes by hand. The forms were then filed in cabinets, so finding any single inspection again was slow and painful.

There was no easy way to track inspections or audit them, and the same details, such as the VIN, were written out again and again.

Objective
Replace the paper form with a mobile app that technicians find fast and easy to use, and that makes every inspection trackable, auditable, and searchable.

As the lead UX designer, researcher, and strategist, I worked with the project team to understand the ask, the objectives, the desired outcomes, and the people who would use it.

Measuring Success
Success in the short-term was measured by creating the digital app version of the paper inspection form. Long-term, the time to find an inspection would be monitored and measured, and the satisfaction of using the app by technicians would be tracked. This would ultimately lead to product enhancements and process improvements.

From paper to phone

Before: paper

  1. Walk around the car
  2. Check items and write notes on a clipboard form
  3. File the paper in a cabinet
  4. Dig through cabinets to find one inspection

After: mobile app

  1. Scan the VIN
  2. Work through the checklist
  3. Add notes and photos
  4. Submit and sync
  5. Search any inspection by VIN

OUTCOMES and IMPACT

I delivered a tested, signed-off design that technicians and leadership were delighted with, and I guided both development teams through the build of two native apps. Projected impact of new digital inspection apps:

1,000+
Dealerships with improved efficiency due to digital apps.
500,000+
Vehicles inspected each year, vastly reducing the time to sale of new vehicles at dealerships.
Easier
Inspections are now easy to locate and review, when needed.

APPROACH, EFFORT, and ARTIFACTS

I led the user experience from the first conversation through the build, as the researcher, designer, and strategist on the project.

Align with the team

I met with the project team to understand the ask, the objectives, the outcomes they wanted, and who the users were, so the research and design were pointed at the right problem from the start.

Observe the real process

I visited multiple locations where technicians inspect vehicles, watched the paper process in action, and interviewed technicians about how it works today and where it gets in their way.

Sketch, then wireframe

I started with sketches on whiteboards and paper, then turned them into digital wireframes and shared them with the project team, including the product manager and developers.

Five hand-drawn paper sketches of the inspection app, left to right: a start screen that says to begin by scanning the VIN with a Scan VIN button, the camera view for scanning a barcode, a vehicle confirmation screen listing VIN, make, model, and year with a Start Inspection button, a list of inspection sections, and an Outer Panels checklist with checkboxes for front doors, back doors, hood, roof, trunk, and quarter panels and an Add Notes button.
Early paper sketches of the flow: scan the VIN, confirm the vehicle, start the inspection, choose a section, then check off each item and add notes.

From there I moved to high-fidelity screens built on Material Design patterns. The inspection view shows the vehicle's details and the sections of the inspection, each a short list with a caret to open it. Inside a section, each item has a checkbox, with Add Notes and Save always within reach at the bottom.

A representative inspection screen with a dark grey Vehicle Inspection bar. A card shows a 2019 Nissan Rogue and its VIN. Below are two sections, External Body and Add-Ons, each with a short list of items and a right caret.
The inspection view: vehicle details and inspection sections.
A representative checklist screen for Outer Panels, listing front doors, rear doors, hood, roof, trunk, quarter panels, and bumpers with checkboxes, and Add Notes and Save buttons at the bottom.
A section checklist: check each item, add notes, and save.

The actual app screens are proprietary. These images are representative samples with fictional data, created for this portfolio.

Explore beyond the checklist: a tablet concept

Alongside the phone design, I explored a different way to inspect a car on a tablet. Instead of working down a list, the technician sees a 3D model of the vehicle and rotates it with a finger. Tapping a section in the What to Inspect panel, such as Exterior, Wheels/Tires, then Left Front, brings that part of the car into view and opens a short form for recording damage. The vehicle details and Submit Inspection stay in view the whole time.

A tablet concept titled Vehicle Inspection. A 3D model of a grey Nissan Rogue sits in the center. A What to Inspect panel on the left lists Exterior and Interior sections, a card at the upper right shows the VIN, year, make, model, and color with a Submit Inspection button, and a hint at the bottom says to select a section and drag with a finger to rotate the vehicle.
The starting view: the vehicle, its details, and the sections to inspect.
The same tablet concept with the 3D vehicle rotated to show its front and left side.
Dragging a finger rotates the vehicle to the side being inspected.
The tablet concept with Left Front selected under Wheels/Tires. A dialog titled Left Front Wheel and Tire asks whether the wheel and tire are damaged or mismatched, whether tread depth is below one eighth of an inch, and for the wheel size and type, with Close and Save buttons.
Selecting a part, such as the left front wheel, opens a short form for that part. Close and Save sit at the bottom.

This was a concept I explored to test ideas for interacting with the vehicle and recording damage. The product direction was a phone app, so the tablet version was not built. The images use fictional data and are not the actual UI.

Prototype and test

I built a high-fidelity interactive prototype in Axure so everyone could see and feel how the finished app would look and behave. After iterating with the team and getting manager sign-off, I shared the prototype with technicians for feedback and iterated again.

Stay close through the build

Two separate native apps were built, so I designed to the standard iOS and Android design systems. I worked with both developers throughout the build, answering questions about design, flow, and interaction, and giving guidance wherever the prototype left a gap or an ambiguity.

  • Notes and findings from field visits and technician interviews
  • Whiteboard and paper sketches
  • Digital wireframes for the product team and developers
  • Tablet concept exploring a 3D vehicle model as the way to choose what to inspect
  • High-fidelity interactive prototype in Axure
  • Ongoing design guidance for the iOS and Android developers

LEARNINGS

  • Watch the work before designing it. Seeing technicians inspect cars in person showed how the paper process really worked, and that shaped every screen.
  • A prototype is a conversation tool. Showing the team, then the technicians, something that behaved like the real app surfaced feedback early, when changes were cheap.
  • Stay available during the build. Questions and gaps always appear once developers start, and being close to both teams kept the design intact across two platforms.