Mobi - From Ideation to Launch of Two Native Mobile Apps

Product Design • iOS & Android • Web • Project Management

Mobi is a mobile carrier based in Hawaii. Under new ownership, they wanted to rebrand the company and launch with all-new, affordable pricing without any gotchas or hard to get out of contracts. Part of their strategy was to design and build an iOS and Android mobile app that would allow users to switch from their current provider to Mobi and customize their monthly plan without the hassle of having to go in-store and wait in line (very Covid-friendly).

Strategy Workshop

To get started, I lead a 6-hour strategy workshop with Mobi’s CEO and VP, Product. Also in the workshop was another designer and a developer. We explored Mobi’s business goals, user personas, user journeys and competitors. We talked about features for the app and prioritized them based on how many users would use the features and how often. We finished with technical considerations and next steps.

Sketches

After the workshop, I started working on rough sketches of the app.

The original idea was that ordering your new Mobi SIM card would be a quick and easy process - choose your plan, order your SIM, turn on notifications to receive updates on the status of your delivery.

Once your SIM card arrived, you’d go back into the app to activate it. You’d enter your phone number and ZIP code, account information for your current carrier and then be able to port your number.

As I continued to learn more about the cell phone industry and work with Mobi’s VP, Product, this flow was iterated on and changed quite a bit from initial sketches to launch.

Wireframes

After sketches, I moved on to wireframes diving into the flows in more detail. The biggest change from sketches to wireframes was removing the upfront friction of getting users to customize and pay for their plan before purchasing a SIM card. Cell phone plans are notorious for being overly complicated and confusing and we spent a lot of time iterating on how we displayed the Mobi Plan and add-on options. Once we were happy with the wireframes, I put together an InVision prototype and prepped for user testing. We tested with 5 users and continued to iterate based on their feedback.

Confirming personal information while SIM card is in transit

Visual Design

Development & Launch 🚀

Once we were happy with the designs, we started to build the apps! I managed a team of 4 developers who built the native iOS and Android apps. We worked in weekly sprints and I had weekly check-ins with the VP, Product at Mobi. We faced many technical challenges throughout the MVP build, especially because we were working with another third-party billing company. But, after many months of development and hard work from my team, I’m proud to say the Mobi app is available for download in the app stores.

During the development of the apps, I also redesigned their website, which you can check out here.