Company: Startup
Role: UX/UI Designer & React Native Developer
Tools: Figma, React Native, Bluetooth/Hardware Integration, Design System
Timeline: Concept → Design → Development → Launch (Los Angeles Area)
Project Overview
VibeVans is a cross-platform mobile application designed for a mobile workspace experience inside luxury vans around the Los Angeles area. The app allowed users to customize their meeting environment — controlling lighting modes, interior colors, and music to match their mood or type of meeting.
The goal was to redesign and redevelop the product to make it device-agnostic, offering a seamless experience across both iOS and Android platforms, while ensuring stable communication between the app and the van’s hardware systems.
Problem & Challenges
The original version of VibeVans lacked platform flexibility and had limited communication reliability with the van’s control systems. Challenges Included:
- Platform-specific inconsistencies between iOS and Android.
- No unified design system or scalable UI architecture.
- Difficulty maintaining real-time communication with the van’s interior features (lights, sound system, environment settings).
The product needed a cross-platform redesign and redevelopment that ensured a consistent, stable, and premium user experience.
Goals
- Redesign VibeVans to deliver a consistent experience across devices.
- Create a modern, user-friendly interface optimized for in-van use.
- Develop a React Native application that integrates with the van’s lighting and music systems.
- Ensure real-time responsiveness and smooth communication between the app and van hardware
Development Process (React Native – Cross platform)
- Integrated Bluetooth communication protocols to sync app controls with the van’s lighting and sound system.
- Implemented real-time status updates for active light modes and music playback.
- Used modular architecture to handle hardware communication separately from the UI layer.
- Focused on smooth transitions and low latency to make environment adjustments feel immediate.
Biggest Challenge:
Ensuring stable connectivity between the app and the van hardware was the most complex part of the project. It required hands-on testing, debugging hardware APIs, and optimizing Bluetooth communication across platforms.
Development Process (React Native – Cross platform)
- Integrated Bluetooth communication protocols to sync app controls with the van’s lighting and sound system.
- Implemented real-time status updates for active light modes and music playback.
- Used modular architecture to handle hardware communication separately from the UI layer.
- Focused on smooth transitions and low latency to make environment adjustments feel immediate.
Biggest Challenge:
Ensuring stable connectivity between the app and the van hardware was the most complex part of the project. It required hands-on testing, debugging hardware APIs, and optimizing Bluetooth communication across platforms.
Impact
- Cross-platform success: App functioned smoothly on both iOS and Android.
- Improved reliability: Stable communication between app and van systems.
- Enhanced user engagement: Increased booking rates for VibeVans post-launch.
- Market lifespan: The app was live and operational in the Los Angeles market until 2024
Key Learnings
This project was my first end-to-end React Native development experience, and it taught me how to merge UX design, hardware integration, and cross-platform development effectively.Balancing creative design with technical constraints gave me a deep understanding of how user experience extends beyond screens — into real-world environments and interactions.