Modernizing the MyDMV Platform for Everyday Californians

CALIFORNIA MY DMV

A mobile-first experience to simplify licensing, registration, and appointments—built for clarity, flexibility, and scale.

Envisioning the Future of DMV Access

As California looked to streamline digital services for its 27+ million licensed drivers, the DMV set out to modernize MyDMV into a personalized, scalable platform. The goal was to replace outdated workflows with a unified experience for managing licenses, registrations, appointments, and more—accessible anytime, on any device.

I led UX and visual design discovery for the first release, translating rough mockups and fragmented infrastructure into a phased, responsive system.

  • Audited and refined existing mockups for responsiveness, accessibility, and consistency

  • Identified infrastructure gaps tied to key features like registration and saved payments

  • Defined phased rollout strategy based on API readiness and service dependencies

  • Created early visual system patterns to support long-term scalability across mobile and desktop

My Role
Principal Product Designer

Scope
Product Strategy, User Experience, Visual Direction, User Testing, Design Systems

Tools
Figma, FigJam

Personalized Dashboard

We designed a flexible dashboard to surface the most relevant info up front—tailored to each user’s license, registration, and vehicle types.

  • Supported multiple vehicle types (cars, boats, trailers, etc.) with dynamic card logic

  • Prioritized renewal status, emissions needs, and suspended plates with clear calls to action

  • Built in placeholder and “no data” states to handle incomplete or pending backend connections

  • Designed scalable components for future expansion (e.g. appointments, saved payments)

This system gave the DMV a pattern for surfacing high-value actions without overwhelming users or overpromising functionality.

Adding & Removing Vehicles

We designed a guided flow for adding vehicles by plate or VIN—complete with real-time validation, error resolution, and reentry logic.

  • Covered multiple error cases (e.g. VIN/plate mismatch, expired vehicles, unsupported plate types) with tailored messaging

  • Introduced clear confirmation steps and preview states before vehicles appeared on the dashboard

  • Created fallback paths for vehicles missing from a user’s account on login

  • Designed for system-driven removal and user-initiated re-entry—minimizing confusion and help desk calls

This work laid the foundation for a more resilient and user-friendly registration experience, especially when backend data was incomplete or delayed.

Change of Address

We simplified a historically clunky process into a guided, mobile-first flow that clarified requirements and minimized friction.

  • Combined mailing and vehicle location updates into a single, step-by-step experience

  • Introduced validation logic to handle PO boxes, lease addresses, and jurisdiction-specific rules

  • Included dynamic summaries and terms based on selected options

  • Delivered a clear success state to confirm submission and next steps

The flow was designed to adapt to edge cases while reducing user drop-off and backend rework.

Alerts & Reminders

We introduced a scalable alert system to help users take action on urgent tasks without overwhelming them.

  • Designed four alert types (info, warning, error, success), each with tailored visual and accessibility patterns

  • Created prioritization rules to surface the most time-sensitive actions first (e.g. expired vs. upcoming)

  • Built truncation logic to limit visual noise and guide users to a separate page for overflow alerts

  • Made alerts context-aware, showing only what's actionable based on the user’s license and registration status

This framework gave the DMV a way to communicate urgency without relying on emails or buried notices.

Beautiful Utility

From the dashboard to alerts and vehicle management, we focused on clarity and predictability—removing friction in an environment where stress is the norm. Every flow was designed to be scannable, understandable, and actionable. Whether you're updating an address or checking your license status, the experience feels fast, personal, and surprisingly calm.

Intuitive Design for Everyday Tasks

Even the most frustrating scenarios—like mismatched registration info or expired cards—were reimagined with thoughtful messaging, progressive disclosure, and accessible defaults. Users are guided, not overwhelmed. By turning complex services into simple steps, we helped California residents feel more in control of their DMV experience—on any device, at any time.

This project reminded me how complex public-facing UX can be—especially when legacy infrastructure, policy constraints, and real-time validation all collide.

Designing MyDMV wasn’t about starting from scratch; it was about bringing clarity and cohesion to a fragmented system while still delivering a product that feels modern, useful, and trustworthy.

The most rewarding part? Building something that helps millions of Californians do more online, while reducing strain on in-person DMV services.

Reflection

6

Major user journeys restructured for mobile-first use (dashboard, vehicle entry, change of address, and alerts)

12+

Error states, validation paths, and edge cases mapped to accommodate real-world DMV data issues

27M+

Eligible California drivers served by the new MyDMV experience

Previous

Enterprise Furniture Brand