DPD UK
Redesigned the driver-facing mobile app for one of the UK's largest parcel networks, streamlining route management, delivery workflows.
Role
Product Designer
SCOPE
Mobile UX & Design System
Saturn is DPD’s official mobile application, built to support parcel collections and deliveries across the UK. Designed for time-critical delivery environments, it enables drivers to manage routes, scan parcels and update delivery statuses through a streamlined, mobile-first experience adopted nationwide.
5,000+ depots supported
2 countries launched
1000s of drivers using the platform daily
Improved clarity across complex route schedules
Successfully rolled out nationally and became the official mobile platform supporting DPD’s UK driver network.
3–4 Clicks to enter delivery mode reduced to a 1 single swipe gesture
A legacy system holding drivers back.
DPD drivers complete around 250 stops per route, stopping every 3–4 minutes. The existing Saturn 4 platform was built around older scanning hardware and required multiple taps to begin each delivery, which compounded hundreds of times a day.
As DPD moved toward a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) model, the platform needed to work reliably across a wide range of personal smartphones, under real-world conditions: low visibility, one-handed use, and time pressure.
My Role
I was responsible for leading the UX and UI design of the new driver platform. I joined the DPD design team, specifically to design all internal and consumer mobile applications. I was responsible for designing a mobile delivery application, which was implemented at over 10 thousand depots in the UK.
Redesigning the application interface and navigation structure
Simplifying key delivery workflows
Working closely with drivers to understand real-world usage
Collaborating with engineers implementing the system in React Native
Supporting agile sprint cycles and stakeholder reviews
Understanding the Users
Designing for every driver on the road.
User feedback sessions with active DPD drivers revealed a wider range of digital confidence than expected. The interface needed to prioritise clarity and predictability over novelty, working for everyone from a 20-year-old smartphone native to a 55-year-old who preferred simplicity.
Project Approach
Agile sprints, real driver feedback.
The project followed a two-week sprint cadence, with each sprint focused on a specific workflow — parcel scanning, delivery confirmation, or route management. Design playback sessions were presented directly to DPD's Executive Director, requiring work to be sharp, communicative, and grounded in evidence.
A key approach was co-designing with active Saturn 4 users. Showing early designs to drivers during feedback sessions surfaced real-world constraints that couldn't have been anticipated from a desk.
Team:
Business Analyst, Solutions Architect, Project Manager, External Development Team, React Native Engineers, Driver Research Group
The Stop List Design
Designing the stop list meant prioritising speed above all else. With drivers completing a stop every 3–4 minutes, any friction in reading or navigating this screen compounds across hundreds of deliveries. The final design uses colour-coded ETA bars, clear delivery type labelling, and a consistent card structure to make the next action immediately obvious, regardless of the driver's digital confidence level.
Unsuccessful Stops
Driver research surfaced a consistent frustration with the Saturn 4 system: failed deliveries were hard to locate and re-attempt efficiently, particularly mid-route. The redesigned Unsuccessful Stops view treats failure states as a distinct workflow rather than a filtered list. Each card surfaces the failure reason prominently, alongside the original delivery window and address, giving drivers everything they need to make a re-attempt decision without navigating back through the main route.
The Gesture Redesign
One of the biggest improvements came from simplifying the core delivery workflow. Previously, drivers had to navigate through multiple screens to begin scanning parcels. Through iterative testing, we redesigned the interaction to allow drivers to begin scanning directly using a simple gesture from the main screen. This reduced the number of interactions required and significantly improved efficiency for drivers completing hundreds of deliveries per day.
The Saturn 5 Design System
To support the development of Saturn 5, we introduced a lightweight mobile design system ensuring consistency across every screen and interaction state, while allowing the engineering team to scale features efficiently across iOS and Android.
Outcome
Saturn 5 became DPD's official driver platform across the UK. The redesigned experience reduced friction in the most repeated daily workflow, improved usability across all driver skill levels, and laid a system foundation that could evolve with the product.
Reflection: given more time, I would have pushed for longitudinal usability testing post-launch to quantify efficiency gains and error rates across user groups. The design system also had room to grow; a more formalised token structure would have made future feature work faster for the engineering team.
Due to NDA restrictions, some visual assets and flows have been omitted. Get in touch for a detailed walkthrough of this project.
