Star and SAIC OIMT Transform Brand Experience with MG Next Generation App

Golden A' Design Award Recognition Highlights How Strategic Mobile App Design Can Unify Global Markets and Strengthen Brand Presence

What happens when an automotive company operates across multiple continents, each region running its own companion app with its own interface, its own quirks, and its own approach to connecting drivers with their vehicles? The answer, for many global brands, involves a fascinating puzzle that sits at the intersection of technology, user psychology, and brand strategy. The challenge of digital fragmentation became the creative springboard for one of the most compelling companion app redesigns in recent automotive history.

The team at Star, working alongside SAIC OIMT, faced precisely the scenario of scattered regional applications. Their mission was ambitious yet elegantly simple in concept: transform a fragmented ecosystem of regional applications into a single, unified global platform that would serve car owners across vastly different markets while maintaining the flexibility each region requires. The MG Next Generation App emerged from this effort and earned a Golden A' Design Award in the Interface, Interaction and User Experience Design category in 2024, a recognition typically granted to outstanding and trendsetting creations that advance the field through exceptional excellence.

What makes the MG Next Generation project particularly valuable for brand leaders and enterprise decision makers is how the app demonstrates that digital product unification is achievable without sacrificing local relevance. The design team, led by Viacheslav Shkolnyi, Anastasiia Gryshchenko, Kate Hutenieva, and their colleagues, created something that functions as both a masterclass in scalable UX architecture and a template for how global brands can strengthen their presence through thoughtful digital design. For any enterprise wrestling with multi-market digital strategies, the MG Next Generation project offers concrete lessons worth examining.

The Strategic Imperative of Digital Brand Unification

Every interaction a customer has with a brand shapes their perception of that brand. When those interactions occur through digital touchpoints scattered across different applications with varying interfaces, the cumulative effect can dilute what should be a cohesive brand experience. The fragmented digital experience presents a significant strategic consideration for enterprises operating across international markets.

Consider the automotive sector specifically. A car purchase represents one of the largest consumer investments most people make. The digital companion experience that follows a vehicle purchase becomes an extension of the vehicle itself. The companion app serves as a daily touchpoint that can either reinforce the premium nature of the brand or create friction that diminishes owner satisfaction. When regional teams develop separate applications independently, even with the best intentions, inconsistencies emerge. Navigation patterns differ. Visual treatments vary. Features appear in some markets and not others. The brand, in essence, speaks with multiple voices.

SAIC OIMT, the Chinese state-owned automotive company headquartered in Shanghai, recognized the dynamic of fragmented digital experiences within the MG brand ecosystem. The company, actively promoting new energy vehicles and connected car technologies, understood that their digital companion experience needed to match the innovation embedded in their physical vehicles. The scattered UX complexity present across multiple MG apps was creating unnecessary maintenance burdens while limiting the brand's ability to scale digital offerings efficiently.

The solution required a fundamental shift in approach. Rather than iterating on existing regional applications, the design team at Star proposed building a unified application from the ground up, one that would incorporate all pre-existing functionalities while providing clarity, predictability, simplicity, and scalability. The approach represented architectural thinking applied to interface design, establishing a foundation that could support global ambitions while honoring local requirements.

Modular Architecture That Adapts to Every Market

The most elegant aspect of the MG Next Generation App lies in the modular architecture. The design philosophy enables the application to serve dramatically different markets through a single codebase while feeling locally relevant to each user. The modular approach represents a sophisticated balance between standardization and customization, one that many global enterprises struggle to achieve.

Here is how the modular architecture works in practice. When users download and configure the app, they specify their location and their specific vehicle model. The application then surfaces features and functionality relevant to that combination. A driver in one country might see charging station integration prominently featured, while a driver in another market might encounter different regional services. The core experience remains consistent, the visual language unified, the interaction patterns familiar, yet the specific utility adapts to context.

The modular approach delivers multiple strategic advantages for the enterprise. Development and maintenance become significantly more efficient when a single team can work on a unified platform rather than coordinating across multiple regional codebases. Updates roll out simultaneously across all markets, ensuring that improvements reach every user at once. Quality control improves because testing occurs against one application rather than many. Most importantly, the brand presents a consistent face to the world while still respecting the practical realities that make each market distinct.

The design team accomplished the modular structure through careful information architecture. The team employed card sorting exercises to understand how users naturally categorize features and functions, then collaborated with client teams to prioritize elements that aligned with business goals across regions. The resulting structure feels intuitive because the architecture emerged from actual user mental models rather than internal organizational logic.

Immersive Digital Environments That Create Emotional Connection

Beyond functional utility, the MG Next Generation App makes a bold aesthetic statement that distinguishes the application from typical companion apps. The design team aimed to mimic the real car experience digitally, using a three-dimensional model that gives users a tangible sense of their vehicle on their screens. The 3D visualization is not merely decorative flourish. The dimensional rendering creates emotional resonance that flat interface elements cannot achieve.

The virtual garage concept draws inspiration from futuristic and science fiction imagery, placing the user's vehicle in an environment that feels aspirational and premium. When owners open the app, they encounter their specific car model rendered in dimensional space, a digital twin that responds to their inputs and displays the vehicle's current status. The approach transforms routine interactions (checking battery level, locating the vehicle, adjusting climate settings) into experiences that reinforce the sophisticated nature of the product they own.

The visual execution supports the immersive quality. The team adopted a clear black and white palette, punctuated with metallic tones and vibrant orange accents that provide necessary contrast for usability while maintaining visual sophistication. Elevating surfaces and carefully crafted visual effects add tangible materiality to the interface. Fluid animations and interactions emulate real-world functionality, creating a sense of responsiveness that feels physical rather than purely digital.

Particularly clever is the use of hexagon widgets throughout the application. The geometric choice echoes the MG logo, creating visual coherence that subtly reinforces brand identity with every interaction. Users may not consciously notice the hexagon detail, but their subconscious registers the consistency. Every element speaks the same visual language, and that language is unmistakably MG.

Strategic User Segmentation for Acquisition and Retention

One of the most strategically valuable aspects of the MG Next Generation App is how the design addresses two fundamentally different user populations through a single application: existing car owners and prospective buyers. The dual-audience segmentation reveals sophisticated thinking about the entire customer journey, from consideration through ownership.

For existing car owners, the app provides a customizable My MG screen offering swift vehicle control along with personalized features and essential data. Car owners have already made their purchase decision. Their needs center on utility, convenience, and reinforcement that they made the right choice. The personalization capabilities allow owners to arrange information and controls according to their preferences, creating an experience that feels tailored to their specific usage patterns.

For potential buyers, the team introduced a guest mode that enables exploration of key features and gathering of information about MG vehicles. The guest mode allows prospective customers to experience the app's advantages before committing to a purchase, supporting more informed decision-making. Think about what the guest mode accomplishes strategically. A potential buyer downloads the app, explores the capabilities, and begins imagining themselves as an owner. The app becomes a sales tool, demonstrating the sophisticated digital ecosystem that accompanies vehicle ownership.

The dual focus on owners and prospects required careful interface design. The first-time experience received particular attention, assisting new users in binding their car and exploring features if they were owners, or smoothly guiding them toward relevant information if they were prospects. The interaction design had to serve two masters simultaneously, and the team navigated the complexity through user research and iterative testing.

Research-Driven Design That Validates Every Decision

The MG Next Generation App exemplifies what happens when design decisions emerge from rigorous research rather than assumption. The design team at Star conducted thorough analysis of vehicle-related applications, identifying market trends, strengths, areas for improvement, and potential innovations. The foundational understanding from research informed every subsequent choice.

Card sorting exercises revealed user navigation preferences, providing evidence-based guidance for information architecture decisions. Collaboration with the SAIC OIMT team helped ensure that feature prioritization aligned with business objectives across all target markets. The intersection of user needs and business goals became the sweet spot where design decisions were made.

From the research insights, the team crafted an interactive prototype showcasing eight core use cases, the essential interactions that would define the application experience. The team then tested the prototype with car owners worldwide, and the global testing scope matters tremendously. Different markets revealed different usability issues and pain points. What felt intuitive to users in one region sometimes created confusion in another.

Rather than settling for a compromise that satisfied no one fully, the team used the testing insights to refine and improve the design until the app met user expectations across all tested markets. The iterative approach, grounded in real user feedback, produced an application that achieves the ambitious goals of unity and flexibility. For professionals and organizations interested in seeing how the design principles manifest in the finished product, the opportunity to Explore the Complete MG Next Generation App Design through the A' Design Award showcase provides detailed documentation of the research-driven approach.

The Watch Companion and Ecosystem Thinking

Beyond the mobile application, the MG Next Generation project extends to a watch companion that offers essential features precisely when users need them. The ecosystem approach reflects broader trends in how people interact with technology throughout their day, meeting users wherever they happen to be rather than requiring them to reach for their phone.

The watch application surfaces the most critical vehicle functions in a format optimized for quick glances and brief interactions. Need to check if you locked the car while walking away? A watch tap provides the answer. Want to precondition the vehicle climate before leaving the office? The watch handles the request without requiring you to extract your phone from pocket or bag. The micro-interactions accumulate into a significantly enhanced ownership experience.

The multi-device thinking also demonstrates scalable design system implementation. The visual language and interaction patterns translate coherently from phone to watch, maintaining brand consistency while respecting the unique constraints and opportunities of each platform. The hexagon widgets, the black and white palette with orange accents, the overall aesthetic sensibility, all carry through, creating a unified ecosystem rather than disconnected applications that happen to share a brand name.

For enterprises considering their own companion applications, the ecosystem mindset offers valuable perspective. Users increasingly expect brands to meet them across devices, and achieving cross-device presence requires design systems robust enough to flex across form factors while maintaining coherent identity.

Recognition That Validates Strategic Design Investment

The Golden A' Design Award recognition for the MG Next Generation App provides external validation that the project achieved exceptional results. The A' Design Award, a respected international design competition, evaluates entries through a rigorous jury process that assesses genuine innovation and excellence. Earning the Golden designation places the MG Next Generation project among outstanding work in the category, recognized for advancing the field through notable and trendsetting qualities.

For SAIC OIMT, the Golden A' Design Award recognition accomplishes several strategic objectives. The award demonstrates to global markets that the company invests in world-class digital experiences, positioning MG as a forward-thinking brand that prioritizes owner satisfaction. The recognition provides marketing assets and credibility markers that can support promotional efforts across all regions. The award validates the internal decision to pursue comprehensive redesign rather than incremental improvement.

For Star, the design agency that executed the vision, the award confirms their expertise in tackling complex multi-market unification challenges. The project required navigating technical complexity, cultural differences, and competing stakeholder priorities, all while delivering an end product that genuinely delights users. The Golden recognition acknowledges the achievement.

More broadly, the MG Next Generation project demonstrates the tangible value that strategic design investment can deliver. When enterprises allocate resources to thoughtful UX work, the returns manifest not only in user satisfaction metrics but in external recognition that enhances brand perception.

Closing Reflections on Global Digital Experience Design

The MG Next Generation App illustrates how thoughtful design can resolve seemingly contradictory requirements. Global consistency and local relevance need not be opposing forces. Brand cohesion and user personalization can coexist beautifully. Sophisticated aesthetics and functional utility strengthen each other when approached with care.

For brand leaders and enterprise decision makers, the MG Next Generation project offers a template for thinking about digital companion experiences. The modular architecture demonstrates scalable solutions. The user research methodology shows how to ground decisions in evidence. The visual execution proves that premium digital experiences reinforce premium product positioning.

As connected vehicles become increasingly central to the automotive landscape, the digital touchpoints that accompany physical products will only grow in importance. The brands that invest in unified, thoughtful, research-driven digital experiences will find themselves with significant advantages in building lasting customer relationships.

What possibilities might emerge when your organization applies similar thinking to your own digital ecosystem?