Redesigning Toolbox into an enterprise-ready platform that helped unlock Ikon's largest customer expansion.
At Ikon Technologies, I worked at the intersection of hardware, software, and dealership operations. Ikon builds the tech that helps dealers see their inventory in real time, tracking every car, every key, and every movement, while also powering theft recovery and a consumer add-on product.
Company
Ikon Technologies
Industry
Automotive Retail, IoT
Role
Lead Product Designer, Design Engineer
I led the first major revamp of Toolbox, unifying discrete tools from the legacy business into one cohesive platform for dealership operations, end to end as the solo designer — owning discovery, UX, visual design, prototyping, dev handoff, QA, and launch support across the platform.
In the next major iteration, I’m helping move Toolbox toward an AI-native dealer operating system, shifting from traditional product design into a design-engineering role where I’m both shaping and building the experience. I’m integrating AI across core workflows, improving search and discovery, building agentic tools to run targeted campaigns, as well as refactoring the design system into reusable front-end components that engineers and AI agents can consume directly.
The following snippets highlight the most recent iteration of the product I’m currently building.
Design Systems
Turning the design system into the launchpad for every new Toolbox feature, prototype, and production-ready component.
AI Chat
Giving dealers a conversational way to understand inventory, customers, service opportunities, and operational risks.
Inventory Map View
Helping sales teams find vehicles and keys faster so customers are not left waiting during test drives
Configurations
Giving dealers control over sell-first rules and battery thresholds so they can prioritize the right vehicles before problems happen.
Mobile Device Pairing
Making the pairing process reliable and frustration-free to prevent returning perfectly good hardware.
Dashboard & Reporting
Helping dealers monitor operational health and catch issues before they become costly problems.
Invoices
Reducing billing confusion by bringing invoice visibility and dispute resolution into the dealer's portal.
Gateway Management
Bringing key-tracking infrastructure in-house to improve location accuracy and reduce operational costs.
Impact
Toolbox pre-launch drove a 33% surge in dealership customers.
These features represent a fraction of the work that went into Toolbox, but they capture the broader story — transforming it from a basic lot-management tool into a platform that helps dealers act faster, sell smarter, and operate more efficiently. From improving visibility and decision-making to reducing friction and unlocking new sales behaviors, each piece reinforced the product’s strategic shift toward measurable business impact and long-term adoption.
This shift translated into real commercial lift. Pre-launch drove a 33% surge in dealership signups and secured 134 new dealerships before public release, validating adoption and business demand ahead of launch.
Toolbox was showcased at the 2025 NADA automotive tradeshow in New Orleans, securing dozens of new dealer sign ups.
Invoices
Reducing billing confusion by bringing invoice visibility and dispute resolution into the dealer's portal.
Appreciate you taking the time to go through this. At Ikon Technologies, I also drove impact beyond my traditional role as a designer to support business — shaping strategy, systems, and processes. Click below to take a look at some of the work that actually moved the needle.
