HMI

Creating concept for digital cockpit.

NDA

Client

UX designer

Role

Automotive

Segment

Concept cockpit HMI

The client wanted to expand their partnerships from their main segment into automotive, and they needed to demonstrate the technologies they had developed.

I was part of a small team and contributed to the discovery phase and UX concepts.

We met the client on-site and had a series of kickoff meetings to discover more about the goals of the project, the technologies involved, the target audience, and the form of demonstration.

The first obstacle was defining which technologies were the priority, as the list was quite long. We ran a workshop with sorting and rating exercises to narrow down the focus.

The second obstacle was ideating how the demonstration would work. We knew they wanted to provide as real an experience as possible without having to develop the entire system.

Internally, we ideated a few concepts, with the winning idea being to build a demo cockpit where the audience could sit in the driver's seat. The experience would be presented through a guided presentation.

First steps

Other discoveries:

Brand values
Design language of their existing product
Technical specifications for technologies
Customer study
Target HW

We needed to define how these scenarios would look.

We set a few rules:

Scenarios

They must address real pain points
They must be real scenarios
We will have unique persona and journey for each

Based on that, we split up the scenarios to develop them further. I was in charge of two of them.

I delved into the customer study provided by the client and found the most interesting effort to reach young professionals in the rising middle class in China. The scenario became clear: the daily commute to work.

For that scenario, I created Jake, who is driving to his software development job in heavy traffic. As he also likes technology, a connected experience is a must for him.

Aligning this with the selected technologies, I set out to create Jake's experience:

Smart assistant facilitating hands-free interactions.
Useful information such as traffic updates and quick calendar interactions.

Commute to work

To create these journeys, we needed to design at least part of the system in which they would take place. The client requested that we develop multiple concepts based on a few requirements.

Research

My task was to design the most conventional concept, similar to existing systems, and incorporate elements of the client's design guidelines.

First, I mapped out the current trends by creating a competitors analysis document and conducted a quick study to determine reachability limits.

Overview of the competitors analysis

Interaction concept

We reviewed all the journeys and defined the necessary apps and interactions for each. Based on that, we created a feature list with descriptions.

I defined layouts for each screen with a focus on the home screen and created wireframes for widgets, apps, instrument cluster, including ADAS and HUD.

The first interesting challenge was to define how the passenger interacts with the display. I created the concept of shared and personal widgets for both occupants and a way to send information and interact between them.

The second interesting challenge was the smart assistant, defining its states, functions, and the way it interacts with the rest of the system.