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Project TypeResearch led Prototype designs for Infotainment System
My RoleResearch & Design Lead
ContributionUser Interviews
Co-ideation Workshops
Interaction Design
Prototyping
Visual Design
Usability Testing
Stakeholder Management
Co-ideation Workshops
Interaction Design
Prototyping
Visual Design
Usability Testing
Stakeholder Management
ToolsFigma, FigJam
Target UsersSeasoned drivers, Newbies, Car enthusiasts and occasional drivers
OutcomePrototype tested & accepted for Pilot release.
Duration3 Months
Project Brief
The client, a leading automobile brand in India engaged with Yuj Designs to reimagine infotainment system for their high end personal vehicles. The goal was to understand the unmet needs & therefore opportunity spaces around connected car experience & infotainment systems. Keeping the driver experience at the core, we wanted to understand from a users’ lens – their feelings, pain points & motivations. Finally, gather insights that can help us reimagine an empowered infotainment system for the future.
My Role
As Principal UX, my responsibility was to drive end to end project execution including primary & secondary user research, discovering opportunity spaces & solution vectors, conceptualisation, high fidelity mockups and interactive prototypes for the final design.
My team consisted of 2 Users Researchers & 3 Digital Designers. I reported to the Design Director for Yuj Design Studios in India and Client’s Program Manager. Along with that, I had to work very closely with Product Owners, Technical Architects, & Subject Matter Experts to ensure both business & user requirements are met within technical constraints.
Design Process
1
Discover
Market study of emerging trends and consumer preferences. Survey & interviews to learn user behaviour and preferences firsthand.
2
Define
Our learnings and synthesis from primary and secondary research.
3
Design
Ideas, flows & directions for the future. Concept Ideation based on feature list from opportunity areas & innovation pipeline.
4
Deliver
Prevalidation & User Testing with alpha & beta users. Incorporating feedbacks and iterative design to match business and user goals.
Discovery
To understand the unmet needs & therefore opportunity spaces around connected car experience & infotainment systems. Keeping the driver experience at the core, we wanted to understand from a users’ lens – their feelings, pain points & motivations. Finally, Gather insights that can help us reimagine an empowered infotainment system for the future.
Automobile Brands:
Maruti Suzuki, Honda, Mahindra, Skoda, Toyota
Porsche, MG, Tesla, Mercedes, BMW, Audi
Reports and Articles:
Accenture Automotive HMI Trends Research
IBM Digital Transformation in the Automotive Industry
Automotive Infotainment Systems Forecast 2023
Mobile Drive – Smart Cockpit
Mobility Foresight Report 2023
Key Findings:
Emerging Trends
Car Safety
Geofencing, sending destination links directly from phones, remotely locking/unlocking doors, dog mode.
Real-time Vehicle Diagnostics
Giving live updates on the physical status of the car. Tyre pressure monitoring, alerts about speed, direction, mileage, expected range
Console Interactions
Multi-sensory inputs from physical controls, touch screens, voice commands to gesture inputs.
Connected applications
Video conferencing apps, IoT apps such as Service apps like Zomato, and Justdial
Immersive Infotainment
Customisable UI, remembering preferences, seamless music sync from the phone to system, 3D maps for detailed navigation.
Initial Assessment Survey:
~70 Participants
Gender
22: Female
49: Male
Location
51: Metro
19: Non Metro
Age Group
51: Below 35
49: 35-50
01: Above 50
Key Findings : Emerging Behaviours & Expectations
People primarily listen to music, follow maps, and make calls while driving.
90% of respondents are interested to listen to music when they drive.
Their current console interaction lacks smooth interactions and intuitiveness.
Top 2 important experiences with the car consoles.
They expect the car to give them usage insights.
More than 60% of respondents wanted user performance stats, and trip summaries as features.
They rely heavily on external help in times of emergencies.
77% – Call RSA and 50% – Search online
Towards Primary Research
From the research done so far, we observed 5 major focus areas that we felt the relevance to deep dive into. This helped us set foundation for the users selection & broad questionnaire categories.
Driver Education
Vehicle Health
Entertainment
Car Safety
Car Controls
User Interviews
Age Group
05: Below 35
08: 35-50
02: Above 50
Gender
04: Female
11: Male
User Segments
50%: Existing Customers
50%: Non Customers
Language
Hindi
English
User Personas:
Research Synthesis
Insight 1/6 : Vehicle Health
Car owners often feel anxious when they are struggling to find some information about their car’s health.
Users desire their car to offer the means to ensure confident driving, prioritise safety and maintenance needs.
Opportunity Areas
Real-time diagnostic tools.
Enhanced dashboard and alerts.
Integrated service and maintenance network.
Proactive safety features
Insight 2/6 : Seamless Connectivity
Users desire the ability to seamlessly use the infotainment system as an extension of their phone allowing them to perform desired tasks from the car effortlessly.
Opportunity Areas
Seamless smartphone integration.
Integrated app ecosystem.
Mirror-link and app integration.
Insight 3/6 : Personalisation
Users want their vehicles to seamlessly adapt to their personalised settings and preferences every time they drive.
Most users would prefer to configure their personalised settings remotely.
Opportunity Areas
Cloud-based user profiles.
Connected car technology.
Applications for remote configuration.
Insight 4/6 : User Behavior
Car enthusiasts are keen on optimising their driving techniques to improve efficiency and enhance trip planning capabilities.
Opportunity Areas
Usage patterns.
Performance visualisation.
Energy consumption patterns/tracking carbon footprint.
Real-time feedback and coaching.
Driving modes and customisation.
Insight 5/6 : Informed Assistance
In emergency situations, users want the system to provide detailed information, guidance, and actionable solutions.
Users want to stay on top of their vehicle’s maintenance needs, ensuring optimal performance, longevity, and safety, especially in situations like service dues.
Opportunity Areas
Emergency assistance.
User safety monitoring.
Integration with emergency services.
Real-time guidance and instructions.
Service reminders.
Service Logs
One-click service booking.
Insight 6/6 : Learnability and Discoverability
Users find difficulty to learn about the features and functionalities of the car including infotainment system.
Opportunity Areas
Progressive on-boarding for new drivers.
In-car tutorial systems.
Personalised support and user feedback.
Online communities and forums.
Opportunity Spaces and Solution Vectors
After deriving user insights we identified the key opportunity spaces. Then we listed down all the functionalities and categorised them into must-have & nice to have functions depending upon the users’ needs and business priorities.
Service
Automated service reminders & on-the-go service booking,
Live tracking of service updates on Smartphone
Service logs
Live tracking of service updates on Smartphone
Service subscription model (Reward system)
Service station locator
Car Controls:
Remotely configure infotainment system using mobile app
Vehicle Health & Safety:
Vehicle diagnostics tests
Trip history, energy consumption patterns & driving behaviour
Emergency assistance & SOS
Integrated alerts – text speech along with icon alerts, nudges
Personalisation
Multiple user profiles – preferred car presets by name
Driver Education:
Interactive onboarding
Training modes and on-screen tutorials
Community forums & exclusive access to events (Tribe)
Interaction Design Principles
2 Seconds Glance & Return:
Empowering driver to read the content within 2 seconds and return their focus to the road.
Making all communication during driving as clear and efficient as possible & To minimize the time and mental effort required by glances at the screen
Prioritize driving-related tasks
Information needed for driving and safe vehicle control (such as navigation directions) should be prioritized over information unrelated to driving (such as media titles).
Use one-handed gestures Only
Ensuring No task should require removal of both hands from the steering wheel.
One hand should always remain on the steering wheel. No tasks should interfere with the driver’s ability to control the vehicle and respond quickly to events on the road.
Empowering driver to control pace
Every task & action is interruptible & resumable at logical points.
Because demands on drivers can be unpredictable, interfaces must allow them to suspend interaction at any point. This way, they can refocus attention on driving without feeling that they must hurry to complete a task.
Cognitive Constraints
Attentional Demands
Requires focused attention on the road.
Interactions with car console might cause distraction.
Cognitive Load
Cognitive load associated with complex interfaces can tax mental resources.
Increased cognitive load may lead to reduced attention, slower reaction times.
Visual & Manual Distractions
Using the car console often requires visually attend and physically interact with certain screen controls.
These can divert visual attention from the road and require manual dexterity.
Working Memory Limitation
While driving, users need to remember and process relevant information. Eg. navigational instructions.
Interacting with car console can overload working memory and hinder cognitive performance.
Dual-task Interference
Users engaging in multiple cognitive tasks simultaneously.
Dual-task interference may impair reaction time, decision-making, and overall awareness.
Cognitive Biases
Human cognition is prone to various biases, such as confirmation bias, in-attentional blindness, or cognitive tunnelling.
These biases can affect perception, attention, and decision-making, potentially leading to errors or accidents.
Concept Designs
Considering the underlying Ixd principles and cognitive constraints, 2 concepts were ideated and wireframes were prepared. These concepts were then tested with sample users using paper prototypes to check interaction efficacy & experience for users.
Initial Concept Validation with Users
Considering the underlying Ixd principles and cognitive constraints, 2 concepts were ideated and wireframes were prepared. These concepts were then tested with sample users using paper prototypes to check interaction efficacy & experience for users.
Key Learnings from user validation
Handsfree Calling, Music & Navigation are the most critical functions needed by driver. Access to these should functions should be upfront.
Car controls and settings like HVAC are painful when operated through infotainment. Users prefer to have physical knobs assisted with infotainment to operate them .
When user accessed Top navigation, the functions on the page were blocked by hand creating accessibility issues.
Switching between already paired phones is painful & requires at least 4-5 steps. It should be improved.
Accessory controls for co-passenger convenience & critical functions are expected along with driver accessible controls.
Feedback Incorporation & Concept Finalisation
One concept was finalised for further detailing based on acceptance by users and business. High fidelity wireframes and prototypes were prepared for iterative testing in the real world scenarios.
Visual Designs
Different visual themes or skins were prepared to allow drivers to personalise their experience. These themes were coupled very closely with other elements of car cabin like ambient lights and audio settings to offer drivers a 360 degree experience.
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