#User-centered Design #Digital-physical Integration
8 month (2020-2021)
Background
In the rapidly evolving electric motorcycle market, our client wants to transform urban mobility from a functional necessity to a lifestyle statement to acquire a new group of tech-savvy customers.
The design challenge was to create a holistic Human-Machine Interface (HMI) that differentiates from conventional interfaces, integrating digital screens, physical controls, and intelligent lighting into an emotionally engaging experience.
Project Goal
The objectives of this project:
1. Define user experience from a strategic level, and develop an MVP version of a digital interface that seamlessly integrates with the physical interfaces and aligns with the product strategy.
2. Inspire value proposition of the new product line by developing a coherent user experience that resonates with tech-savvy urban users.
Process & Role
I led the development of research planning and UX logic from project start to delivery, together with a multidisciplinary team. The figure below visualizes my involvement in each project phase.
Leading a user-inspired design process
A user-centered mindset is applied throughout the project. I led the research process to define the target audience as the starting point of the user-centered design process, through trend observation, competitor research, and ethnographic user research.
I used personas to illustrate different segments identified from the ethnographic interviews, These personas provided deep insights into user behaviors and mobility goals. They vividly illustrate our targets and provide the internal and external teams with shared understanding of user needs.
For example, Urban Explorer, one of the personas, was used in the brainstorming session, inspiring three innovative concepts around navigation and media entertainment features.
Cross-functional collaboration is one of the highlights of this project. To help to facilitate cross-functional understanding and form strategic decisions regarding the user experience, I led the User Journey Mapping to visualize the current user experience. A comprehensive mapping also helped to effectively identify the stakeholders of the functionality modules during the meetings.
Leading UX Development & Technical reviews
High integration between physical and digital components is crucial for HMI development and implementation. As the primary liaison between design and engineering teams, I facilitated cross-functional communication and alignment, initiating hardware constraint evaluation together with product owners, software and hardware engineers, brand managers, and other stakeholders.
Managing User Testing and Concept Evaluation
Two formal evaluations were conducted during the Wireframing and UI development stages, with design critique on a monthly basis. I managed 50% of the test samples facilitation, analysis, and reporting presentation.
Summary & Closing Thoughts
This project successfully reimagined the e-motorcycle user experience by developing an innovative, adaptive HMI that bridges user needs with technological capabilities.
Growing a lot from this project, I trained my skills in managing a design process that balances both user experience and technical feasibility, seeing the whole gig from a more integrated perspective.
Thanks for riding with me 🛵 Check out other projects below.
