Project Info
Timeline: June - August 2021
Type: Internship, Concept Design, UX Research
Tools: Miro, Sketch, Axure
Type: Internship, Concept Design, UX Research
Tools: Miro, Sketch, Axure
Background
I spent 10 weeks as a remote design intern at General Motor’s relatively young CX Design organization. Here, I led a project building trust for autonomous features. I also helped design research on in-vehicle voice fronts and document conversational design practices.
During my time at GM, I was under the service design branch of the Global CX organization, which focuses on designing digital products, services, and experiences. Within this branch, I worked on the advanced design team, meaning that I worked mostly in the early discovery and concept testing stages. Given my interest in autonomous vehicles, I initiated and led a project on trust for autonomous features, in preparation for Ultra Cruise. I also helped out with some conversational design projects.
Also, huge thank you to my lovely mentors Joe Lenneman and Kristine Taylor who continued to support me during and after my internship :)
During my time at GM, I was under the service design branch of the Global CX organization, which focuses on designing digital products, services, and experiences. Within this branch, I worked on the advanced design team, meaning that I worked mostly in the early discovery and concept testing stages. Given my interest in autonomous vehicles, I initiated and led a project on trust for autonomous features, in preparation for Ultra Cruise. I also helped out with some conversational design projects.
Also, huge thank you to my lovely mentors Joe Lenneman and Kristine Taylor who continued to support me during and after my internship :)
The advanced design team
The advanced design team focuses on developing concept and future mobility projects that fall outside the scope of existing production vehicle programs. In doing so, they reveal opportunities for future transformative innovation in the transportation space. Past and current projects include BrightDrop, a lunar rover concept with Lockheed Martin, and VTOL.
What I did (high level)
I started with the general theme of trust for autonomous vehicles and read through research papers on trust in the context of automation. Next, I talked with other design teams and even got a meeting with Kristin Kolodge (executive director of HMI J.D. Power) for benchmarking and learning from others. With these insights, I was able to define my general problem statement:
Using my research, I organized and led 2 cross-channel ideation sessions to design 4 initial concepts. I prototyped and created visual stimuli to be used in two rounds of interview-style research studies, which informed my design refinement process, and in the end, I produced a recommended "final" concept to present to the team, including our global director of CX design.
The Challenge
How might we engage curious customers in an out-of-vehicle experience that demonstrates the safety and value of an autonomous system?
Using my research, I organized and led 2 cross-channel ideation sessions to design 4 initial concepts. I prototyped and created visual stimuli to be used in two rounds of interview-style research studies, which informed my design refinement process, and in the end, I produced a recommended "final" concept to present to the team, including our global director of CX design.
This project was to be continued by the Advanced Design Team as of August 2021.
