CC
Intelligent Driving
Better driving through voice commands and responsive HUD
CC helps drivers with complex tasks
CC is designed to be your personal driving assistant. CC helps you stay safe by keeping you informed and focused on the road.
Team: Darren Lo, Kyle Helseth, Woo Young Kim, Connie Yang, Cynthia Zhou
My role: Strategy lead, UI/UX Design, Research, Animation
Timeframe: Jun 2021 - Sep 2021
AR Display
CC can display information and graphics on screen as though it were in real space.
Parking assistance
Finding parking is a pain. CC syncs with online parking services to help you find cheap and convenient parking in real time. CC can also help you squeeze into tight spots with auto-pilot parking.
Safety alert features
CC covers all your blind spots. Incoming traffic, pedestrians, signs and signals, CC sees them all and helps you navigate through the city.
Integrate with your apps
Sync your phone to bring your calendar, contacts, and favorite apps to the driving experience.
Our mission
Driving should be safe and fun
Driving can feel like a chore. Not only can it get tiring and monotonous, but it can also be dangerous. Our designs bring color and personality back into the driving experience by helping users accomplish complex tasks, stay engaged, and feel confident while on the road.
The problem
Distracted driving
When drivers are distracted, they are more likely to make mistakes. Mistakes on the road can be fatal, and just a few seconds of reaction time can be the difference between a near miss and a total collision.
Voice is powerful, easy, and personal.
Voice interactions are great for driving because they are hands-free and eyes-free. Drivers don’t have to look away from the road or take their hands off the wheel to get things done.
The problem with voice interactions is discoverability. Users don’t realize what’s in scope and out of scope for voice commands. CC anticipates driver needs and encourages a free-flowing conversation so that drivers don’t have to memorize commands or voice prompts to accomplish complex tasks.
Transparent OLED HUDs
By using transparent OLED technology, CC can render beautiful images on screen to help drivers.
Transparent OLEDs produce a much higher contrast image compared to projectors. OLEDs generate their own light source and can produce both black and white light. This allows for much crisper images and more detailed information to be displayed on screen.
HUD off
HUD On
Leading the project
This is my first project as a team lead. I assembled a cross-functional team of designers with a diverse background: industrial, analytics, and biomedical.
I set up weekly workshops for all the team members to brainstorm and receive direction for the project. I planned out a 10 week project timeline with the team.
Kyle
Woo Young
Connie
Cynthia
Researching the driving experience
Each team member did some preliminary research and exploration individually. I set up a workshop to encourage users to share their vision for the project and how it could help drivers. We brought mood boards and personal anecdotes to share.
Driving our car should be a personal experience that makes it safer and more memorable.
Next we set up 6 user interviews. The goal is to answer these two questions:
What are the major benefits and challenges of driving an electric vehicle in the city
What are the most fun aspects and dangerous aspects of driving in general?
From the interviews, we identified four major findings:
Users like familiarity. Users want things to feel like they have been there and done it before.
Users have a hard time managing all the different features and settings of a car while driving.
It is frustrating for users to solve problems on their own. They lack the assistance and support to solve complex tasks while driving.
Users enjoyed it when the car was able to anticipate problems and take action for the driver, like trip planning or blind spot warnings
Building CC
Moodboards
Each team member contributed concept images that helped the group focus on dashboard styles, color palettes, and physical objects like steering wheels and seat design.
Sketches
I start the design process with simple sketches of UI components, and how interactions will flow from one screen to the next.
Lo-fi mockups
Fast and dirty mockups that demonstrate general ideas and give room for the team to iterate and build upon.
User flow and script
A breakdown of how users will progress through different scenarios and different decisions each user can take. This flow also informed the conversation voice UI script.
Testable prototype
Frames strung together paired with our conversation script created a wizard of oz test prototype.
3D frames
We wanted to include physical interactions in the driver experience but we didn’t have the time to build all the 3D assets and test them. We prioritized the dashboard and steering wheel.
Typography
Inter has wide and spacious kerning that gave room for each letter and word to breathe.
Our aim was to hit a modern and inviting typeface that made reading as easy as possible without losing personality.
Color
A minimum contrast ratio of 6:1 was maintained for all color combinations to ensure readability while driving.
The palette is simplified to black, white, and blues. We avoided using red or green because red usually means stop and green means go and could confuse drivers.
Things I learned
Planning and communication make a difference
This was my first project as a leader. I wish I had spent more time setting up 1 on 1s with my team members so I could hear about their progress and keep them updated and accountable. The biggest challenge was making sure each team member felt like they were contributing and impacting the project meaningfully. If I had set up more concrete goals and milestones for each team member during the build, it would be easier to manage and track progress.
Direction is everything
There were times when team members did not have a clear picture of the project and what was the next step. I should have been more proactive about sharing my vision and thought process with my group. I often had an idea in mind and I would start working on it, but other team members were not aware or did not have a good grasp of how to implement that idea. The workshops were a good chance to re-align everyone on direction, but I need to spend more time in the future on setting direction early and often.
Leaders make decisions
I often faced decision paralysis during this project. There were so many choices and potential designs to explore that I was never sure which option was the best choice. My decision making was compromised because I was worried I would lead the team down the wrong path and waste valuable time and resources. However, leaders need to inspire confidence within their followers, and that starts by being confident in one’s own decisions. For future projects, I will be more decisive and blaze a path forward rather than being wary of what’s ahead. Of course, I will continue to take feedback and directions from my team as well!