Featured Projects
Integrated Product Development:
Reimaging Control Switches
How might we improve the intuitiveness of control systems in vehicles to decrease human error for less experienced drivers?
Automobile design is moving in the direction of increased digitization with the growing need for complex in-vehicle functions like entertainment, gaming, and navigation. Big touchscreen and complex panels are installed in new car models. High-tech and fancy features are important selling points in branding and marketing.
While these features allow the driver to access many features, the learning curve of the control switch system is relatively high. Drivers, especially those who are less experienced, feel intimated to try new features while driving. Additionally, unintuitive interactions for current control panel may cause operation errors and extra cognitive load for drivers, leading to distractions and affecting the safety of the driver.
This is a Carnegie Mellon University Master's course team project carried on over three months. My role in the five-people team included:
- Researched the automobile industry to provide foundational reports on primary and secondary markets.
- Led 5 user interviews and 3 co-design sessions to understand the needs and pain points of amateur drivers.
- Produced new findings and synthesized actionable items from unstructured data.
- Brainstormed novel ideas during ideas development.
- Collaborated with a team of talented product designers & user researchers to work on and present our project.
I follow the double diamond design process to do continuous research to inform the next steps in the product development process
Discovery & Opportunity
Research methods:
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Initial Exploration and Inquiry
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Literature Review
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Domain Survey
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PESTLE Analysis
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Concept Map
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15 Interviews
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Observation & Contextual Inquiry on 3 drivers
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Task Analysis
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2 by 2 Analysis on control features
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Persona
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Scenario
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Value Opportunity Analysis
Market Analysis
The automotive industry is still strongly growing, especially its associated sub-markets such as safety systems and technology adoption industries. There is a widespread adoption of touchscreens, yet physical switches have at least 2X more market value. This may switch in the next couple of years.
Touch Screen
The global automotive smart display market size was valued at USD 11.14 billion for 2021 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.2% from 2021 to 2028.
Physical Switches
The global automotive switches market valued $28.6 billion in 2019 and is projected to reach $43.2 billion in 2027, registering a CAGR of 7.6%.
PESTLE Analysis
2 X 2 Analysis + Contextual Inquiry
Scenario
Key User Insights
Complex in-vehicle functions satisfy drivers’ wants but increase distraction.
There is a growing need for complex in-vehicle functions like entertainment, gaming, and navigation. People desire diverse experiences in their cars that only an integrated system can accomplish. However, the incorporation of these systems and touchscreens has been deemed to cause greater distractions while driving.
New features in vehicles have a high learning curve which is not well supported.
Within new cars, the complexity and quantity of features create a steep learning curve for both experienced and new drivers, causing them to be intimidated and unlikely to take full advantage of their car’s capabilities. Drivers utilize external sources such as manuals to educate themselves. However, this process is time-intensive and ineffective.
Poor accessibility and intuitiveness of vehicle controls cause driver error.
Drivers misclick controls due to unintuitive buttons and lack of feedback and has difficulty reaching for highly used features. There is a need for simple and intuitive interactions that reduce cognitive driver load, especially since they can only allocate limited attention to control the vehicle’s features.
Product Opportunity Gap
How might we improve the intuitiveness of control systems in vehicles to decrease human error for less experienced drivers?
Based on our research, we determined this was the best product opportunity gap to solve. We consistently heard from users that control design within their vehicles was difficult to use and prone to causing human errors. Not only did that cause errors as a result of misuse, but it also reduced drivers' confidence in their own abilities to control their vehicles correctly, thereby making them less likely to take advantage of more advanced features. However, despite this, vehicle manufacturers continue to prioritize complex digital systems and unintuitive control surfaces which put the technology ahead of the user.
Define
Concept Development
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Concept Introduction
Integrated Learning Tutorials
Helping drivers understand the features of new vehicles.
We will create a series of tutorials with varying levels of detail to teach drivers about the features of their vehicles. It will integrate with a projection system highlighting the controls necessary for each feature and coupled with existing digital screens. For experienced drivers in a rental car, you might use the 60-second quick start guide, but if you’ve just purchased a new vehicle or are learning to drive, you might use the more in-depth tutorial with a complete feature set and use case.
Addressing the problem
Complex panels and high-tech fancy features are installed in new car models, but their learning curve is relatively high. Drivers, especially those less experienced or unfamiliar with the car, feel intimated to try new features while driving.
Prototyping & Testing
We will create an interactive prototype of car control panels, with tutorials on different goals. The prototype will allow the user to choose their learning goals and give an interactive introduction to them. We will test with people with various driving experiences, especially new drivers. We will let them sit in the car and interact with the prototype. Afterward, we will test their understanding of functions & ask about their feelings.
How might we measure success?
Users can understand the functions and have a sense of control after the tutorials.
During the tutorial, users feel intuitive in interactions. For each step, they are clear about what they are going to do and they seldom feel confused.
Both experienced and new drivers feel the tutorial better helps them understand the features.
Learning Mode
A learning mode feature will allow drivers to explore the unknown buttons in their vehicles. When the engine is off or the driver is holding down break, drivers will be able to press any button they are unfamiliar with and hear about its functionality.
Technology enablers
A projection system and LED illumination will highlight the controls referenced in the learning tutorials.Ï The set of tutorials will live within an app and be integrated into CarPlay, so all drivers have to do is download the app and select their learning path in the car.
User Research Project
Mental Health Self-Care:
How to Sail Your Own Waves
We live in a generation of ever-worsening collective mental health, due to the pandemic, family trauma, loneliness, and the list goes on and on. Nationwide, almost one in five people (47.1 million) in the U.S. are living with a mental health condition. However, there is a lack of mental health professionals nationwide, and more than 150 million people reside in parts of the country where there is a nationally declared deficit of mental health experts.
Mental health is a lifelong journey. When we can’t receive help from professionals, we need to learn to navigate our state of mind to conquer the storm. That’s when mental health self-care came in handy.
The purpose of this 7-week individual research is to answer the two following questions：
How can we design products and services that help people find the mental health self-care methods that work for them?
What are some behavioral change interventions that can help people make lifelong mental health self-care habits?
Initial exploration and surveys
Since the aim of my survey was to explore a wide range of mental health self-care options, I didn't want to go deep into the psychology and details just yet. Also, considering mental health is a serious topic that is hard for people to open up about in surveys, I wanted to save the reflective questions for the interviews.
Results:
The survey collected 17 responses, with 64.7% of the participants aged 18-24 and 35.3% of the participants aged 25- 34. 41.2% of the participants have never been formally diagnosed with a mental health disorder, and 11.7% of the participants have been diagnosed with more than one mental health disorder. 41.2% of the participants reported that they encounter anxiety, depression, or panic attacks "very frequently".
Initial insights:
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Lots of people encounter negative mental health conditions but they withdraw from seeking professional help. People avoid therapy because of the price and the complex reservation process.
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People like approaches that make them forget about their current conditions or bring them closer to the loved ones.
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Compared to my hypothesis, everyone has their own effective approach to curing their mental health conditions.
Interviews
Objective & Planning
To explore the nuanced process when people explore the right mental health self-care approach. What are some characteristics of the right option?
To understand the holistic process of people's mental health journey.
In order to dive deep into people's psychological processes, I wrote down lots of open questions such as "Tell me about one time you suffer from a mental health downturn. What was the trigger, and how did u gradually recover from it?" During the interview process, I listened more than I spoke, and I utilized active & unbiased listening approaches. I always made sure people trusted me enough before I move on to deeper questions.
Results:
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I interviewed 10 people over the course of 3 weeks. 2 people have very healthy mental health; 2 people are currently struggling with mental health issues but not actively participating in self-care/professional care; 6 people have been diagnosed with mental health disorders but overcame it.
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Every single interviewee who has experienced mental health issues tried therapy at some point in their life. However, only 3 people consistently went through the whole process.
4 interviewees reflected that they thought going to therapy or searching for mental health self-care was a signal of being weak. -
8 interviewees mentioned doing yoga, stretching, and meditation when distressed. However, 3 reflected they didn't like guided audio when doing them.
Every interviewee mentioned that when they feel anxious and distressed, they go to their close friends for validation and encouragement. -
When asked about what Youtube videos they watch when they need to soothe themselves down, 6 out of 10 interviewees answered that they enjoyed watching videos that are unrelated to their personal lives.
Codesign
Workshop 1
For the first assumption, I create two axes, one representing the timeframe from the beginning of a mental health downturn to the end, the other representing one’s level of mental health control. I will choose participants who are in stable mental health and those who are still battling with disorders. Participants can choose the mental health self-care options to map out the methods they choose over the period of time, and how each of the methods helps improve their mental health.
Workshop 2
For the second assumption, I let the participants to write down YouTube video titles that they would actually click into. They can also doodle the preview of the video to show me what the video is like. In this way, I get to see their ideal video type. If there’s no mental health disorders keywords in the titles, my assumption is right.
Insights
- People make their own choice about the right mental health self-care method based on their personality, interest, and level of stress. Most of the time, they just want something to distract them from their current distress.
- Users who overcome mental health disorders are more self-conscious. They have more clarity over what works for their bodies and maintain a higher level of mental health in general, compared to those who suffer but never seek help.
- Users turn down professional help often for four reasons: complex reservation systems, not trusting the therapists, money, and social stigma.
- People who maintain a higher level of mental health often have a set of repeated mental health self-care routines that provide them with control, clarity, and confidence.
- When choosing mental health self-care approaches, users avoid media or services that hint they have mental health issues.
Recommendation
Design criteria:
MUST help people with mental health disorders feel trustworthy and safe. COULD provide professional help such as mental health first aid hotlines and therapy.
SHOULD help people to actively control and navigate their lives.
Direction 1: How might we change the perception of mental health self-care to make it less heavy for the general public? In this way, people will be more likely to explore the self-care methods that work for them. Possible pathway: start promoting a more neutral concept in replacement for "mental health self-care", such as"
Direction 2: How can we help people clean off social media-fueled anxiety?
Possible pathway: an API that automatically mutes all your social media notifications or hides the likes & comments
StudyCafe
Gamified productivity app
StudyCafe was a two-year project me and my team started during quarantine. Taking inspiration from the anime community, I want to create a mobile app to help college students focus on their goals, guided by anime-styled characters and gamified stories.
I created a team of 15 people, with very talented product designers, illustrators, developers, and screen-writers on our side. During the process, my role included:
- Drived product ideation, recruited talents, led software product development and pitched to over 20 investors.
- Led closed beta test strategies, grew a 200-people early users community, and earned popularity in local universities.
Artistic Directions
Users can pick virtual study buddies to study with, accomplish to-do lists, and unlock romantic stories.
In contrast to other productivity apps that cold-heartedly push users for high maintenance, we want to provide users with a warm, encouraging experience.
Mood and Tone
To make users feel relaxed and focused, we picked warm undertones for the features and virtual study space.
Character Design
We designed the characters to be competitive to goad users to study. The narrative also incorporated education’ experiences, such as college entry exams, to make it relatable to our users.
