Visualising User Experiences: Analysing Embodiment of UX in Autonomous Vehicle Concepts
Year: 2019
Editor: Wartzack, Sandro; Schleich, Benjamin; Gon
Author: Ranscombe, Charlie (1); Rodda, Jacob (1); Johnson, Mark (2)
Series: ICED
Institution: Swinburne University of Technology
Section: User-centred design
DOI number: https://doi.org/10.1017/dsi.2019.411
ISSN: 2220-4342
Abstract
The prospect of autonomous vehicles and associated technologies has disrupted traditional modes of vehicle operation and ownership. This requires automotive designers to shift their focus from designing vehicle form to consider the design of transport experiences. As such, there is a need to explore how best to support automotive designers in communicating user experiences (UX) alongside the physical design of vehicles. This paper presents an industry case study conducted with Ford Design Asia Pacific to assess the embodiment of UX in early concepts. Attributes of generalised model for UX are mapped to designers' storyboard illustration for the experience of an advanced concept for an autonomous vehicle interior. Results show how a mix of captions, sketches of users and contextual features illustrate different attributes of user experience. From findings we conclude firstly, the need to develop a toolkit to help designers communicate descriptions of as yet designed interactions. We also conclude that sketching contextual features of experience can provide a starting point to develop aspects of UX that can be used to differentiate and identify the Ford brand.
Keywords: Autonomous Vehicles, Case study, Conceptual design, Experience design, Visualisation