In 2021, with the government’s 政策倾斜on EV, and the satuation of raid-hailing market, Didi decided to go into the EV industry and oppcupy the early market, and get a place among fiece competitions in China market
The first customered owened vehicle project was named mona, and I was invovled in this project from very begining, from concept exploration to desgin freeze, and made major contribution in interior strategy especially and experienice design. To create a value proposition of this vehicle, our team decides to create companion ship of the vehicle, position it as a big toy of people. The exterior strategy follows the rule
objective
to find a value proposition of this vehicle
after anlyasis of the research, wo positione mona ‘s look to
context
The team descided to create a companion-like relationship of the vehilce, thus let us explore the pratical method taht cna build emotional bonds with the customer. When we’re exploring
I was invovled in this project as the UX designer, to help think about the expeirnces of customers and touch point we can land on to creat emotional experince
I was engaged in the project Mona from the very begining, as a UX and strategy designer. In the first phase of the project, I was inovlved in the exploraion over product strategy, conducting competitive analysis, and explore unique value proposition in the smart cabin expernice design. I propose we engage five senses and strengthen interactions with the physical world.
among all directions, the team selected the smart robot as the main theme,
at that time, the team is actively explore different direction of Mona. during our competitive analysisi, it insipired the team leader that how the car differennciate in their faces, and how
After research, it decides to follow the theme “smart robot” and create companionship (the rationale of this will be talked about in another case study).
Didi wants to transfer into EV industry and occupy the early market and started project Mona. I was engaged in the project from very beginig, contributed majorly to the forming of product strategy and smart cabin expenrice. At that time, there is not much EV focused on the expeirncie and we want to creat the unique value proposition in that area. The lighting interaction came after we decided to create companionships between users and customers. we set up a strategy for both interactions: with fire in your heart and light in your eyes. and I contributed majorly to building the exterior lighting design, while helped theme forming and making animations.
Didi wants to step into the
fosteriing loyalty, support urban mobility, capitalizing on new revenue streams
business objectives
enhance companionship in the expernice and driving product differentiation
my goals
enhance engagement with five senses when interacte with exterenio and interior
give emotional value during the to the vehilce and enhance the emotional engagement
business opportunities
brand positioning as the innovator when steping into the market
immersive, multi-sensory create a deeper emotional connection between the car and its passengers, it creates a holistic memorable expienices that transforms the car from device into companion-like entity
multi sensory approach is a innovating methods and differentiate itself in the competitive market
context:
Didi decided to enter the EV market and capitalizing on new market share. In 2021, it starts the project Mona and feicely want to create a unique value proposition and standout. The team decided to abandon traditional desgin process of transportation design which is driven by emotional value from its aethetics and luxious interior, and decided to take a product mindset and design the vehilce driven by experince, thus bringing up the product strategy: “simple, smart, sophisiticated”. Mona was defined as a smart robotic friend that accompnied users, support in emotional expeinces, and forming a long-term relationship. I was engaged in this project to anlize the expeinice touch point and create expineice hightlight.
problem statement - the challenge
to create a product-like car with the percepetion of smart that leaves an innovative image of the brand
to create delicated expeinces interacting, strenghten the compainionship and enhance customer buyins and retention, develope its fan group by starting to build its design style
the challenge is to define expinece touchpoint and create expoince highlight, and make expineces memorible
busines needs
business needs
create the perception of smart
enhance customer retention
differienate with traditional vehilces form OEMs
my strategy
create holistic expnieces and natural interactions, to not only support, but to anticipate
add unique personality and human-like expenrices of the vehilce, and create a companionship-like relationship with customers
with unique emotional value that not only provided by the styling of exterior and car performance
starting from expenice highlight
I suggested that experneice to find unique opportuinties, we should not look at unsatisfied needs reported by passengers, or makeup for the painpoint from our competitors, or join the endless competition of car performance. we should examine the all activities as a holistic expeinices, with a storytelling structure, expienice design is a intentionally presentation.
I referenced clasiical storytelling structure, and find the memorible expinces will rechieve if we place highlight in the begining, at the end. some dramas even have a transition point at the center, where the story pressure go highest, and transition drastically. this model insight the team to choose 3 major touchpoint to hightlight emotional value, and map out an ideal expeinces with mona. In the beginging: user see the car, the car will say hi to him. In the middle, user inside the car, the car will support and company him. At the end, user lock and leave the car, the car will wave goodbye.
one idea stand out as we were exploring directions in these 3 stages, by using the front lamp light as car’s expression. we started to create differnt variations of what can be the lighting pattern, but they were too dramatic and random. after discussing with the manager, I started to use a more systematic and structured method. if the lighingt is the language of communication, then there must be words, grammrs, sentences that form the language. This insipired me to map differnt componennts of the lamp to mimic small porpotion of human face.
(不按照时间顺序行不行？，直接按照feature， thinking在feature里面讲）
（The story behind this: bllabllbal 标题）
In 2021, with government policies favoring electric vehicles (EVs) and a saturated ride-hailing market, Didi made a strategic move to enter the EV industry, aiming to create new public image of a tech innovator.
I was involved from the very beginning of their first customer-owned EV project, named Mona, making major contributions to the interior strategy and design thinking in EV experience. I worked closely with the design VP, collaborated with another UX designer, and together we defined a unique value proposition under the strategy of 3S: Simple, Smart and Sophisticated. We decided to abandon the traditional process in transportation design, and use a product mindset, to create a memorable experience that differentia Mona from competitors.
Objectives
to create a product-like EV that feels intelligent
enhance user-car bond and create long-term loyalty
innovate on car design process and differentiate us from competitors
Challenge
The market is highly competitive, showcasing expensive and flashy features, such as large screens, in-car entertainment systems and multifunctional interiors.
Our vehicle and performance cannot surpass those of competitors focused on high-end hardware.
after discussing with the team
To create a innovate experinecie, I proposed a different approach, to work on address user expeinrices as a cohesive story
I suggested we create holistic experiences instead of correcting competitor’s painpoints. Ex
I referenced on the classical storyte
proposed we create multi-sensory experience
starting from expenice highlight
I suggested that experneice to find unique opportuinties, we should not look at unsatisfied needs reported by passengers, or makeup for the painpoint from our competitors, or join the endless competition of car performance. we should examine the all activities as a holistic expeinices, with a storytelling structure, expienice design is a intentionally presentation.
I referenced clasiical storytelling structure, and find the memorible expinces will rechieve if we place highlight in the begining, at the end. some dramas even have a transition point at the center, where the story pressure go highest, and transition drastically. this model insight the team to choose 3 major touchpoint to hightlight emotional value, and map out an ideal expeinces with mona. In the beginging: user see the car, the car will say hi to him. In the middle, user inside the car, the car will support and company him. At the end, user lock and leave the car, the car will wave goodbye.
one idea stand out as we were exploring directions in these 3 stages, by using the front lamp light as car’s expression. we started to create differnt variations of what can be the lighting pattern, but they were too dramatic and random. after discussing with the manager, I started to use a more systematic and structured method. if the lighingt is the language of communication, then there must be words, grammrs, sentences that form the language. This insipired me to map differnt componennts of the lamp to mimic small porpotion of human face.
transform traditional process in car design and explore
Business objectives
problem statement - the challenge
to create a product-like car with the percepetion of smart that leaves an innovative image of the brand
to create delicated expeinces interacting, strenghten the compainionship and enhance customer buyins and retention, develope its fan group by starting to build its design style
the challenge is to define expinece touchpoint and create expoince highlight, and make expineces memorible
busines needs
business needs
create the perception of smart
enhance customer retention
differienate with traditional vehilces form OEMs
my strategy
create holistic expnieces and natural interactions, to not only support, but to anticipate
add unique personality and human-like expenrices of the vehilce, and create a companionship-like relationship with customers
with unique emotional value that not only provided by the styling of exterior and car performance
enhance engagement of users and show the intelligence of the car
create
In collaboration with another UX designer and close di
I collaborated closely with another UX designer and the design VP, helped the team define a unique value proposition for Mona.
Collaborated with another UX designer and worked closely with the design VP
Afather… I realize that it is impossible to win the competition if we just fixed pain points and level up each touch points, because we ‘re at disadvantage if compared in manufacturing costs. Thus I propose a different approach to view experience as a holistic
In 2021, with government policies favoring electric vehicles (EVs) and a saturated ride-hailing market, Didi made a strategic move to enter the EV industry. I was involved from the very beginning of their first customer-owned EV project, named Mona, making major contributions to the interior strategy and design thinking in EV experience. I worked closely with the design VP, collaborated with another UX designer, and together we defined a unique value proposition under the strategy of 3S: Simple, Smart and Sophisticated. We decided to abandon the styling-oriented approach in traditional transportation design, and use a product mindset, to make Mona a digital companion to users, and build long-term relationships through memorable experiences.
Objectives
to create a product-like EV that feels intelligent
enhance user-car bond and create long-term loyalty
innovate car design process and differentiate us from competitors
Challenge
The market is highly competitive, showcasing expensive and flashy features, such as large screens, in-car entertainment systems and multifunctional interiors.
Our vehicle and performance cannot surpass those of competitors focused on high-end hardware.
To find inspiration for such experiences, the team had done intensive research over the market, and created a comprehensive journey map to mark out areas for improvement. After ideating and feasibility checking with purchasing managers, I realized that it would be impossible for us to win the competition if we only work on competitor’s pain points. We’re at the disadvantage of hardwares due to lack of manufacturing experiences, and the cost rise will add to the final pricing paid by customers. Instead of enhancing each touch points, I proposed a new approach to view experience as an intentional presentation of a narrative. A holistic storytelling is more perciverble than fragmented improvement, thus we should put the budget on what creates the biggest impact, connecting the dots, and make a cohesive story.
I drew inspiration from classical storytelling and amusement park design, noticing that a expression is largely defined by the beginning and the end of exeprince. Stories, to increase readers’interest, have a hook that last to a dramatic peak, and a ending with endless imagination. Using this model, I suggested we design Mona’s experience around these three moments. First, when the user approches the car, Mona greets them with a self-introduction. Next, when the user is inside, Mona support and accompany the user with whatever activities together. Finally, when the user leaves the car, Mona say goodbye with a expectation to see them again.
Business opportunites
Experience as a cohesive story. To work on moment of expnecies which make the biggest impact and efficiently spend budget on devices that enabling such change.
We came up with the story coming up the story of“ with fire in your heart and light in your eyes”, we explored ways to use light as a medium of interaction. One idea standout to create animated front lighting and create rhythmic “emojis”, directing the team to another extreme to pursue complicated and expressive light shows. create the most complicated and expressive light shows than any other competitors. After discussing with the VP, I realized we need a structured system. If lighting was going to communicate, it was like a language, and a language is a system of words and grammars. An interaction is formed by decomposed components and the rules that connects, just like the lighting system should have base units and rules defining relations.
I propose the idea to map the front lamp components to human eyes, it mimics subtle movements of pupils, and blink in breath patterns, thus create a subconscious connection. Later, the team come up with ….., corresponding to the start, mid and end stage. We carefully balance the expressiveness of anthropomorphic design with the critical requirements of legislation and safety. We take into consideration the different brightness levels, colors, spatial positions, and light-up patterns of each lighting component. For example, expressive lighting such as "crying" or "sorry" is restricted to stationary scenarios. Expressions like "charging", viewed by the owner from a near distance, are designed with components providing dimmed brightness. Expressions used for communicating with other drivers, such as "focus" or "sorry", are designed with simple light-up patterns to avoid interfering with the sliding pattern of the turn signal.
Current pedestrian to vehicle interactions rely heavily on attention (eye contact) and communication (car signaling). If either is missing, it puts pedestrians at a higher level of risk. We design subtle visual cues that are projected onto the road surface to communicate its intentions to pedestrians. In virtual reality tests conducted by Chang found that the return of eye contact (attention) has shown to speed up pedestrian crossing decision time by 86%.
For interior lighting, I proposed three scenarios to evoke emotional resonance : racing - featuring light breathing with heartbeat, entertaining - featuring light breathing with music rhythms, and protecting - featuring light that is calm, gentle and evokes driver’s attention. This idea was later developed by the team to align with previously defined 3 stages, that the interior lighting also performed the a branded ritual in start, mid and end ritual, beginning with the user opens the door, and ending with user step out. This is to strengthen the connection between the brand, and create memorable and easy recognizeble patterns.
I explored the optimum placement of the lights, and… reference…
With the help of modeling engineers, I tested these layout in rendering machine, the other UX designer suggest theater lighting…