ForWheels

Background

The relationship between humans and cars is significant, shaping our lives, societies, and civilization. Cars simplify life, serve as status symbols, and spark dreams, especially in children.

However, there are notable gaps in this relationship between man and machine. Car owners often neglect maintenance, engineering students may struggle due to theoretical focus over practical experience, and training technicians is costly and potentially hazardous, with risks of accidents causing severe injuries or fatalities.

The Challenge

Given how important cars are in our society, it's vital to close the gap between understanding how to maintain them (for everyday users) and training skilled workers effectively (for schools, companies and factories).

How can we make learning about cars less boring and tap into the excitement people feel when they first decide to work with cars?

The Who and the Why

Early desk research made three things clear

• Cars can be confusing.
• Repair shops are struggling.
• Big companies are investing lots of money into Research & Development of technology capable of improving their learning and training processes.

We went out and talked to people between the ages of 18 years and 60 years old for two reasons.

• It encompasses a large portion of individuals with the means and ability to buy/operate/interact with vehicles (including but not limited to students, car owners, mechanics and repair shop owners).
• It was important that we understood how these people interacted with cars on a daily basis. It was also imperative that we became conversant with practices and habits related to the automotive training and educational experience.

Empathy Mapping

We sorted the information from our interviews using the say-think-feel-do framework to compartmentalize the information and hone in on the emotion behind the users pain points. The empathy map became a reference point at different stages of the design process, so all stakeholders were aligned and the user’s perspective remained at the forefront of all considerations.

Key Realizations

01. The eyes have it

Mirror neurons play a huge part in the human learning experience, especially in children. Mimicry is one of the earliest methods of learning we practice. Strong quotes from people were 

• “I learn by observing what others are doing
  e.g. mechanics”
• “I enjoy the practical sessions more than the theoretic ones”
• “I find it easier to learn by watching people than listening to explanations. I get sleepy when people explain to me.”

02. Images are stronger than text

The human brain processes images 60,000 times faster than text, and 90% of the information we receive from the world around us is visual. 

• “I learn better when I watch tutorials on YouTube because it allows me to follow step-by-step”
• “In my course, we always use technologies such as manufacturing machines so we can see the actual stuff to understand”
• "I love when lecturers demonstrate whatever they are trying to explain, I usually don't forget afterwards."

03. Cars need attention

It is not enough to just own a car. You have to cater to your car attentively, to get the most out of your experience with it. 

• “I always follow the appointment to maintain my car”
• “Whenever i'm driving i'm always observant and I feel when something is wrong.”
• “I know my car has problems and needs maintenance by looking at the lights on the dashboard”

04. Confidence grows with time

The more people do things and the more tasks people complete, the more self assured and increasingly confident they become.

• “Finishing things has helped me lose my fear of making mistakes”
• “I didn’t have much self belief when I started out, but after a year I’m able to confidently diagnose the car, buy parts and take the engine apart if need be”
• “These days, I only go to the mechanic if I try and can neither find nor fix the problem myself.”

Personas

Collating and sorting the data we gathered from our interviews, we created these personas to best represent our target users.

Value Proposition

We felt that information around cars was as abundant as it was necessary, but the presentation and delivery was clearly the main problem. Our focus was to create a fun, intuitive and immersive experience. To achieve this, we had to create an experience that was engaging enough to keep students excited while learning, detailed enough to cover relevant topics with as many resources as possible but simple enough for the everyday car owner to use without too much trouble.

How Might We?

We asked ourselves how we might convert these challenges and user frustrations into possible solutions

Key Features

We settled on four key features that will deliver the proposed solutions for our target users.

• Immersive exploration & Interactive Simulations:  Virtual models to enhance the learning experience for users
• Customized Learning Paths: Walk throughs to aid learning through task completion
• Point based system to encourage exploration and task completion.
• Engaging Assessments: Task based quizzes to enhance user engagement and increase long term memory retention

Hierarchical Task Analysis

Documenting the possible tasks available for the users and breaking them down into subtasks in a hierarchical structure helped us examine each step in detail and present the information with more clarity for the end user. 

System Level Architecture

We used a system level architecture diagram to visually represent the overall system structure of the our solution. This helped us understand the interconnectivity of all the components and devices involved in the interface we were trying to design. It also helped bridge the gap between the design and development phase of the application. 

Sketching and Exploring

The sketch and exploration phase for this project was particularly exciting because the difference between visualizing for XR solutions against regular applications is the need to think in the third dimension. It was important to conceptualize bearing the z-axis in mind, and understanding that different surfaces will be employed when using our AR application. 

Final Design

In 12 weeks we designed the ForWheels application, aligned with our principles and focused on our strategy of making the experience more effortless (engaging + detailed + simple).