Background

When INRIX acquired OpenCar, they wanted to reflect the INRIX brand and also integrate our traffic analytics, navigation, and Autotelligent data into a new OS and a suite of apps. This platform would provide a car platform for automakers and developers.

What is OpenCar?

OpenCar has an open framework and environment that can be built once and used for any number of OEMs. The OEM has complete control of the platform, including how data comes from the car and how users interact with it.

Target audience

The connected car platform itself is for drivers, but the individual apps we designed for are B2B.

We went with a customer-first approach, where we optimized the experience for drivers and created guidelines for B2B to follow when integrating the OpenCar platform.

My Role

I worked on creating flows and layouts for different app types, such as music and content apps, including NPR, Yelp, and Stitcher. I created interaction models and design patterns by analyzing different app experiences and integrating it with OpenCar’s design system.

I worked alongside another designer who built the foundation of the OpenCar design system, while I extended the design system to incorporate different design components for various services. For example, the experience for a travel application

Challenges

My biggest challenge was determining what user’s really want to do when they’re driving, and accommodating for ambiguous interaction elements with car hardware.

Above is a motion prototype I built to demonstrate general interactions.

Tasks

  • Created primary use cases based off personas and user behavior in cars
  • Structured different categories of apps and created the information architecture per use cases
  • Worked with another designer to establish UI components and visual design language, then applied it to my wireframes
  • Created a pattern library of different screens and recommended structures for other designers and developers
  • Led weekly design critiques for the design team and almost every week, a designer working on Connected Car presented their work and received feedback. Through critiques, I refined the interactions with the design team by thinking about usability and driver safety.
  • Used Zeplin to quickly create redlines for developers to easily access information they need about the visual elements.

Results

The new profile alongside the apps were first presented at the 2016 Denver Auto Show and received positive feedback on profile and app integration.