EXPERIENCE DESIGN APPROACH

For a good part of their hundred years of existence, cars have shaped us, our environment, and our lives. Today, however, the situation is entirely different: it is now cars that are being shaped by changing contexts of use, changing people's needs and preferences, and the changing relationship between the three – cars, people, and context – stemming from the digitalization of our lives.

In this radically new environment, competitive differentiation cannot be achieved anymore based on style & performance alone. It now rests on the overall experience a car will offer its users and thus requires a fundamental rewiring of the way we design cars, centering on users, and experience rather than on objects and performance. In turn, this requires new capabilities and methods, from experience design and creative technology to lean & agile process, rapid prototyping, data collection, constant improvement, etc.

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CREATIVE TECHNOLOGY APPROACH

“Why now?” is the strategic question that technologists should answer early in the design process. Apple’s Newton (1993) and iPad (2010) were essentially the same product but where they differ is the answer to the question: “Why now?”.

History recognizes hundreds of products that failed because they were launched at the wrong time. Timing is key in understanding when emerging technology is ready. Hence, once experience design has found a compelling answer to the question “Why?” the next step is for the technologist to answer “Why now?”. Launching technologies such as cognitive voice, mixed reality or haptics in the right moment can build a competitive advantage but only if the timing is right. We explain how to add creative tech into the design team across the phases of insight, ideation, prototyping, data, and storytelling.

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