CarXplain: Simplified Car Manual
Let’s get to the point.
Summary
What’s My Role?
Project Lead
Researcher
UX Designer
What’s the Timeline?
4 Months (Senior Project)
What’s the Problem?
How might we empower drivers to be confident and knowledgeable about navigating the car they drive, so that they keep themselves and others safe on the road.
What’s the Solution?
Design an app that simplifies car user manuals content and the delivery of information, so that it mimics the experience of seeking assistance from a knowledgeable friend.
What’s the Design?
What did I learn?
The most valuable lesson was the impact of negative feedback—it challenged my assumptions and led to meaningful improvements. I also learned the importance of strong project management and the value of collaborating with teammates by recognizing and leveraging their unique expertise.
Situation Analysis
What’s the Situation?
Immediate access to car information and support during unexpected situations is obviously crucial. But, if you don’t know what the car problem that you are experiencing, how do you search for help?
Research
What, Why, and How?
What’s in the Market?
A competitive analysis was conducted with competitors in the automotive industry (Toyota App) and tools that people are currently using, based on the survey findings (Google and Google Lens).
Key Insights and Opportunities:
Car-Specific Focus/Niche: Unlike competitors like Toyota's app or Google Search, this solution focuses on cars, providing tailored information and resources related to driver’s specific vehicles. This targeted approach ensures users can access relevant information without sifting through irrelevant content.
Integrated Solution: This project has an opportunity to offer a consolidated essential car-related information and resources into a single platform, reducing the mental load of using multiple apps. This integrated solution can enhance user experience and efficiency.
Brand Agnostic: Unlike some existing apps that are affiliated with specific car brands or models, this project can be designed to be inclusive and accessible to users regardless of their vehicle make or model, widening its potential user base.
Who are the Users?
To validate this concept, initial surveys was conducted with 18 respondents. The findings highlighted:
Frustration with existing methods of accessing car knowledge, such as Google searches and user manuals, citing inconsistencies and a lack of visual or audio aids.
Emphasized the need for quick, reliable solutions, particularly in time-sensitive situations.
Difficulty searching problems when you can’t describe it.
What’s the Problem?
How might we empower drivers to be confident and knowledgeable about navigating the car they drive, so that they keep themselves and others safe on the road.
Defining and Ideation
What’s the Direction?
Research insights show:
Need to focus on providing quick-access tools for new or emergency situations, mirroring the experience of seeking advice from a knowledgeable source.
Need to reduce the cognitive load of car user manuals.
Cater to various user needs and situations.
What’s the Solution?
Design an app that simplifies car user manuals content and the delivery of information, so that it mimics the experience of seeking assistance from a knowledgeable friend.
Tools that the users are already using were analyzed to be incorporated into the design. Data from an internal survey of 18 participants found the following percentage of users were currently using these tools to answer car related issues.
67% - Google Or Youtube
55% - Ask Family or Friends
16% - Press Buttons randomly and hope
The strategy is to incorporate familiar elements from the current tools while reducing the cognitive load of the content. This content will be chunked and organized for easier understanding, and the dashboard will be optimized for quick access.
Testing
What did the Users think?
Initial User Testing Findings:
Users found the home screen overwhelming and unintuitive, preferring quick access to relevant information.
Bottom navigation was confusing, with redundant icons and unclear functionality.
While users understood the concept of searching by camera, some desired more guidance and prompts.
Repeat Testing Confirmation:
Users successfully identified the camera and microphone icons for camera-based and voice-activated searches.
The layout and colors of the app were well-received, but users still desired more quick access buttons on the homepage.
The transition from "Fav" to "Bookmarks" was positively received, improving user understanding.
Testing the experience in the real world
Modifications Based on Feedback:
Prototype V2 will prioritize refining the user manual button screens, given its high interaction rate.
The homepage will be optimized with more quick access buttons and prompts for navigation assistance.
The camera search function and homepage will include overlay popup prompts and information icons for better guidance.
Overall, the findings emphasize the importance of intuitive navigation, clear labeling, and guided assistance to enhance the user experience of the app. Further iterations will focus on addressing user feedback and improving usability across all features.
Design
What’s the Design?
Search by voice screens.
Search by image flow.
Search by text flow
Reflection
What did I learn?
The most valuable lesson was the impact of negative feedback, it challenged my assumptions and led to meaningful improvements. I also learned the importance of proper project management—staying organized, setting clear goals, and adapting as needed were key to keeping the project on track. Just as valuable was recognizing and learning from the unique expertise of each team member. Collaborating effectively and drawing on diverse skills strengthened both the process and the final product.
