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Dashboard User Experience

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WHITE PAPER

Dashboard User Experience: Leveraging dashboard user experience to make cars a complete masterpiece of the modern times.

VOLKSWAGEN GROUP

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What is User Experience ?

The contemporary definition of user experience relates to computer orcomputingdevicesasthecontextandisdescribedaswhatapersonfeelsemotionally,consciously and sub-consciously while interacting with a computing device. Itencompassesthefeelingsandperceptionsauserdevelopswhileinteractingwiththeobject.Toillustrate,someemotions[2]aresurprise,joy,irritation,confusion,addiction,gloomandmanymorethatcouldresultasthepersoninteractswiththeobject.

The contemporary definition draws its context from the advancements ofmobile,ubiquitous,social,andtangiblecomputingtechnologiesandpushestheunderlyingdisciplineofHuman Computer Interaction (HCI)totheforefront.Duetotheubiquitoususeoftechnologiesinourday-to-daylives,significantresearchinthefieldofHCIhasleadtoabetterrealizationofhowpeopleaffectandareaffectedbytheincreasinglypervasice technology around us. John J.McCarthy and Peter Right (quoted in left)definetheterm‘humancomputerinteraction’andcarefullyillustratetheassociationofthefieldofhumancomputerinteraction[8]anduserexperience.Humancomputerinteractionrootsfromtheunderstandingofuserexperience,howeverhasapinpointfocusontheinteractionsbetweenatechnologyandaperson.Delvingintosuchnichedepthsrevealsseveralaspectsofhumanbehaviorwhichdemandtobeaddressedwhiledesigningtechnologyproducts.

UserexperienceispioneeredbyNielsenNormanGroup,ateamofthreestalwartsofthefield,namelyJakobNielsen,DonNormanandBruceTognazzini,providebestinclassconsulting,researchandtraining.Theirdefinitionofuserexperiencebearsamorerealworldsyntaxandcanbeanalogizedtomoderndaytechnologyproducts.Intheirwords,“userexperienceencompassesallaspectsoftheend-user’sinteractionwith the company, its services, and its products.“ JakobNielsen andDonNormanemphasizeontheimportantofdistinguishingcomponentsofuserexperiencesuchasusability,aqualityattributeofuser interface,andhowtheyfit into thebroaderconceptofuserexperience. In theirargumentofaconsistently important factor istheneedtounderstandingtheuser,somuchsothattheygoontoexpressthattrueuserexperiencenotonlydeliverswhattheuserwantsbutgoaboveandbeyondtoobserve,understandandmodeltheirrealneedswhichlietuckedawayandcanbetacitlyobservedintheirbehaviourtowardstheproduct.Theyalsocallforseamlessmergingoftheservicesofacrossdisciplinessuchasengineering,marketing,graphicalandindustrialdesign,psychology,cognitivescienceandinterfacedesign.

“ HCI is concerned with the influence technology has on how people think, value, feel, and related and using this understanding to inform technology design. Ontologically, HCI is now concerned with the experience, felt life, emotion, desire, fulfillment as well as the more familiar ontology of

activities, practices and tasks.”

- Wright, P. and McCarthy, J. Empathy and Experience in HCI. In Proc. CHI 2008, ACM Press (2008), 637-646[7]

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Why User Experience needs to be designed ? Everyproductthatisevermadeisultimatelyaresultofasetofdecisions,byagroupofpeople.Theproductisdesignedandengineeredforapurpose.Now,whenauseroftherespectivedeviceuses it, thedevicewould impart itsphysicalnature,itwouldhaveaflow[10]tothewayitwouldworkanditwouldalsohaveaqualityofachievingthedesiredgoalfortheveryreasonitwasmade.Insimpleterms,thereisanexperiencewhentheproductisusedorinteractedwith.Today’sworldistechnologicallyflat,astechnologyhasadvancedsofaraheadithasbecomeirrelevanttogaugetheeffectivenessofaproductbasedonitstechnology.Forexample,computerprocessingpowerhasbecomesofast,intechnicaltermsofgigahertz,thatfurtheradvancementsinithardlybearsanymeaningtothecommonperson.Buttherehasbeeninterestingturnofeventsduetothisevolutionandthatis,peoplehavebeguncaringabouthowitfeelstousethatproductorhoweasilythencangettheirjobdonewithit.Derivingfrom the sameabove example, now the judgement of a computer dependsmoreonhowfast theuser“percieves”thecomputer isandnothowfast it technically is.Thiscompelsustoconsider‘experience’and‘perception’tobevitaltoanyproduct.Thequestion‘Howisthecustomer’sexperiencewithourproduct?’hasredefinedthequestion‘Howgoodisourproduct?’

JohnDewey,famousphilosopherwhoseworkArtasExperience[3](1934)isregardedbymanyasoneofthemostimportantcontributiontothefieldofpsychologyofartandexperienceinthetwentiethcentury.Dewey[3]explainshowtherearevarioustypesofexperiences.Thefirstoneisasimple‘experience,’itiswhatwefeelandperceivewhenwedosomeroutinework,saylaundry.Thesecondandoneofthemostprominentone is ‘an experience[1],’which is the experiencewehavewhenwe arewitnessingsomethingextremelydelightful.Thisexperiencestandsoutfromothers,ithasaverydistinctbeginningandanend.And theexperience reverberates inourminds longaftertheexperiencehasended.Hetalkshowsuchanexperiencebeginsandendsandhavemanyindividualpartsinthemwhichflowintoeachotherlikeariverstreamflows,but,theydon’tloosetheirindividualidentityrathertheycontributetothewholehomogenousexperience.

Without takingcareof the resultantexperience thataproductwoulddeliver, it isbasicallyleftuptochance,forthecustomertolikeitornot.Aproductdeliveringgoodexperience or an experiencewouldmaketheproductbepercievedasveryusefulandwouldbehappily reflectedupon as a tool doing its intended job.However, a badexperiencewouldrendertheproductnotusefulandwouldbedislikedbyitsintendedcustomers[12].Leavingthis judgementuptochancedoesn’tmakeany logicalsense,especiallywhenmillionsofdollarsarespentmakingittodoacertaintask.

“ Because of continuous merging, there are no holes, mechanical junctions, and dead centers when we have an experience. There are pauses, places of

rest, but they punctuate and define the quality of movment.”

- Dewey, J. Having an Experience. Art as Experience 1934. 1-18 [3]

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User experiencehasbeen leveragedbymanygreat companies since a long time,evenmakingproductsthatgettheircustomers,toanextent,addictedtoit.ToquoteDieterRams[14],thefamousproductdesignerbehindBraunproducts,“Usersreactverypositivelywhenthingsareclearandunderstandable…”.AnexampleofsuchacompanywhichisalsoagreedbylegendsinthefieldsuchasDieterRamsisApple.Itreflectsclearly in theirproducts, a companydrivenbydesignwho takemeticulous care infindingouthoweachaspectoftheirproductwillbeperceivedbythecustomers,eventhesubtleonesthatarehiddenawayfromthesurface.Anexampleofsuchludicrousattentiontodetailcanbeseenintheir1982designguidedocumentfortheirAppleIIecomputerasillustratedbelow.Evenbackin1982,whentherewerenosignificantadvancement in themeansandmodesof interfaceofcomputerswithusersApplestressesinthedocumenthowbuildingasmoothinteractionisimportant,studytheuserprofilesanddesigntoaccomodateall theuserprofiles. Italsospeaksatgreatlengthabouthowimportantitisforthecodetobereadablebythenextdeveloperorusertinkeringintothesystem.

“ ...Users react very positively when things are clear and understandable...

Good Design should be Innovative.

Good Design should make a product useful.

Good Design is aesthetic design.

Good Design will make a product undestandable.

Good Design is honest.

Good Design is unobtrusive.

Good Design is long-lived.

Good Design is consistent in every detail.

Good Design is environmentally friendly.

Last but not least, good design is as little design as possible.

- Dieter Rams in Objectified. Gary Hustwit. 2009 [15]

Apple has one of the highest customer satisfaction rates in the industry and thecustomersevenhaveadevotionalfan-followingfortheproductandthecultureofthecompany.

Designingaproductwellispowerful.Designinganexperienceisextremelypowerful.Designingtheuserexperienceofyourdigitalproductsisalmostpredictinghowthecustomerswouldperceiveitandhowtheyfeel.

Henceuserexperienceneedstobedesigned.

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Dashboards

“ To satisfy the goals of your customers your design must be useful. In other words, it must perform the task it was designed for. It must also be usable, or easy to understand and interact with in a predictable and reliable manner. Usability has become a basic business requirement as well as a user expectation. Finally, in order to attract users, your design must also be desirable.”

- Gorp, T. Van and Adams, E. Design for Emotion. Elsevier 2012. 1-18 [2] In the 90’s, cars had fairly simple dashboard[15] with gauges and buttons tointeractandoperatethevarioussystemsofthecar.Backthen,onecouldswapoutthefactorymusicsystemforsomethingbetter.Carenthusiastsprimarilydidthissotheycouldincludebetteramplifiersandevenmorespeakers—usuallytomakeitloudand full ofbass. Thiswould result in theability to impress friends, annoyparents,anddisturbthosearoundyouintraffic.AnaftermarketreplacementliketheAlpine7903reliedonhardbuttonsand7-segmentsforitsUI.Theinterfaceonthesesystemswasrelativelysimple.Theywouldthenhaveanentirelydifferentareaoftheconsolethatusedanothersetofswitches,buttons,andsliderstodealwiththingslikeclimatecontrol.

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This dashboard to the left is from1995 Nissan Pathfinder with anaftermarket stereo and its separatecontrolsforclimatecontrol.Nowletssee a relatively modern dashboardin one of the luxury cars namelyPorsche918Spyder.

Nowadays these systems no longerjust deal with the controls on yourstereo—they deal with everything.It is common for the interface intoday’s consoles to include inputsfor complex stereos, multi-zone

climate control systems, navigation, vehicleinformation centers, phones, contact lists,and a host of other things. The number ofoperationshas risen froma coupleofdozento a few hundred. For example, the Porsche918 Spyder’s center console controls morethan 800 functions. The current dashboardinterfacessimplyaren’tefficientlydealingwiththe number of requirements they have. Butthisisjustpartoftheproblem.

Beyond the vast number of functions thesesystems are supporting, there are regulatoryand testing requirements, which, definitelyneedinvolvementandapprovalfrommultiplegroups, partners, and organizations that liveoutside themanufacturer. These factors addmoreconstraints, roadblocks,andbureaucracy thatneed tobe taken intoaccount.Thesechecksandbalancesaddseveraltimetothe ‘design’process.Inotherwords,some of what was designed into your 2015 vehicle started back in 2013 or evenearlier, it is the fact.Cost isanother important factor. It isobviouslyexpensiveandtimeconsumingtoproducethenewsystems.Weareincentivizedtocreatethingsthatcanbeadaptedandadoptedforuseacrossamodelrange,orinsomecases,acrossmultiple brands. They want to keep those costs down and have speed tomarket.Howeversomeofwhatisbeingproducedisinexcusableforanycompany,regardlessof theconstraintsput in frontof them.There isnoexcuseforasystemtousetexttypographythatisunreadable.Thereisnodefenseforaninterfacethatusesiconsthataretoosmalltoreadormeansomethingelsethanwhattheyshouldrepresent.

“...the vision we have will always be as much a reflection of ourselves and our prejudices as it is a discovery of ‘how things really are.’ In other words, the very way we see things reveals secrets about us: what we see reveals

what we are looking for, what we are interested in.”

- Russon, J. The Forms of Human Exprience:Interpretation in Human Experience. Albany: State University of New York Press. 9-20 [4]

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Wecan’trationalizeapalettewithpoorcontrastorbevelledbuttonsdirectlycopiedfrom old computer interfaces. Bad design is sometimes just bad design—and it’sunfortunatelypervasiveinautomotiveinterfaces.

The clarity, simplicity, andaestheticof these systems shouldbemore important tous[5].Weshouldseeitasamajoropportunitytobringmomentsofjoyanddelighttocustomers.Thesearesystemsthatallowustophysicallyinteractwiththeirbrand,thatisaverypowerfulproposition.Dashboardsshouldnotbeuglyexercisesoffrustration.They should express the brand with every interaction. When someone gets in aPorscheCayenneandturnsonthestereo,oradjusttheclimatecontrol,itshouldfeellikePorsche.Itshouldn’tbethesameexperienceIgetwhenIturnonthestereoinmyChryslerTown&Countryminivan.Thereareshockingexamplesofsame interfacesbetweenaluxurysupercarlikeFerrariandaChryslerTown&Countryminivan.Canweimagineifthosetwocarssharedanotherpart,liketheheadlightsordoorpanels?Itwouldneverhappen.Thenitbringsuptheallimportantquestionthatifwearenotcomfortablehavingcarsofdifferentsegmentandqualityshareeachother’spartshowcanwebesatisfiediftheyhadthesamedashboardinterface.

Adriverinteractswiththecarfromdifferentpoints,nodoubtitisreasonabletoarguethatinteractionwiththecarhappensprimarilywiththesteeringwheelandthegearhandleorpaddles.Butincreasinglycarsarebecomingmoretechnologicallyadvanced.A big part of the technological advancement is happening in the dashboard. Carshave implemented touch screens and innovative technology on to the dashboardssincelong.Butoftencarcompanieshavebeenstigmatizedwithbaddesignofthesetechnologiesondashboard.Thegroundislevelnow,thereismorethaneverroomforsomecarcompanytothinkinnovativelyandbringinadashboardinterfacethattheircustomerswilldelightfrom.AllcarcompaniesmakegoodcarsbutweatVolkswagengroupmake great cars that are pieces of art. Our customers already delight fromvariousaspectsof thecarbe it the ridequality, thesmoothnessofdrive, thecabincomfort,thecabinluxury,theengine,thepowerthecardelivers,etc.Howeverthereisonelastpiecemissinginthepuzzlethatwouldrenderourcarsasmasterpiecesandthatisthedashboard.

We at Volkswagen group make great cars that are pieces of art. Our customers alreaady delight from various aspects of the car be it the ride quality, the smoothness of drive, the cabin comfort, the cabin luxury, the engine, the power the car delivers, etc. However there is one last piece missing in the puzzle that would render our cars as masterpieces and that is the Dashboard.

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To achieve the lastmile of perfectionweneed to bring some change to ourstrategy. It needs to be a little realigned so thatwe foster a higher quality of userexperienceinourcarsandthinkingfromtheuser’spointofview.Itwouldrequireustobringaboutsomesmallchangesbutresultinsignificantimprovementintheresultsof our car’s experience leading to greater customer satisfaction and brand loyalty.As Forlizzi [1] pragmatically mentioned understanding experience is difficult andunderstandinguserexperience isevenmoredifficultas it requiresmultidisciplinaryteams towork together itwouldhelpus to spreadour strategyplan intodifferentdimensions of a car production from inception tomanufacturing. Some strategieswouldbeundertakenbythepeopleandforthepeoplewhilesomewouldbefortheproductimplementedbythepeople.

StrategyforChange

PRODUCT1.Introducebrandspecificin-cardashboardexperience

A Volkswagen CC is different from a Porsche Panamera and so is a LamborghiniAventadorfromSkodaOctavia.Theyallhaveuniquebodilycharacteristicsaswellfeltcharacteristics.OnecaneasilydistinguishwhethertheyaredrivingaVW,PorscheorSeat.Howeverwhileusingthedashboardconsole/interface inanyofthesecarstheexperienceisnotdistinct.Thefirstandforemostchangewewouldliketobringinwouldbetointroducebrandspecificexperiencesinsidethecar.PeoplebuyaVolkswagenforcertainreasonandLamborghiniforsomeother,theydeservetofeeltheyareusingaVolkswagenconsoleiftheyaredrivingaVolkswagen.Thedashboarduserexperienceneedstobeconsideredearlyonandshouldbeincludedintheprocessofinceptionandproofingofacar’sconcept.ItwouldrequireVolkswagengroupcompaniestohireseniorandexperienceduserexperiencedesignerstoleadanewdivisionofdashboardanddigitalequipmentexperiences.Theprimaryjobofthedivisionwouldbetotakeupthenewcar’sconceptorideaandbuildaholisticin-cardashboardexperiencearoundit.Theywillalsotakecareofanydigitalequipmentthatisaddedtothecar,judgeiftheequipmenthasinteractionwiththecarusersandifyesthentakeitundertheirumbrellatodesigntherespectiveexperiencethatwouldresult.Itwouldneedtheinvolvementof thecompany’sboard throughout just like theyare involved in theclaymodelingprocessofthecar’sconcept.When a new car is taking shape around the clay modeling stage, the car also shapes a concept, a goal that the car wants to deliver; introducing the digital experience and shaping it along with the clay model would maintain the cohesively in the car’s driving and felt experience.

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2. Rethink fundamentals in placing of features on a dashboard

Earlier during the pre-touchscreen era the dashboard mainly consisted of buttons and manual gauges to adjust settings of temperature and music system. There were buttons for doing specific tasks. However now some new technologies are introduced because it can be done and not because it is needed. Also only building on conventional technologies ned be rooted out. Room for innovation has to be created and out of the box thinking should be brought in as a norm. This would also align with the previous strategy of making brand specific in-car experiences. For example, Porsche or Lamborghini since they are pioneer sports car and super car makers the cars are often driven fast, there is an even more need to keep the driver’s eyes on the road, in this situation a lot of the crucial dashboard displays need to be moved away from the console which is below the driver’s line of sight.

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1. Introduce User-Centered Design[8] and involve users in the design process

User centered design has been wildly successful when it comes to designing great products in the recent times. It is specifically pioneered by famous design consultancy firms like IDEO and Adaptive Path. This would require involving users early in the design process and iterate on their feedback. This can become especially helpful in gauging early on how comfortable a customer will be when interacting with the dashboard elements while he is driving. A number of test cases can be set up and the user’s interaction and behavior can be ethnographically observed. It is important to select people who fit in the profile of a potential customer.

2.InvolveBoardmembersinabovesteps

Ifwelookathowatthebiggerpictureofhowacarisproposed,conceptualizedandmanufactured(illustratedonthepreviouspage)boardmembersapproveeverystepofthephysicaldesignchangesandprovidefeedback.Theysafeguardtheprogressandensurethatthechangesareinlinewiththebrand’sgoals,historyandobjectives.Hencetheyneedtobeinvolvedearlyoninthedesignprocesswheretheyhaveasayintheexperiencedesignprogressandchanges.

3.Addanindependentboardmemberwhohasprominentbackgroundindesign

Itwouldalsobeextremelybeneficialtoaddanotherboardmemberwhowouldworkindependentlyandhasabackgroundinthefieldofdesign.Theycanbestguidetherestoftheboardmembersoncethenewprocessofdesigningexperienceisaddedintotheconceptcardesignprocess.Prospectivecandidatescouldincludeeminentpeopleorfoundingmembersofpromisingdesignconsultancyorpeopleofresearch.SomecommonnameswhoareactivelyinvolvedinthefieldholdingsuchasimilaroradvisorypositionwouldincludeDonNorman,JJGarrett.

PEOPLE&PROCESS

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PlanofActionBuildingonthestrategythefollowingareobjectifiedplansthatcabetakenuponbythegroupandexecutedinalinearorder:

1.AppointanindependentboardmembertotheVolkswagengroupboard

TheVolkswagengroupboarddecidetoappointanotherindependentboardmemberwhowouldbringinfreshperspectivetotheVolkswagengroupintermsofdesign.Hecanbealeadingprofessorinthefieldofdesing,eminentresearchperson,founderorleaderofadesignconsultancy.

2.Startapilotprogramandhireauserexperienceconsultancy

Theuserexperienceconsultancycouldleadapilotprogramtocomeupwiththeconceptof amodern and rich dashboardmeeting every expectation of the customers andhavingatthecoreawellthoughtoutexperiencedesign.Sincethispilotcouldpossiblyimpacttheothergroup’scompaniestherehastobenocompromiseintheselectionandautonomyoftheirwork.Leadinguserexperienceconsultancyhavepubliclyshowninterest towork in thisfield,nameTeehanLax,aSanFranciscobasedcompanyhasdoneexemplaryworkinthefieldoftechnologyexperiencedesign.Volkswagen group should fund thepilot program. Thepilot program to last over aperiodofthreemonthsorasalignedwiththedevelopmentoftheconceptcar.

3.Introducetheresultinaconceptcar

The work of the design consultancy should be introduced to a concept car beingdevelopedundertheVolkswagenumbrella.Thepilotprogramcanlastanywherefrom1-5yearsandshouldconcludewiththeimplementationoftheconceptdesigninarealproductioncar.

4.ObservationPeriod

Afterthe launchoftheconceptproductioncar.Theresponsewouldbestudiedandresearchedforaperiodoftwotothreeyears.Duringthistimeredesignandfinetuningofexperiencecanbedocumentedforfutureuse.

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5.Spreadtheresultofthepilotamongthegroupcompanies

The resultof thepilot’s implementationshouldbedocumentedandbe reported totheboardandhavejournalsdistributedtothegroupcompanies.Uponsuccessofthepilotprogram,thegroupcansetuptrainingprogramsinassociationwiththedesignconsultancyfirm.

6.Setupteamsingroupcompanies.

Followingtrainingofemployeesinthedesignteam,individualgroupcompaniescanstartrecruitingandsettinguptheirownuserexperiencedesignteamswhichwouldfunctionundertheirexistingcardesignteam.

8.Instructgroupcompaniestohireanindependentboardmemberwithdesignbackground

Thegroupcompanieswouldbeappointedoradvisedtohiretheirownindependentboardmemberwithdesignbackground.

10.Startquarterlyreportsfromgroupcompaniesregardingtheprogressofimplementationofuserexperience

Uponimplementationofalltheaboveprogramsandhavingsuccessfullybuiltagroupcultureofleveraginguserexperiencedesignthepracticewouldbecomecommonandapartofthedailyoperation.Thenthegroupcanstartacasestudyprograminwhichgroupcompaniessharetheirsuccessorfindingsintheformorresearchcasestudiesamongthegroup.

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[1]Forlizzi2004.UnderstandingExperienceinInteractiveSystems

[2]Gorp,T.VanandAdams,E.DesignforEmotion.Elsevier2012.1-18

[3]Dewey,J.HavinganExperience.ArtasExperience1934.1-18

[4]Russon,J.TheFormsofHumanExprience:InterpretationinHumanExperience.Albany:StateUniversityofNewYorkPress.9-20

[5]Csikszenmihalyi,M.andRobinson.TheMajorDimensionsofAestheticExperience.27-72

[6]McCarthy,J.andWright,P.,TechnologyasExperience.MITPress2004.1-105

[7]McCarthy,J.andWright,P.,EmpathyandExperienceinHCI.CHI2008Proceedings

[8]Goodman,E.,Kuniavsky,M.andMoed,A.ObservingtheUserExperience.Elsevier2012

Tullis,T.andAlbert,B.MeasuringtheUserExperience.MorganKaufmann

Sauro,J.andLewis,J.R.QuantifyingtheUserExperience.MorganKaufmann

[9]Eisner,E.Connoisseurship,CriticismandtheArtofEducation

[10]NakamuraandCsikszenmihalyi,M.TheConceptofFlow

[11]Norman,D.EmotionalMachinesinEmotionalDesign

[12]Borgmann,A.RealityofTechnology

[13]JanlertandStolterman,E.FacelessInteractions-AConceptualExaminationoftheNotionofInterface:Past,PresentandFuture

[14]DieterRamsinObjectified.GaryHustwit.2009

[15]Teehan,G.Stateofin-carUXinhttp://www.teehanlax.com/blog/the-state-of-in-car-ux/

[16]Nielsen,J.andNorman,D.DefinitionofUserExperienceinhttp://www.nngroup.com/articles/definition-user-experience/

References