Volkswagen Group Advanced UX

Project Brief:

Demonstrate a scalable design-to-development approach to empower design teams in each Volkswagen Group brand.

Role

• UX Designer

• QT/QML Prototyping

• Design Research

• Electronics Prototyping

The picture shows the multitude of brands that make up the VW Group.

The design and development process within each Group brand is ‘regulated’ by established supply chains for the in-car software.

Strategic Approach

1. Understand pain points from the many design teams operating in their own silos, within their own brand, and within the inflexible software architecture.

2. Understand pain points from Product Managers for user-facing features within the brands

3. Synthesize the feedback

4. Build a process (or at least a demonstration of the process) that addresses the existing challenges.

Existing Challenges

Infotainment suppliers provide turn-key software to each brand that is built on technology stacks that are:

1. Rigid in their information architecture

2. Utilize outdated design implementation methods (e.g. rendering each UI component as a PNG file)

3. Expensive to iterate

4. Expensive to customize

5. Inconsiderate to localized UX needs in the different target markets

6. Not built with an “Over The Air” mindset

These problems are what our team of UX Technologists set out to improve.

Our Iterative Process

We started to lay the foundations of this process centered around designers who themselves were trying to address UX needs for their customers.

2018/2019: We began understanding and breaking down what an automotive-centric design system might include.

We also had to consider that this design system would apply to various target interfaces and most likely multiple interfaces in 1 vehicle.