Launched
2022
Design Principles
Organization Activation
Project Lead
Confidential
Driving organization activation through design principle evolution
Automotive
To understand the current pain points and the needs of the design team, we conducted in-depth interviews with the design team and their cross-functional counterparts (product and development). We identified three main challenges:
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Process challenge: Lack of clear requirements from the product side and insufficient assessment of development capabilities, resulting in workload pressure on the design team.
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Decision-making challenge: Lack of consensus and standardized criteria for design critique, with anyone providing feedback.
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Design challenge: Insufficient HMI experience and knowledge foundation.
The growing EVs in China poses challenges for a leading global automotive brand.
The client's design team, which has experienced rapid expansion along with multiple organizational restructuring and personnel changes, is seeking increased guidance from the brand and a standardized decision-making process to enhance their effectiveness.
I led the team in reviewing design processes and principles, providing insights into HMI experience trends in the Chinese market. We established cross-departmental workflows and guidelines, helping the client develop higher-quality design capabilities and foster a design-centric culture.
Identify the gaps
Create cross-team consensus
In order to create consensus cross department, we started by taking the initiative of creating standard for design decision-making. We extensively reviewed existing design documents to understand the structure, content, and logic of current design specifications.
This helped us identify important differentiators that needed to be addressed, which in turn helped us understand the process and challenges faced by designers in applying these guidelines.
Empower teams at both skill and organizational level
Delivering design principles systematically and integrating them throughout the product design process is essential for empowering teams at the organizational level.
By establishing a brand design philosophy and team design spirit, and implementing a framework for design principles, we ensure consensus and view these principles as practical tools that enhance the product design process.
A new structure of design principle
The handbook not only benefit the design department but also play a crucial role in facilitating cross-team collaboration. They also contribute to establishing the authority of the design department.
The new handbook structure is designed to provide a comprehensive and organized resource for teams.
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Design Team Manifesto - build the culture
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HMI Design Principles - create design principles
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Use Cases - provide guidance on specific decisions
The new handbook establishes a collaborative approach across roles to collectively take responsibility for design decisions. Rather than distinguishing between interaction and visual design principles, the emphasis is placed on fostering mutual understanding among roles.