Volvo Cars

Internship Context

Roles& Responsibilities

Design Tools

Dec 2022 - Apr 2023 (16weeks)

Research:
Competitor research, Usability testing

Figma, Sketch, Adobe Ae, Keynote

Volvo Cars Asia Pacific Design Center (Shanghai)

UX Design:
Design component management
Design system documentation

About my internship

During the Winter of 2022, I had a wonderful internship experience at Volvo Cars.
I interned as a UX Designer. My 4-month internship revolved around researching, interface designing, and managing components in Volvo’s design system.
I worked closely with senior UX designers, researchers, product managers, and automotive interior designers.

Featured work #1

Scenario-engine Benchmark Study

Background and Goal

During the internship, I led a research project, "Advisory Center", within in-car infotainment systems aiming to leverage Volvo’s ‘scenario engine’ to proactively push features to users based on changes detected in driving scenarios. To better understand current market trends and position, and to explore potential future opportunities, we looked into Chinese scenario-engine cases of mainstream carmakers,

Methodologies

Secondary research is mainly used, because this method is low-cost and can quickly collect information.
Card-sorting workshop was run to align the understanding of the scenario engine across different teams; Collaborated with key stakeholders to identify key scenarios.

Outcome

Delivered a insightful report that gave our HQ colleagues in Sweden a thorough understanding of how scenario-engine is evolving in China.
Aligned understanding across various internal departments. and identified key scenarios that resonate with Volvo's target users and brand values.
Provided robust guidance for the next design steps.

Research Journey

PHASE 1

How do we define scenario-engine?

I gathered 187 scenario engine-related features
from 15 different automotive brands,
thoroughly analyzed their push mechanisms and interaction modes.
and identified 3 distinct types of push mechanisms.

PHASE 2

What can we learn from the market?

KEY FINDINGS

1 At present, there is already a number of car brands on China market covering scenario-engine-related functions.

2 Among them, the leading players are NEVs, Chinese domestic new car brands, and cars with Harmony OS.

3 They are trying to cover rich user scenarios from greetings before driving, kids' entertainment while driving, and leftover items reminders, etc.

PHASE 3

What are key scenarios?

I organized a card sorting workshop......

Alignment
Ensure key stakeholders have a consistent understanding of scenario engine.

Cluster
Cluster features according to usage scenarios, further subdivide scenarios.

Voting
Identify & prioritize key scenarios that aligned with the Volvo brand ethos.

I made "atomic cards" for each feature according to the logic of “IF - THEN”

Based on various automotive usage scenarios, we classified the feature cards into 22 distinct sub-scenarios.

Based on the voting process, we identified and prioritized the key scenarios that align with the Volvo brand ethos, target user needs, and market trends.

Provided robust guidance for design projects, ensured that design concept align with user needs and market trends.

Featured work #2

Localization design of the Electric EX90 project

After completing the research project, I was involved in the EX90's interface design.
‍
In this role, I was responsible for managing and maintaining various reusable components in the design system, ensuring consistency, maintainability, and scalability of the design system.

All my work is under NDA.
Please contact me if you are interested or have any questions! or call me for an interview! :) 😉

Curious? Feedback? Collaboration?

I'd love to meet you :)

Feel free to grab a virtual coffee with me via Calendly!