Design Lab + Hyundai: Project Overview
Timeframe
Oct 2018 - Feb 2019
My Role
UX Design Researcher
Senior Researchers
(PI) Colleen Emmenegger Stephanie Sherman Deborah Forster
Ash Smith
Methods
Contextual inquiry
Literature review
Interviews
Journey mapping
Affinity diagrams
Storyboarding & Scenarios
Sketching
Rapid prototyping
Intro
What
The UC San Diego Design Lab, in collaboration with the UC San Diego Contextual Robotics Institute, UC San Diego Speculative Design and Hyundai Motors, engaged in two parallel exploratory investigations related to current and future urban mobility. These rapid studies examined the possible futures of first/last mile mobility as well as autonomous vehicle (robotaxi) in-transit rider experiences. We leveraged the UC San Diego campus, a large and diverse “small city,” of approximately 60,000 people: 30,000 students and 30,000 employees.
Who
These activities engaged an interdisciplinary team comprised of senior researchers, paid research assistance , and a volunteer team of current students (see Team Roster)
How
The research conducted by our team uses a combination of people-centered ethnographic research, a systems perspective and speculative design ideation methods. These studies included collection and analysis of observational field data, Day-In-A-Life (DAIL) diagramming and Journey Maps interviews, multiple ideation, brainstorming and theater sessions, and, finally, low-fidelity simulator prototyping in which Wizard-Of-Oz interventions were tested.
Findings
In the Micromobility study, the starting assumption, that single micromobility options constitute the ‘first and last mile’ of a typical route failed to accurately represent the daily lives of local students. The research revealed a dynamic and rapidly-changing array of micromobility platforms involved in a complex, cognitive selection process.
For In-Transit study, it is commonly assumed that in-transit experience consists of sequentially organized discrete activities that are mostly planned in advance of a given trip (and easily mediated by a single dashboard). Our exploration on and around the UC San Diego campus suggests quite the contrary, trips are significantly different based on four interrelated categories - TripType (TT), Social-Spatial (SoSp) Relations, Activities (Ac), and Stuff (St). This framework is robust enough to support the construction of experimental scenarios, evaluate field observations, and guide design efforts.
The Team
Senior Researchers
Colleen Emmenegger
Head of People-Centered Automation
UC San Diego Design Lab
Stephanie Sherman
Speculative Designer in Visual Arts &
Senior Designer, UC San Diego Design Lab
Deborah Forster
Research Specialist Contextual Robotics Institute &
Affiliated Faculty UC San Diego Design Lab
Ash Smith
Associate Director for Art and Technology and Lecturer
UC San Diego Culture, Arts & Technology