In partnership with Vanderbilt's innovation center, the Wond'ry, Nissan wanted to explore the idea of revamping their app to accommodate for a new market of electric vehicle owners.
THE PROBLEM

People are still new to electric vehicles

A lot of electric vehicle (EV) owners are transitioning from gas-powered vehicles. As a result, they're not aware of all the nuances of EVs. For example, many aren't aware that EVs charge slower in cold weather.

The current MyNISSAN app had usability issues that needed some tweaking

For example, users struggled with locking the vehicle or navigating to find nearby chargers. Electric vehicle owners frequently report experiencing range anxiety, the fear that an EV will run out of battery before reaching your destination, so this was a concerning issue.

The MyNISSAN app didn't add extra value to the car-owning experience

In the original app, there was a navigation bar at the bottom that forced the control bar to be placed at the center of the screen. What kind of doors would open if we were to remove the navigation bar?

THE SOLUTION
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Reorganizing the home screen

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Simplifying navigation

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Creating a statistics screen

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Notification system

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UNDERSTAND

How could I get a deeper understanding of the EV scene?

I needed to catch myself up-to-speed with the state of the EV market while gaining insights on issues specific to the MyNISSAN app.

Scrubbing online forums and MyNISSAN's app reviews

I went on a Nissan enthusiast forum site called ariyaforums.com and found unique insights that interpreted the MyNISSAN-Ariya relationship more holistically than the app reviews.

Conducting interviews inside of the Nissan Ariya

One of Nielsen's ten heuristics is keeping a match between the system and real life. Since the MyNISSAN app can modify the car, I wanted to conduct 1:1 interviews with users while watching the car be manipulated through the app.

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From this round of research, I diagnosed three key pain points

I coded common themes that emerged from user interviews, app reviews, and forum comments.

Trust

Users didn't trust the app. When trying to lock the car via the app, multiple were unsure if the car was actually locked.

Clarity

It was unclear to users how to navigate to certain pages; for example, users couldn't figure out how to find nearby charges.

Worth

Users were shocked to hear about the app's subscription model. They didn't see enough value in the current version.

Looking at the competition

Through this research, it felt necessary to visualize this information through a user persona. I created Jennie, a family-oriented golf mother of two! I based this information off of potential use cases for MyNISSAN primarily based off of the user interviews I conducted.

Meet this project's persona, Jennie

Through this research, it felt necessary to visualize this information through a user persona. I created Jennie, a family-oriented golf mother of two! I based this information off of potential use cases for MyNISSAN primarily based off of the user interviews I conducted.

DESIGN DECISION

Your car as a pet

Through Jennie (informed by interviews and online research), one thing stood out: people love their cars. It's also why my favorite word was baby in the word cloud!

People frequently maintained their vehicle, named it, decorated it, and more. Especially since the Ariya is a higher-end electric vehicle, most users who own an Ariya are quite informed about its features and specifications. I realized that I wanted to prioritize this philosophy in my design process.

So, after all this analysis, I needed to hone in on issues

Through stakeholder meetings, I found that Nissan wanted to see the future possibilities of the MyNISSAN app, however, there were usability issues that were driving users away. How could I bridge the two?

DEFINE

How might we improve the MyNISSAN app to better support EV users by enhancing their experience?

How might we help them adapt to new charging routines and vehicle care?

IDEATE

Can I translate these insights into effective ideas?

With my user persona created, I thought of ideas from the perspective of what would be beneficial to Jennie. Additionally, how would they fix the issues regarding trust, clarity, and worth that were discovered?

Ideating based on user feedback

I wanted to balance both Nissan's goals with current usability flaws. At the same time, I wanted to prioritize ideas with creative solutions that could show alternatives to how the app could function. With these goals in mind, I organized my ideas using a prioritization grid to triage appropriately.

DESIGN DECISION

Teaching users the subtle nuances of EVs

In the co-creation process, I determined with users that keeping the control bar within a thumb's reach would be helpful (phones are huge these days).

Consolidating the lock and unlock buttons as well as creating a trunk opening button aligned with my persona; imagine you’re a mom with her hands full at the grocery store trying to load her goods into her trunk!

Co-creating with participants

I didn’t want to completely overhaul the app as a huge adjustment from the current user base would be unfavorable. Given the time constraints of this project, I opted for an co-creation process with my interviewees in a workshop-style setting.

Using my persona, Jennie, we thought of ideas that would benefit Jennie's use cases. For more intricate details like organizing the home screen, I offered two alternatives and asked which layout the participant preferred.

Keeping the control bar at the top or bottom

In the original app, there was a navigation bar at the bottom that forced the control bar to be placed at the center of the screen. What kind of doors would open if we were to remove the navigation bar?

DESIGN DECISION

Making everything visible from the home screen

In the co-creation process, I determined with users that keeping the control bar within a thumb's reach would be helpful (phones are huge these days).

Consolidating the lock and unlock buttons as well as creating a trunk opening button aligned with my persona; imagine you’re a mom with her hands full at the grocery store parking lot trying to load her goods into her trunk!

EXECUTE + TEST

Shifting to Nissan's electric aesthetic

I wanted to provide an alternate universe for Nissan; how would experimenting with a different visual style look? With my final prototype, I wanted to give the app a visual overhaul that was reminiscent of Nissan’s electric, modern aesthetic.

The final product

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Users felt more aware of the current state of the car by 10%

This was relevant to the pain points of trust and clarity

New features were prototyped in alignment with Nissan's goals

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Reported app responsiveness increased by 14%

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Here's what stuck with me

This was my first deep dive into mobile app UX, and I'd like to say I'm proud (albeit I do have some things I'd want to improve on)!

For my next project, I definitely want to stay in a lower fidelity state for longer. I was eager to explore the visual realms of the MyNISSAN app, but that may have hindered my ability to think broadly in terms of usability. I also want to emphasize color contrast and learn more about digital accessibility standards.

Working with Nissan taught me so much about stakeholder communication and the value of alignment; although it was easy to get bogged down by other issues in the app, ultimately, some of them weren't related to Nissan's goals as a company. I had to learn to pick and choose which features to prioritize.