Auto In Dash Apps
ROLE
Led product design as part of the Integrations team and collaborated closely with the Offroad team, especially the iOS and Android engineers. Also collaborated with the Offroad PM and GM and other Product Designers.
DELIVERABLES
Delivered wireframes, custom icons and high fidelity, interactive mockups. This was an interesting project to work on because I was designing an auto app and didn't own a car or live near the office where I could borrow a company car. For most of the project this meant I was using the emulators or watching videos of coworkers who were testing the product IRL. At some point in the project I took a few days off to enjoy a warm weather window in Yosemite and intentionally rented a car with CarPlay to experiment. Also, I worked closely with engineers especially during handoff and learned even more about how to make this process clear and efficient.
PROBLEM
HMW extend the onX Offroad app to the dash in order to provide a more seamless offroading experience?
Through research we found that onX Offroad users wanted a command center like the Starship Enterprise - multiple devices of various sizes mounted in their dash to get all the information they needed at a quick glance. Now that CarPlay and Android Auto had become more popular it was a pretty common request to Customer Experience that Offroad be made available for in the dash.
SOLUTION
onX Offroad, but in the dash! Customers were pretty stoked about this launch and so were our brand partners, especially Jeep. onX partnered with Jeep around the time of the in dash launch and Jeep customers who bought a 2021 Jeep got onX Offroad Elite for free for six months (usually $99.99/year), including on CarPlay and Android Auto.
SCOPE & CONSTRAINTS
The design for this project was completed in a couple months and was my very first project at onX. A dependency for this project was a very basic vector basemap and the team ended up having to pause and wait for the formation of the Map Experience team (which I joined) and a few vector map components. As mentioned many times, there were serious constraints on both the design and engineering of this project.
It was interesting to try to put onX in a box when Offroad is very different than a generic GPS app, such as Google Maps or Doordash. Users of onX Offroad are only using paved roads to get to the trailhead and the experience really starts when their tires hit the dirt. We tried combining some of the UI examples Apple provided to better serve our customers but alas, after submitting the app to the app store Apple rejected our app and recommended we follow one specific UI template 100%. After this project I definitely have a better understanding of the timeline and expectations for submitting apps to the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
It was interesting to try to put onX in a box when Offroad is very different than a generic GPS app, such as Google Maps or Doordash. Users of onX Offroad are only using paved roads to get to the trailhead and the experience really starts when their tires hit the dirt. We tried combining some of the UI examples Apple provided to better serve our customers but alas, after submitting the app to the app store Apple rejected our app and recommended we follow one specific UI template 100%. After this project I definitely have a better understanding of the timeline and expectations for submitting apps to the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
PROCESS
This project didn't follow the usual product design process because of the strict guidelines (see list below) built by Apple and Google to ensure people are using in dash apps safely while driving. We started building this app for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto not too long after both companies released SDKs to build for their devices. I had the opportunity to create custom icons for all the different arrows the directions might instruct a user to turn (including roundabout exits) and different types of highway signs. Did you know the H201 highway in Hawaii, also called the Moanalua Freeway, is the Interstate Highway in the U.S. with the most characters (4)? Was a huge advocate for the users and intuitive UX design during this project.
The guidelines restricted us to selecting:
-one of a couple different use cases that both companies provided complete product UIs for
-a select number of fonts with minimum font sizes
-a few places in the UI were available to be branded to our product colors but there were strict contrast requirements for colors
-quantity and placement of icons on the screen
1. Competitive research, learn guidelines and design patterns for platforms
2. Research synthesis
3. Wireframes
4. Quick user testing
5. Interactive prototypes
6. Internal research and brand ambassador research + iterate
7. Submit to app store
8. Rejection from app store, so iterate and submit again
9. Shipped
The guidelines restricted us to selecting:
-one of a couple different use cases that both companies provided complete product UIs for
-a select number of fonts with minimum font sizes
-a few places in the UI were available to be branded to our product colors but there were strict contrast requirements for colors
-quantity and placement of icons on the screen
1. Competitive research, learn guidelines and design patterns for platforms
2. Research synthesis
3. Wireframes
4. Quick user testing
5. Interactive prototypes
6. Internal research and brand ambassador research + iterate
7. Submit to app store
8. Rejection from app store, so iterate and submit again
9. Shipped
RESEARCH
Research for this project was pretty scrappy and mostly internal. When the product was closer to completion we also did some informal testing with onX brand ambassadors. We had major limitations on the UI, fonts and colors and doing a large user research study for this project seemed entirely unnecessary.
OUTCOME
The Integrations team (my first team at onX) and the Offroad team had a wonderful collaboration throughout this whole project. onX Offroad for Android Auto launched at the beginning of November 2021 and for CarPlay just after the New Year in January 2022. Since then the team has made many improvements. The entire project team was recognized by the CEO for our hard work to get this innovative new platform built and shipped. The vector basemap launch in June 2022 enabled even more functionality in CarPlay. The team used learnings from building in dash apps for Offroad and released onX Hunt on CarPlay in December 2022.
LEARNINGS
Learned how to work within another company's design system (Apple and Google) and how to follow these guidelines but still make a product that feels like an onX product. Also, learned how to design a product for a new platform and make it feel cohesive with the rest of the product offering.
This was my first time having the opportunity to design in dash for auto and I'm now more familiar with the unique challenges of designing for this platform.
Also, I got very familiar with the CarPlay Human Interface Guidelines and Android for Cars App Design Guidelines, as well as the Apple HIG and Material Design systems. Lastly, I gained more clarity around the Apple App Store and Google Play Store app submission process and clearer expectations around the time it takes for an app to be approved. Looking forward to taking these learnings and experience to more auto projects in the future.
This was my first time having the opportunity to design in dash for auto and I'm now more familiar with the unique challenges of designing for this platform.
Also, I got very familiar with the CarPlay Human Interface Guidelines and Android for Cars App Design Guidelines, as well as the Apple HIG and Material Design systems. Lastly, I gained more clarity around the Apple App Store and Google Play Store app submission process and clearer expectations around the time it takes for an app to be approved. Looking forward to taking these learnings and experience to more auto projects in the future.