There is a saying in BMW, "Act like a start-up, deliver like a grown up." While BMW has been around since 1916 it's digital presence and the mobile app (BMW Connected) was fairly new. The start-up group building the mobile app experience is based in Chicago and I was hired at BMW as a UI/UX designer. The majority of my work focused on iOS though I also helped with android and thought through the holistic user experience from the car head unit, to watch, to Alexa. Plus there are different subbrands, MINI and Rolls Royce, which had it's own different app (but same codebase), different styleguide, and that was also taken into account when designing. 

To compete in the top-notch, high tech industry where self driving cars and remote controls are all the hype, I worked with a cross-functional, highly collaborative and agile team to ideate, create and iterate on servicing our BMW users. 

Focusing on user needs and wants

My first impression of the app was that it looked like a robust app packed with a ton of capabilities and features. The problem was that the design looked outdated, and everything seemed crammed and confusing. As I started to work on more projects, I quickly learned that there was a growing list of features that came from the top (stakeholders, POs, execs and leadership team) through partnerships and monetary motivations, but not necessarily listening to the user's needs and wants. 

As a user experience designer, I wanted to champion the users and listen to what they wanted in the BMW Connected app, and try to fix existing problems and also create a delightful experience that users will not only use again and again, but have a strong desire to use it.

Research

I always like to start off projects with a discovery phase which involves research and gathering data. BMW office has researchers, resources and tools for gathering, tracking and analyzing user data. There's also a machine learning team dedicated to learning users patterns and car data. They can track where the user tends to go, what route they like to take and personalize the driving experience for them. 

I worked along side researchers and gathered data that pertained to my projects. I also did some informal, guerilla style research by visiting BMW dealers and talking to customers.

But the majority of my findings came from Confluence, app reviews, and data from researchers. One of the projects I worked on was the vehicle tab and surfacing the remote controls to the home screen. Looking at the data, I was able to make informed decisions on what users tapped on most and made sure those were more visible and easily accessible.

Crazy 8

Besides learning from existing user data, we also did a lot of activities and collaborative working sessions like Crazy 8s to learn from each other. No body knows the product better than those who work here and it's always fun to brainstorm ideas and do some exploratory research with fellow colleagues. I invited a small group of people–developers, product owners and designers– to help think through some of the problems I was facing at hand. 

Crazy 8 is a fast sketching exercise where a piece of paper is folded into 8 panels and you have about 5 min to sketch out ideas in those 8 panels. When time is up, everyone shares their sketches and then we do it again. 

Every time I do this, it's fun. 

Paper Prototyping

Another exercise I like doing is making prototypes with paper. This is a fast, disposable, and fun way to make prototypes and tell the story of how it works and should interact. The great thing about using paper is that it is tangible, plus you feel like you're back in kindergarden and you get paid for playing with scissors!

Wireframes

I worked on a lot of UX while at BMW–everything from IA, user requirements, user flows, wires, etc. Mainly, I used Axure as that is what our team used. 

Below are some wires I explored for the new vehicle tab. We wanted to build a modular framework that would be scalable and support future features and organize all the different remote functions and information. Looking at the new ID7 head unit, which was using a modular grid layout similar to Windows design, we wanted to make a similar modular layout for the mobile app.

Next Gen Redesign

While there was the day to day production work based on each sprint, I also pushed for innovation. We helped prepare for forward thinking conferences like CES and LUP and had fun thinking about the future of cars and human life. 

I also led a lot of the redesign initiative and exploring what the app could be if we could overhaul it completely. We had a talented group of creative designers who loved working on this kind of stuff and I got everyone together to start exploring. I started a Pinterest board, printed out some of our inspirations and competitors UI..see what works, what doesn't. We discussed some missions, brand values, styleguides and UI/UX components. I started to put our work on the wall so we can get feedback from passerbys and share what we were working on.

Usability Testing

On a quarterly basis, BMW UX team conducts usability testings and I participated in one in Chicago last winter. We hired a researcher and recruited informants to test android. 

While there were a lot of complaints from users, one positive affirmation that came out of the studies was that surfacing remote controls in 5.0 was a good move. Users liked the fact that it was easily accessible in the home screen and felt that it was better than the previous version which was 50% empty when there were no trips or activity started. The data validated a lot of our assumptions especially around moving vehicle tab to the home screen, and helped build confidence in our decisions.

Testing with the Head Unit

The office had a couple of head units for different model versions (ID4++, ID5, ID6) to test different car models (old to new). This was great to see how the app would connect with the head unit and making sure that the experience is consistent. Besides this, there were also BMW and MINI cars in the garage so I was able to test out the dev builds and help with QA.

Design Culture

My personal mission was to try and infuse a design culture within this mathematical, analytical, German culture.
This organization was very much like a start-up and I wanted to emphasize the importance of design and culture in the workplace. I started design talks, design demos, fresheyes and invited everyone to share out WIP, talk about design topics out side of work and get them inspired. The response was great and everyone kept asking for more. These initiatives are a great way to bring people from different departments and open up the discussion beyond the day to day work.

Retros

After each release, we try to do retrospectives. There are many different methods. The one below is a retrospective I facilitated using a boat model. We discussed what keeps us afloat, who is steering the ship, what holds us back, etc.