Driving Experience Enhanced with Ethnography and Design Thinking

It takes a keen eye to recognize the challenges and detours faced by commercial vehicle drivers. This case study illustrates how ethnography identifies weaknesses and turns them into ideas for a better driver experience:

Commercial vehicles are often used in tough conditions. Everything has to fit perfectly. The layout of the controls, ergonomics, intuitive operation—all these factors contribute to driver experience, safety, and efficiency. Especially in demanding work environments, everything must function intuitively. A leading manufacturer in the field of specialty vehicles aimed to achieve exactly that and make their machines even more user-friendly.

The task of our automotive team was to lay the foundation for targeted improvements. This means helping the customer better understand how the vehicles are used in real-world situations and how they perform from the drivers' perspective, even under challenging conditions. Two major challenges were at the forefront:
 

We choose to go where the user experience happens. Our ethnographic researchers accompanied drivers in Europe and North America while they worked in their cabins. They observed and interviewed, filmed, and documented especially the details that are easily overlooked or remain unspoken in traditional surveys. Through the ethnographic approach, we were able to gain insights that delighted and often surprised our clients with their depth and clarity. For instance, controls were difficult to reach during use, displays obstructed visibility when maneuvering in tight spaces, or there was simply a lack of storage for safety gear and provisions.

Following the research, we organized a multi-day Design Camp together with the client. The research findings were presented in a way that made them tangible and comprehensible for the design teams. The highlight: several vehicles, seats, and control elements were available for Design Camp participants to simulate the research insights themselves.

Facilitated by our research professionals and design-thinking coaches, employees from marketing, sales, engineering, and product management developed new solutions to enhance key usage aspects. Techniques such as the Lotus Blossom technique, 'How might we' questions, and PPCO were employed. During the process, a panel of drivers, ergonomics, and UX experts provided feedback, inspiring the idea teams to keep the user perspective in focus.

The project impressively demonstrates how market research and user research can not only deliver insights but also directly enrich the innovation process and unleash the creative potential of employees. The prerequisite for this is not only a well-thought-out research method but also the involvement and close networking of the right experts at the right stages of the process.