Digital Twin App - MyMustang
Project Overview
- Objective: To build a connected car app for Ford Mustang owners to monitor vehicle health, showcasing real-time data and personalized repair recommendations. The app enables users to scan their vehicle for issues, track past services, and receive service recommendations, helping them maintain their car’s performance and health.
- Target Audience: Ford Mustang owners who are passionate about their vehicle’s performance and want a simple, user-friendly way to monitor and maintain it. The app targets individuals who want to stay on top of their car’s maintenance and ensure it runs at its best.
The goal was to create an app that helps users monitor the health of their Ford Mustang with ease, providing real-time diagnostic data, service history tracking, and proactive service recommendations to keep their car in optimal condition.
Research
- Competitive Analysis: Analyzed several connected car apps and automotive maintenance platforms to identify common features, pain points, and opportunities for differentiation. Focus was placed on apps that provide vehicle health tracking, real-time diagnostics, and personalized repair recommendations.
- User Expectations: Users expect a simple, intuitive interface to monitor their car’s performance, receive clear information about issues, and get easy-to-follow service recommendations. They also expect a seamless experience with real-time vehicle diagnostics and maintenance history tracking.
Key Takeaways
- Users desire quick, easy-to-understand feedback on their car’s health and actionable service recommendations.
- A minimalistic design and clear, concise data presentation are essential for user engagement and satisfaction.
- Personalized, proactive service suggestions are a key feature that users value for maintaining their vehicle’s performance.
User Personas
Mark Davis
- Age: 40
- Occupation: Entrepeneur
- Location: Houston, TX
- Goals: Mark is a proud Ford Mustang owner who wants to keep his vehicle in top shape. He seeks an easy way to monitor his car’s health, track services, and get timely maintenance recommendations.
- Frustrations: Mark often forgets about necessary maintenance or service milestones. He dislikes complicated apps and prefers simple, actionable insights.
- Behaviors: Mark regularly drives his Mustang and is proactive about keeping it running well. He prefers apps that give him real-time diagnostics and clear service recommendations without overwhelming him with technical jargon.
- Needs: An intuitive app that provides vehicle diagnostics, allows for easy tracking of services, and gives simple, understandable maintenance recommendations.
Sunny Gill
- Age: 26
- Occupation: Automotive Engineer
- Location: Sacramento, CA
- Goals: Sunny is a car enthusiast who enjoys taking care of his Ford Mustang’s performance. He wants to monitor his car's health, track performance data, and get advanced repair recommendations based on his usage.
- Frustrations: Sunny dislikes apps that lack detail and doesn’t like having to manually input data. He wants a solution that connects seamlessly to his vehicle and gives him actionable, personalized insights.
- Behaviors: Sunny frequently uses technology to monitor his car’s performance and maintenance needs. He prefers a sleek, intuitive interface with in-depth diagnostic and repair data.
- Needs: An advanced yet simple-to-use app that provides real-time diagnostics, tracks service history, and provides detailed and personalized service recommendations.
Ideation
- Sketching: Developed initial sketches to visualize the app's layout, focusing on simplicity and ease of use. Key sections included vehicle diagnostics, service history, and repair recommendations.
- Wireframing: Created low-fidelity wireframes with a focus on presenting clear diagnostic data, easy navigation between sections, and accessible service recommendations. Prioritized simplicity to avoid overwhelming users with technical details.
- Color Palette: Used a clean and professional color scheme with white as the primary background color to maintain a minimalistic look. Blue was used for key interactive elements like buttons and highlights, emphasizing important actions. Black was applied to text for readability and clarity.
The ideation phase centered around creating an intuitive, simple experience that provides value to users by offering clear insights into their car’s health, service history, and proactive recommendations.
Design Decisions
- Typography: Inter, a clean and minimal sans-serif font, was chosen for its readability and modern feel. It contributes to the app’s clean and professional aesthetic, ensuring that both technical data and user-facing text are easy to understand.
- Vehicle Diagnostics: Integrated real-time vehicle diagnostics that users can easily access by scanning their car for issues. The diagnostic data is presented in a user-friendly format, with clear indicators of any issues or maintenance needs.
- Service History: The app allows users to track past services and maintenance performed on their vehicle, helping them stay on top of maintenance schedules and track the history of repairs.
- Personalized Recommendations: Based on the vehicle’s condition and past service history, the app provides tailored service recommendations. These suggestions are designed to help users stay ahead of potential issues and keep their car running at optimal performance.
- Navigation: The app’s navigation is simple and intuitive, with a bottom navigation bar featuring easy access to key sections: Diagnostics, Service History, and Recommendations. This ensures users can quickly find the information they need.
The design decisions were made to ensure that the app would be accessible, easy to use, and visually aligned with the Ford Mustang brand, offering both simplicity and functionality.
Prototyping
- Tools: The app was designed in Figma, allowing for interactive prototypes to be created and tested. Key features like the diagnostic scan and service recommendations were included in the prototype to simulate user interactions.
- Interactivity: Included interactive elements like real-time vehicle scanning, clickable service recommendations, and smooth transitions between sections for a seamless user experience.
The prototype emphasized ease of use and interactive diagnostics, ensuring that users could easily access and understand their car’s health status.
Usability Testing
- Test Method: Conducted usability testing with 5 participants who were Ford Mustang owners. The focus was on ease of use, clarity of vehicle diagnostics, and the simplicity of tracking service history and receiving recommendations.
- Feedback: Users appreciated the simplicity of the app and found the diagnostic data easy to understand. Some users requested the ability to filter repair recommendations by priority (urgent vs. recommended) and additional integration with local repair shops.
- Changes: Added the option for users to filter repair recommendations by urgency and prioritized local repair shop suggestions based on the user’s location.
The testing confirmed that users found the app helpful and easy to navigate, with feedback leading to further refinements to improve customization and service suggestions.
Final Design
- Final Deliverables: Delivered a high-fidelity prototype in Figma, with real-time diagnostic scanning, service history tracking, and personalized repair recommendations fully integrated.
- Outcome: The final design successfully delivered a clean, intuitive connected car app for Ford Mustang owners. The app provides real-time data, tracks services, and delivers personalized repair recommendations, helping users maintain their car’s performance with ease.
The final app meets the objective of providing Ford Mustang owners with a simple, user-friendly solution to monitor and maintain their vehicle’s health.
Reflection
- What Worked: The simplicity of the design made it easy for users to navigate and quickly access key features like vehicle diagnostics and service recommendations. The real-time data was clear and useful, and the personalized recommendations added great value.
- Challenges: Ensuring that the app delivered real-time diagnostics seamlessly was a key challenge, but it was successfully integrated with a clean interface that didn’t overwhelm users with too much technical information.
- Future Improvements: Future updates could include deeper integrations with Ford’s dealership network for appointment scheduling, and advanced features like predictive maintenance based on historical data.
The project was successful in creating an intuitive, easy-to-use app that helps users keep their Ford Mustang in top shape with minimal effort.
Tools Used:
