Project Deepal

Deliverables 🌟

Deepal: More than just remote start—it's your car's smart, musical heart!

01

One Organized Platform

This platform offers a vibrant community for enthusiasts and remote vehicle control. Users can create and share episodes, listen to others', and discover both official and unofficial local car meets and activities.

02

Remote Comtrol

Wake up with a warm car in winter! Access to remote control of various car functions, including pre-heating, ambient lighting, trip tracking and vehicle positioning.

03

Emotional Support

Create your own music and vibe in the car to match your mood with our AI! Make your journey in the car an enjoyable experience, even in a traffic jam.

Project Timeline -->

SCOPE

⏺ Problem Scope

RESEARCH

⏺ Secondary Research

⏺ Gen1 Design Question

⏺ Affinity Diagram

⏺ User Journey Map

⏺ Gen2 Design Question

DESIGN

⏺ Design Strategy

⏺ Framing Structure

⏺ Lo-fi Prototype

⏺ Hi-fi Prototype

DELIVER

⏺ User Interface

⏺ Interactive Prototype

⏺ Showcase Video

Problem Scope

Changan Group's Deepal is on a mission to transform China's mid-end electric vehicle (EV) market. Currently in the midst of product development, our project focuses on developing a strategic design approach for the brand, accompanied by a suite of interaction design solutions for its website, mobile app, and vehicle interface.

I am tasked with the mobile app design, actively contributing to the development of the overarching design strategy.

My Role

Product Designer
(Mobile App)

Project Type

Business Team Project
Sponsored by Changan Auto

Time

2 months (2022)

Tools Used

Figma, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Protopie

Market Analysis & Brand Mission (Teamwork)

By the end of 2021 in China,
over 40 million 18-24-year-olds held driving licenses, yet 75% of them didn't own a car,
and 70.4% plan to buy one within 5 years, which leads to a market segment of more than 10 billion

Insights about the industry & market in 2022:

⏺ Market Dominanted by Leading Companies

⏺ The Market Size Continuously Expand

⏺ Importance of Brand Strategy

⏺ Mission of Brand Transformation to Mid-High End Market

Competitive Analysis

Where Are The Possibilities? (Teamwork)

What Is Our Strength? (Teamwork)

Exclusive Extended-Range Model at ￥200,000 market segment

The SL03 fills the void in the ￥200,000 sedan market with its extended-range model boasting a 1200 km range, standing out in its category.

Remote Heating and Temperature Control Function

The SL03 introduces micro high-frequency pulse heating, a global innovation, allowing remote winter car starts via smartphones.

Vibrant Ambient Lighting

The SL03 features ambient door lighting, adopting a human-centered design that adjusts to the environment, offering a unique, immersive driving experience.

What Does Our Typical Customer Look Like?

Gen 1 - Design Question

How can we leverage emerging technologies                                            --> How
to enhance the commuting experience                                    --> When & Where
for 20-30 year-olds,                                                                                         --> Who
thereby strengthening our brand identity?                                                   --> Why

Surveys & Interviews (Teamwork)

Affinity Diagram (Teamwork)

Opportunity Insights (Teamwork)

01

Utilization of Idle Time:

Designing App features that provide entertainment or productivity tools to engage users during traffic congestion and transform wasted time into valuable or enjoyable moments.

02

Leisure Enhancement:

Develop features that change the space into a private and enjoyable base by using music, ambient lighting and fragrance.

03

Remote Vehicle Control:

Offering mobile app features that allow for remote control of various car functions, including pre-heating, ambient lighting, trip tracking and vehicle positioning.

04

Community Building:

Develop a decentralized community platform within the App that encourages user creation, fosters interactions through random social connections, and organizes car enthusiast events for community engagement.

Gen 1I - Triangulated Design Question

How can we use entertainment tech such as music and lighting                       --> How
to help release stress, enjoy spare time and get engaged                  --> When & What
for 20–30-year-old daily commutors,                                                                           --> Who
while commuting                                                                                                   --> When & Where
thereby strengthening our brand identity?                                                                      --> Why

Design Strategy (Teamwork)

与你一起，先达未来

Cutting-Edge Tech on a
Journey with You

不止是车，更是一个真正开放的新能源共创社区

Not Only a Ride, But a Co-Creative Tide

Brand Identity

Moodboard

Graphic Standard

Framing & Lo-fi Prototype & Iteration

Hi-fi Deliverables 🌟

01

One Organized Platform

This platform offers a vibrant community for enthusiasts and remote vehicle control. Users can create and share episodes, listen to others', and discover both official and unofficial local car meets and activities.

02

Remote Comtrol

Wake up with a warm car in winter! Access to remote control of various car functions, including pre-heating, ambient lighting, trip tracking and vehicle positioning.

03

Emotional Support

Create your own music and vibe in the car to match your mood with our AI! Make your journey in the car an enjoyable experience, even in a traffic jam.

Design Decision

01

AI Music Generation

Hypothesis: Simplifying the AI music generation process will enhance user retention and increase their willingness to use this feature.

Reasoning: Fully automated music generation (emotion-based) will increase feature accessibility and engagement, while semi-automated generation (emotion + instrument adjustments) will enhance user satisfaction through personalization.
Test Method: Compare engagement rates, feature usage frequency, and satisfaction between the two modes using A/B testing.
Test Result: The A/B test revealed that Design B had a higher task completion rate (100% vs. 84%).
Cons for A: confusing and complex; Cons for B: music generated is far from expectation, but no customization options.
Final Design: provide users with two buttons: one for automatic generation and one for DIY settings, maintaining the same number of clicks.

02

App Homepage

Hypothesis: User expect the mobile App serves more as a convinient controller even though our strategy is building user-centric community.

Reasoning: Using car remote controller as homepage will boost daily utility and app interaction, whereas using community page as homepage will drive long-term retention through social engagement.
Test Method: Test both homepages and measure retention, session duration, and feature interaction rates over time.
Test Result: Using remote controller as homepage reports a higher user satisfaction rate (82% vs. 62%).
Final Design: Using the car remote controller as the homepage

Reflection - Progressiveness 🌟

01

Integration of multi-channel information resources

Aside from basic info channels like pop media, articles and experts, I assembled my experience and info channel in stock analysis, which greatly accelerated the secondary research process both qualitative and quantitative data.

02

New ideas from edge tech and team discussions

We drew inspiration for AI music from a recently unveiled music model demo in 2022. Given that our design strategy spans 3 to 5 years, we aim to offer the latest experiences and surpass the limitations of the traditional in-car space.

03

Seamless Team Collaboration

I worked closely with a fellow UI/UX designer focused on in-car displays. Our daily 30-minute briefings with each other and our department manager ensured efficient communication and kept our project on track.

Reflection - Limitation 🧐

01

Limited user feedback for further iteration

The project shut down pre-bid due to a 3-month quarantine, cutting short our chance to gather extensive customer feedback on the new features. We conducted heuristic evaluation instead.

02

Limited understanding of the real-end customer

Typically, our primary point of contact is the product manager at Changan, who represents the 'end customer'—the entity that finances our design strategy. However, this individual is not the actual consumer using the product in the marketplace. Often, we're tasked with interpreting the true needs of these consumers based on the product manager's input. I am concerned that this approach may lack the objectivity necessary to fully grasp the consumer's perspective.

03

No collaboration with front and back end developers

We weren't able to engage with our developers and engineers for design validation.

Thanks for Watching!

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