LinkEV
PRODUCT DESIGN | UX DESIGN
LinkEV helps new EV owners feel confident and in control by breaking down complex vehicle information into simple, easy-to-understand guidance. From explaining how your EV works to teaching you how to use its unique features, the app makes learning effortless so you can get the most out of your electric driving experience.
Project Statement
New EV users who are unfamiliar with their EV’s need an easy, digestible way to learn about how they work and what they need while also learning how to navigate and utilize the special features they have to offer.
Overview
LinkEV is a vehicle connected app that helps with the learning curve with new EV users by simplifying data while also keeping up with its status.
By making this data more accessible, EV users are able to adjust quicker and get the most out of their cars.
How it works
LinkEV connects to your vehicle and simplifies the data allowing users to keep tabs on their car from anywhere. Check your battery, start your car, and even see what maitnesnce it might need without even having to step into your car.
Research
LinkEV gives drivers access to their car’s data anytime, anywhere… but not everyone knows how to make the most of it.
As someone who grew up in a car family, there were never ending lessons about car health and how to drive. However, a lot of these lessons also had to do with electric cars since more often than not it was my dad giving these lessons and he loves electric cars. With companies today starting to focus more on electric vehicles, it’s important to remember that not everyone was taught how to drive and or care for them (especially newer drivers). And if there was one thing I learned, it’s that EV’s display a lot more information which is only useful when it is understood.
Competitive review
Lots of car connected apps exist, however not everyone knows what to do with the data.
The main things I was looking at were what controls were included within these connected apps, and how certain information was displayed. Some examples I looked at included Toyota, Tesla, and BMW. I noted what I thought worked and what didn’t design wise and then moved on to my wireframes. The main issue I noticed in these were how cluttered some of them were. I felt that they were trying to display too much unnecessary information on the main page making it frustrating to complete simple tasks.
Goals and requirements
Keep it simple, informative, and beginner friendly.
After wrapping up the competitive analysis, I was able to look back at my problem statement and come up with some goals and requirements for my final product. By setting these early in my process, I am able to make sure that these points get covered and remain the focus of the product.
Goal: Give users a way to connect to their cars and access their stats from their mobile devices.
Requirement: Make sure the app is synced and is constantly updated with real time car status.
Goal: Teach users about their EV driving habits and how to monitor battery health.
Requirement: Highlight their driving habits while keeping the information easy to read and offering more details on what it all means.
Goal: Give users easy to use features that help them get the most out of their EV experience.
Requirement: Provide clear instructions as well as a simple app interface that is also accessible.
Product design
Sleek yet informative design that keeps data the focus of the interface but also easy to read and understand.
Our new modular design was simple to install and connect to the app. It consisted of one sensor and multiple similar shaped, removable “spacers” that allowed users to adjust the size. It is also much easier to install, just size up and wrap around the pipe and close with the magnetic closure.
The goal of the design for both the app and product itself was to make it easy to install and understand while still being able to solve the issue. Initially our design required plumbing to install and the sensors being used were a bit more complicated. However, since we noticed these issues early on, we were able to pivot in a new direction that helped us meet our goals.
Rather than using a hall sensor like we had initially planned on doing (which required water to flow directly through) we decided to use a magnetic sensor that works around the pipes. With this new technology, I was able to go back and come up with a new, easy to install design which was also more cost effective when it came to production.
Website
An informative site to showcase our product in a transparent way.
Once we made the final touches on our app and prototypes, we were able to move on to creating a product site. The goal of this site is to inform potential buyers of the product and how it works as well as why they need it.
For this project, we got a chance to present our product at a showcase at the end of the semester where people could come and vote on the different products displayed. This also included an online launch where “buyers” would be given $200 to “spend”. They chose what they wanted to “spend” it on by looking at each products website which meant this was a very important step.
We ended up winning the most products bought as well as the highest profit.
Final design
Drip is a buildable, app connected faucet attachment system that helps households manage water usage by providing insights into where and when water is being used the most. By making water consumption more transparent for all members of the household, it encourages a culture of conservation within.
Simply attach Drip to the faucets or pipes you want to monitor, and sync them with the app. From there, your data will grow and show daily, weekly and monthly usage per room and appliance while also showing how it contributes to the household usage total and bill. Users can also set goals and compare with past usage to track their conservation efforts.
For packaging, I created a quick mock up of a “paper mache” like, recycled material that hugs the attachment inside. The idea was to keep it simple and eco friendly by limiting the amount of packaging as well as making sure to use recycled materials. Each unit included 2 attachments and were priced at $32.00. This price came from the products used as well as the manufacturing for all parts (including the packaging) while still leaving plenty of room for profit. We wanted to make sure to keep each pack cheap enough so encouraging customers to expand their system was reasonable.
Add household members
Share the same data across all household members devices by adding members to your “household”. Keep other people within household who aren’t the ones paying the bills aware of their individual usage. And see how individual's usage compares to others and how they contribute to the monthly usage and bill
Track usage by room
Track real time water usage by room and appliance in list form. Sort by recently used, highest usage by day, or lowest usage by day. See how each room compares by week and the break down by room if it contains more than one attachment
Set monthly usage and spending goals
The household admin has the ability to set usage and bill goals for the household that will be tracked as the month goes on. If the user isn't sure what goals are realistic for their household, they can take our quiz to help which takes into consideration many different factors such as household size, laundry frequency etc. Set a reminder to get notifications based on what percentage of your goal you have completed
Style guide
Product summary
Drip is a buildable water tracking system aimed to help with water conservation by encouraging usage awareness throughout the house. By displaying easy to understand metrics as well as monthly recaps across multiple devices, all members of the household will be aware of their usage and how it contributes as a whole.
How it works
By using magnetic sensors to calculate the flow rate of the water and the time it is in the pipes, we are able to offer a plumbing free, quick to install attachment that provides real time water usage data. With this new design, installation has never been easier. As long as the sensor is flush to the pipe, it will track the water flowing through and send that data back to your phone through its wifi connected chip.
To install simply adjust to fit your pipe or faucet, attach with the magnetic closure, and sync to the app with the press of a button.
5 months | Group
Project reflection
After working with my group of 2 designers, one business student, and one engineer, I was really able to see what it was like to start with nothing and create a product. It was very interesting to learn more about the business aspects of product design since I had no experience with it before. Although this was a lengthy project, time flew by once we knew what direction we wanted to go in.
Overall I am very happy with the way this project turned out and how my team was able to work together to create it.