Source: Electrek
Problem and Goal
As one of the first three UX researchers at Rivian, I had the unique opportunity to create the biggest impact to inform the early stages of user experience, product design, vehicle design, branding, and go to market.
Problem: This new class of electric vehicle currently does not exist in the market, which leaves the big question: Will it be accepted? and if so, by whom? Will an electric pick-up truck sharing economy be well received?
Goal: Gauge desirability within adventure enthusiasts, identify innovative vehicle design to support the adventurer’s lifestyle, and create a viable user experience within Rivian’s ecosystem.
My role as UX Researcher
We traveled to Los Angeles, Portland, and Seattle, each spending a week for ethnography and contextual inquiry followed by a week of synthesis.
Team: 3 UX Researchers, 1 Engineer, 1 Product designer, 1 Vehicle designer, 1 Strategy and business operations
My role as a UX designer involved:
Define and plan key research activities (research itinerary and scheduling, recruiting for interviews, interview guides, and generative exercises)
Lead team in executing ethnographic research across 3 locations
Lead team through research synthesis, ideation, and solution creation
Discovery
A few research questions:
How did people use their outdoor vehicle? What are their pain points and desires when it comes to vehicle features?
What other activities do they use their outdoor vehicle for? What is their general range in miles?
What are their thoughts / general perception of electric vehicles? Do they have “range anxiety”?
What are their thoughts of an electric vehicle?
What supporting services or experiences would they want to make them feel secure with an electric vehicle?
Key insights and Areas of Opportunity
Our research helped us identified user’s goals, incentives, and concerns depending on circumstances and challenges.
Here are some findings below:
Security
Cleanliness
Durability
Community
Areas of Opportunity
Methodology
We were fortunate to observe people in their environment, interview locals about their vehicles, experience outdoor activities to better understand the user’s core needs.
Observation
By immersing ourselves in the context of the environment, we were able to observe the ways in which people and various artifacts (i.e. kite surf, wet gear, coolers etc.) interfaced with their vehicles. Can a vehicle have specific design modules for specific types of activities?
Intercept Interviews
An unplanned at-the-moment interview was a natural way to talk to Jim, a camper and mountain biker. Within this encounter, we were given the chance to observe the way in which he mounted his bike onto his car.
Extreme User Interviews
Interviews with Extreme Users gave us context of family camping and the diversity of supplies needed for a one week stay. This was one of our only family oriented interviews but provided deep insight into the physical attributes a vehicle needed for a comfortable family trip.
Mobile Diaries
I became acquainted with Sophia, a van camper and blogger, who was traveling across the country in her modified Eurovan. We conversed through email and I followed her Instagram account. Her social media was a great way to capture her activities, emotions, and self reflection within the context of her environment.
Competitive Analysis
We evaluated existing offerings to evaluate features, functions, and performance that work for the user in mind. Howard explained why he would never give up his Element because it was easy to clean and pull the seats back, while stowing his surfboard securely.
Contextual Inquiry
Visiting Hillary and Adam at their home gave us an insider's view of their user experience in loading and unloading bulky paddle boards. Through interviews, we also had an understanding of their mindset, values, habits, cleanliness, and lifestyle.
Expert Interviews
Alex, a second generation Subaru driver and extreme car camper, provided an in-depth review of his vehicle and all its specifications. Although he loves his vehicle, he spoke of its limitations and possibilities of improvements.
Design Probes
The sharing economy takes many forms, including bicycles. We wanted to understand the user experience journey of Seattle's City bike share program, from kiosk interface, riding the bicycle in self, helmet rentals, to returning. Was their kiosk easy to use? What were the challenges?
POEMS Framework
The POEMS framework (people, objects, environment, messages, services) was a great way to immerse ourselves in the cultural context of Portland. What did the people care about? How did they get to and from the market? What were other modes of transportation?
Storytelling
By getting Steve to tell us stories about his surf group, he also told us stories about the camaraderie and respect within the surf culture. How they share, trade, and trust each other to the point they didn't feel the need to secure their vehicles. We were able to understand how surf culture translated into their vehicles.
Surveys & Questionnaires
Surveys were a quick, yet effective way to get as much input as possible. They were handed out in person and participants were given as much time needed to fill in their opinions. Although this is not as in depth compared to other methodologies, it provides a general scan of the project scope.
Generative Activities + Content Analysis
Stakeholder Matrix
Personas
We took distinctive behaviors and attributes and interpreted them into personas to help guide scenarios.
User Journey
By focusing on a persona, we imagined a preferred end to end scenario with key events and task flows through quick and dirty customer journeys.
Contextual Groupings
Since our research was so broad, we narrowed our focus to themed groupings. Above is an example of themes we noticed over and over again which helped define design principles and guide solutions.
Design Principles
Principles were reflective of our user group as well as the culture of the company. What our user demographic found important, so did we. Thus, we created guidelines for our principles to manifest consistently through messaging and branding.
Solutioning Exercises
Throughout the iterative process, we continuously held solution exercises to further define Personas, Scenarios, business models, design capabilities, and principles. We held sessions between teammates of varied disciplines to extract atypical ideas.
Rivian Today
Rivian today has not changed its DNA in being an electric adventure vehicle. They have still maintained the early design ideas to create a well-rounded vehicle for outdoor use.
