Community UX feedback

[ebfoxbat]

UX is clearly a very personal choice for people. I find it very important when making a vehicle purchase, but I know others who couldn’t care less. I see opinions on here that agree with what I’m thinking and other options that are the exact opposite of what I want. One of the things I appreciate is that Scout seems to see it as important and also an opportunity to stand out.

I’d like to suggest, in the spirit of a true Community UX, that Scout consider a full web-based mock up of the UI. This would allow Scout to get real-time feedback on changes and ideas. I would suggest this be closed to a group of non-employee testers for feedback, particularly if it would disclose unreleased features or Easter eggs. My hope here is that Scout can avoid some of the forehead-slapping UI mistakes that other manufacturers seem to release regularly and keep the momentum going with what Dré and team recently showed off at CES.

 

[Jkew]

UX is clearly a very personal choice for people. I find it very important when making a vehicle purchase, but I know others who couldn’t care less. I see opinions on here that agree with what I’m thinking and other options that are the exact opposite of what I want. One of the things I appreciate is that Scout seems to see it as important and also an opportunity to stand out.

I’d like to suggest, in the spirit of a true Community UX, that Scout consider a full web-based mock up of the UI. This would allow Scout to get real-time feedback on changes and ideas. I would suggest this be closed to a group of non-employee testers for feedback, particularly if it would disclose unreleased features or Easter eggs. My hope here is that Scout can avoid some of the forehead-slapping UI mistakes that other manufacturers seem to release regularly and keep the momentum going with what Dré and team recently showed off at CES.

That’s an great idea. They would have to simulate the car and the buttons to some extent, but this would probably help UX designers quite a bit.

 

[J Alynn]

I see the merits but I also shudder at the idea. As a designer, anytime another designer/expert comes in they always feel they have a better idea/solution. My other concern is the mariad of buyers who aren’t “techs” just want things simple.
Look at Lexus and Acura and others that 4(?) years ago tried to reinvent UX/interface and majority hated it.
I think a dedicated research thread/page here to bounce ideas would be great but giving 10-20 people the ability to nitpick is just paralysis by analysis. It’s a subjective system rooted in 25% technical/historical and 75% in designer opinion. Just my 2cents worth
I can’t tell you how many clients over the years I’ve had where the wife preceded to tell me if I needed an interior designer they were great because their friends told them so. When do you ever go to a friends house and respond with-“so-new house Cindy-looks like shit-you hire a blind monkey or something to decorate?”
Not knocking the idea and if collaboration would have started 14 months ago it might be a different story.

 

[ebfoxbat]

I see the merits but I also shudder at the idea. As a designer, anytime another designer/expert comes in they always feel they have a better idea/solution. My other concern is the mariad of buyers who aren’t “techs” just want things simple.
Look at Lexus and Acura and others that 4(?) years ago tried to reinvent UX/interface and majority hated it.
I think a dedicated research thread/page here to bounce ideas would be great but giving 10-20 people the ability to nitpick is just paralysis by analysis. It’s a subjective system rooted in 25% technical/historical and 75% in designer opinion. Just my 2cents worth
I can’t tell you how many clients over the years I’ve had where the wife preceded to tell me if I needed an interior designer they were great because their friends told them so. When do you ever go to a friends house and respond with-“so-new house Cindy-looks like shit-you hire a blind monkey or something to decorate?”
Not knocking the idea and if collaboration would have started 14 months ago it might be a different story.

I think that’s a good point. But the intent here is for feedback, not design solutions.

I, personally, am a terrible designer. It would impress you how poor I am at design work. That said, I am able to provide very specific feedback when something is confusing or unintuitive.

The sense I get (from app developers- but I can imagine it’s the same with infotainment UI design) is that they understand their interface because they’ve been staring at it and refining it for hundreds of hours. But when it gets released to the world it’s the first time that new users are seeing it.

The best designers in the world can’t account for everything, nor should they. A design needs to have intent and guardrails therefore it can’t please everyone.

What I would hope to avoid are big holes that are either critically important or are widely applicable.

One of the biggest appeals right now is the Community UX. If that disappoints it will disproportionately hurt Scout more than other auto makers.

What I was envisioning is an opportunity for feed back like, “I can’t figure out how to…” or “When I do x, this symbol pops up and I don’t know what it means…”

UI the required pulling out a manual is poor UI.

 

[J Alynn]

I think that’s a good point. But the intent here is for feedback, not design solutions.

I, personally, am a terrible designer. It would impress you how poor I am at design work. That said, I am able to provide very specific feedback when something is confusing or unintuitive.

The sense I get (from app developers- but I can imagine it’s the same with infotainment UI design) is that they understand their interface because they’ve been staring at it and refining it for hundreds of hours. But when it gets released to the world it’s the first time that new users are seeing it.

The best designers in the world can’t account for everything, nor should they. A design needs to have intent and guardrails therefore it can’t please everyone.

What I would hope to avoid are big holes that are either critically important or are widely applicable.

One of the biggest appeals right now is the Community UX. If that disappoints it will disproportionately hurt Scout more than other auto makers.

What I was envisioning is an opportunity for feed back like, “I can’t figure out how to…” or “When I do x, this symbol pops up and I don’t know what it means…”

UI the required pulling out a manual is poor UI.

I get what you are saying. But with OTA why not just have beta test after delivery? Spending 100’s more hours now to chase 20 people’s ideas that may or may not be a problem for 85% of users takes time away from other projects and those few hiccups could be fixed as needed with OTA?
I’m not arguing-just offering another point. I want the Scout because it’s a scout not because of the UX.
I’ve never had a vehicle that gets everything correct but I just adapt.
Just another point of view

 

[Chuckles]

I think that’s a good point. But the intent here is for feedback, not design solutions.

I, personally, am a terrible designer. It would impress you how poor I am at design work. That said, I am able to provide very specific feedback when something is confusing or unintuitive.

The sense I get (from app developers- but I can imagine it’s the same with infotainment UI design) is that they understand their interface because they’ve been staring at it and refining it for hundreds of hours. But when it gets released to the world it’s the first time that new users are seeing it.

The best designers in the world can’t account for everything, nor should they. A design needs to have intent and guardrails therefore it can’t please everyone.

What I would hope to avoid are big holes that are either critically important or are widely applicable.

One of the biggest appeals right now is the Community UX. If that disappoints it will disproportionately hurt Scout more than other auto makers.

What I was envisioning is an opportunity for feed back like, “I can’t figure out how to…” or “When I do x, this symbol pops up and I don’t know what it means…”

UI the required pulling out a manual is poor

AI-based UX is one way to help drivers. KIA has an AI assistant that also functions as an owner's manual. You can ask it questions about your car and maintenance.

 

[Jamie@ScoutMotors]

The UX will develop over the next few years on the road to production. It will be tested, shown in use clinics with real potential customers and more. Plus as Jeff mentioned, we can always make software changes to improve or add features with over the air updates.

 

[CourseCorrect]

UX is clearly a very personal choice for people. I find it very important when making a vehicle purchase, but I know others who couldn’t care less. I see opinions on here that agree with what I’m thinking and other options that are the exact opposite of what I want. One of the things I appreciate is that Scout seems to see it as important and also an opportunity to stand out.

I’d like to suggest, in the spirit of a true Community UX, that Scout consider a full web-based mock up of the UI. This would allow Scout to get real-time feedback on changes and ideas. I would suggest this be closed to a group of non-employee testers for feedback, particularly if it would disclose unreleased features or Easter eggs. My hope here is that Scout can avoid some of the forehead-slapping UI mistakes that other manufacturers seem to release regularly and keep the momentum going with what Dré and team recently showed off at CES.

I am definitely sympathetic to the idea ,and celebrate wanting to get involved but crowd-sourcing feedback on UI/UX solutions, but it has a tendency to generate feedback specific to what is shown while ignoring anything missing (but potentially important).

My hope is that the team is hearing that UX is important and architecting a system that supports a robust, responsive interface, with access to as much data/meta data as possible, and ability for users to tune/filter what they care about. The specific design solutions will come later.

 

[tree]

The UX will develop over the next few years on the road to production. It will be tested, shown in use clinics with real potential customers and more. Plus as Jeff mentioned, we can always make software changes to improve or add features with over the air updates.

This sounds great, tho my biggest fear dealing with UI or headunits in general is updates. The benefit of features like AndroidAuto/CarPlay is that long after my unit is abandoned but my car is still running, I still have a fresh up to date nav system with whatever apps Im using at the time. Due to not wanting to pay Toyota hundreds of dollars a year for navigation updates on a rather clunky UX/UI, I put an aftermarket headunit into my current vehicle and it hasn't had an update since probably before I even bought it. Without AA/CP it would be a miserable existence for me.