Lexus IS iPad and Web App (Shipped)
Won a Gold ADDY for Designing & Building a Mobile AR Experience for the New Lexus IS
Problems
Lexus approached us with the challenge of creating an app that salespeople could use to quickly understand the new features of the updated IS model as well as show to customers to “Wow” them. The app was required to be developed for iPads and align with the company’s branding.
However, during the discovery phase of the project, we learned that the sales team did not have iPads, but rather used desktop PCs. This presented a challenge as it meant that we needed to design and build multiple versions of the app, as marketing wanted an iPad app, and salespeople needed a PC app.
Solutions
To showcase the new (secret) vehicle and its features, I photographed and recorded video of the car. I also put together a team to develop an iPad app with AR functionality and I built the Adobe Flash app that could run on the sales team’s older computers, having had experience with it in the past.
The Augmented Reality System utilized the iPad’s camera to allow users to point the device at a feature in the car, such as the radio, and receive a video demonstration on how to operate it on the screen. This innovative technology, which was ahead of its time, helped us win a Gold Addy in 2014. It was like something out of an “Iron Man” movie.
Logistics
Team
- 1 Product Designer (myself)
- 2 Project Managers
- 1 Content Strategist
- 1 Photographer
- 1 Videographer
- 2 Engineers
Time frame
- 8 weeks
My role
- UX research and interaction design
- Staffing
- Prototypes
- UI design
- QA
Conclusion
I spent time interviewing stakeholders and users before designing and building the mobile and web apps which gave us insights beyond the original requirements documentation. Learning what would wow customers pushed us to build an augmented reality system to enable users to learn about new features in a few seconds instead of minutes. The client was so happy with the project that they changed its scope to be customer facing and released it in the public app store. The work done won us and Lexus a Gold Addy in 2014.
