Guiding our client from a problem to a tested solution in just 5 days
Executive Summary
Challenge: Autonomous Systems already had a functioning website, however, it poorly supported their goals of building a strong brand. Because of dynamic growth, the company needed a new website and they needed it fast.
Approach: The urgency called for a quick and highly efficient solution: a Design Sprint which took only 5 days. Together, we went through mapping, sketching, voting, prototyping and testing the idea.
Result: Our client received a functioning website prototype aimed at supporting the company’s business goals. As a result, Autonomous Systems were able to quickly test their idea and see what would work with their target audience.
Services we used:
Table of Contents
About the client
Autonomous Systems provide cutting-edge software for autonomous vehicles.
The company develops its own proprietary vehicle autonomy system based on data fusion from sensor systems using hierarchical control algorithms and machine learning (including deep neural networks).
Its team is aspiring to develop autonomy on level 4 of the SAE’s Levels of Driving Automation at which a vehicle moves independently, but a driver or a remote operator can take over if they want to.
Business challenge
A need to create website to support business goals – fast!
In December 2020, the Autonomous Systems team approached us with a problem. They already had a functioning website, however, it poorly supported their goals of building a strong brand, especially among potential employees. Because of dynamic growth, Autonomous Systems needed a new website and they needed it fast.
5
days we only had to complete the design sprint
SAE level 4
the aim for Autonomous Systems' vehicle autonomy
As a designer, I was horrified at first, since we had very little time to prepare something that, in principle, should imitate the finished product as accurately as possible. In our case, the prototype was supposed to look like a real website covering a simple user path – from entering the main site to going through a few subpages. And that was when I learned to truly appreciate our interdisciplinary team.
Design Sprint Workshop in 5 days
We worked with all the decision makers on the customer’s side to figure out the goal of the new website, together.
Examining user needs and opinions was also a crucial element, as well as being able to test our ideas beforehand, because how can you possibly achieve any business goals without finding a way into your potential customers’ hearts and minds?
The urgency of the task at hand called for a quick and highly efficient solution: a Design Sprint.
Design Sprint workshops can be done in a physical space, but they are almost just as fun and efficient when conducted online. And, because of the pandemic, the latter was the option we chose.
The client’s team did not have to prepare anything in advance of the workshops, other than clear their calendars – for the whole 5 days from Monday to Friday – and clear their heads to be able to really focus.
Solution we delivered
From problem to a tested solution in just 5 days.
Future Processing’s User Experience Specialists lead the Autonomous Systems team through the following proven process:
We started by analysing how exactly the client’s business works – what their objectives and challenges were at that very moment. There were a lot of details to discuss, one by one, which was tedious, but absolutely necessary.
As a result, we were able to clarify our long-term goals to guide us through the rest of the work. We also created a map depicting all current user paths and everything that added up to the user experience, including the paths that the end users had taken to enter our client’s website.
One of the most significant parts of the day was when we got to interview the experts who were responsible for the key areas within the client’s company, in order to get their perspectives and opinions on the problem that we were working on.
First, our sprint team ran a brainstorming session, so that everyone could focus on finding inspiration from different areas. All the experts involved had a chance to describe and justify their ideas and suggestions.
Then our team split up and everyone had to create a sketch of the final solution on their own.
We were all working on the same problem, regardless of our respective drawing and design skills. After all, a pen and a blank sheet of paper are sufficient enough to express what you have in mind, no matter who you are or what you do.
On Wednesday morning, we had a board containing 5 different propositions on how to solve the problem that we were facing. Every proposition consisted of 3 crucial steps and involved new screen designs and user paths within a new website. We just didn’t know who was responsible for which suggestion, in order to remain impartial while deciding and voting.
After the discussion, everyone was allowed to vote for one of the presented solutions.
We created a heat map that showed how the team members voted, to produce a final concept that merged all of the best ideas.
We divided the tasks among our team in accordance with each of our skill sets.
One person covered all of the copywriting tasks, while another prepared the photographs and icons. One UX expert focused on designing the screen views, while the other one added all the interactive features to the views. Everything was moving like clockwork. In the meantime, the team member responsible for conducting user testing was preparing the test scripts for the next day.
We decided to use two tools for creating a prototype – Figma for designing details of each necessary screen and Axure to build an interactive prototype which looks like a real, working website.
On Friday morning, having created our prototype, we were ready to test our idea.
As a result, we collected important feedback that showed us what was working well, and what we would have to modify.
But the most important thing we learned that day was that (after 5 testing sessions), we were sure that our idea had caught on and we were confident that it would work really well in the market!
Supporting business goals
Following the Design Sprint with our Analysis and Design team, the output that our client received was a functioning website prototype.
As a result of running the prototype by real users – potential employees, Autonomous Systems were able to quickly test their idea and see what would work with their target audience and what would not.
Benefits of the workshops
- Verification of business ideas
- Agility and reduced product development cycle
- Time and money saved
- Valuable feedback from real users
- Creative ways of working
It certainly was an intensive, but also extremely productive work week. I really enjoyed the workshop, it opened my eyes to the new, more creative and more focused ways of working.
