Pitching big ideas to a surging EV company
After a successful partnership and launch of the Polestar 2 PDP, YML assembled a small team to proactively pitch new and innovative ideas across the entire vehicle ecosystem. I had been itching to work on an automotive client so I raised my hand to help. Like most agency pitches, time is the biggest constraint. In three fast and furious weeks, we were forced to conduct guerrilla research, make intelligent assumptions, and operate efficiently as a team.
I collaborated with a researcher and two other designers to strategize, design and rapidly prototype multiple design concepts that we ultimately presented to Polestar USA leadership. I pushed myself to explore new technologies, tools and techniques to execute and sell the vision, while continuing to build trust with our client.
Zooming out
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We analyzed the existing purchasing experience across all digital and physical touch points. This helped us understand friction areas and opportunities for enhancements.
We ultimately landed on about 10 rough concepts as a starting point. The moments I chose to bring to life were the highest impact and also the most realistic to execute given YML’s capabilities. It wouldn’t make sense to pitch something we couldn’t build.
Polestar Home
Configurator
Polestar Spaces
Polestar Fleets + Business
Polestar App
Spaces content shoots
VR / AR experiences
Test drive in VR
Preview Polestar in AR
Owners onboarding in AR - Hold camera to points / part of a car to get info, videos, etc
03
Pre-ownership
Like many premium EV companies, Polestar does not have typical dealerships; they have showrooms where customers to configure their vehicles, sit in the drivers seat, touch the materials and use augmented and virtual reality solutions to learn about the vehicle.
“Our configurator allows guests to spec up a chosen car, and even transfer said configurations to a mobile device to consider next steps at their leisure.” - Polestar.com , Oslow showroom opening.
...But not everyone lives near a polestar showroom, and there aren’t that many. How might we bring the tactile, in-store configuration experience to those who don’t live near a Polestar showroom?
"40% of consumers say they would pay more for a product that they could customize in AR." -Three Kit
I used Element 3D so I could prototype in real time; rather than pre-rendering. This was critical given the short timeframe.
04
Ownership
The obvious place to start in the post-purchase journey was the companion app. The Polestar 1 was being phased out, along with its companion apps. The Polestar 2 app had some brutally honest ratings and reviews from dissatisfied owners. Customers paying a minimum of 55k for a world class vehicle expect and deserve a premium and unified digital experience.
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We brainstormed some table stakes features for the new app, as well as some wild ones. Each feature laddered up to three core experience pillars.
Help me control my vehicle
Lock & Unlock
Cabin climate
Parking assist
Summon
Navigate to charging stations
Show me all Polestar vehicle has to offer
Video library
Charging
contextual hotspots
Parking location
News & events (Brand updates)
Maintenance stats
Help me understand my driving habits and my vehicle's performance
Realtime diagnostics
Tire pressue
Fuel savings
Battery health
Driving journal
CO2 mmissions saved
Inspired by interaction cues from the Polestar 2 in-vehicle displays and smart home interfaces, I ultimately landed on an interaction paradigm that places the vehicle front and center, while leaning fully into Polestar’s minimalist, Scandinavian design. Small details like adding a light sweep to add life to the charging state, and animating the back ticks on the temperature slider made all the difference.
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Making the shift to an electric vehicle, let alone a Polestar, is a paradigm shift for new owners. How might we educate them about all their vehicle has to offer without it feeling liker reading an owners manual?
By giving polestar owners the ability to interact with a virtual representation of their vehicle in 3D space, learning becomes contextual and immersive, rather than encyclopedic.
How might we help drivers understand their driving habits and their vehicle's energy consumption and performance?
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05
Under the hood
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What I learned
We were moving at lightspeed on this project. It felt as though there was not a second wasted and ideas kept pouring out. The time constraint forced me to be more efficient in my approach and team interactions. I'm always shocked by the results a great team can produce when time is a limiting factor.
When pitching, you're going to need to make some assumptions. When the goal is to inspire and excite stakeholders, it's ok to veer away from a standard UX process as long as your decisions are validated (or invalidated) later. When there are minimal constraints, the creativity flows endlessly.
On most products, I tend to get involved fairly heavily end-to-end and my role is that of a generalist. On this project however, every person had a specialized skillset and was hyper-focused on a specific part of the delivery. It allowed us all to go deep without spreading ourselves thin, which in hindsight, led to better outcomes. I'm now convinced that this is the optimal team structure, even though designers should be able to flex a bit and wear multiple hats if necessary.
