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Bosch Diesel Systems

A California field study that translated diesel passenger-car perceptions into design principles and customer-experience proposals.

Role
Senior UX & HMI Design Lead
Company
Bosch
Study
California field research
Method
Interviews, synthesis & concepts

Research · California field study and experience concepts

My contribution
Within my Bosch UX/HMI work, I contributed to field research, synthesis and customer-experience concepts for diesel passenger cars.
Key decisions
Organize participant evidence into priorities the project could use for product and customer-experience discussions.
Delivery & outcome
Research-informed opportunity areas, principles and proposed showroom and customer experiences.
Bosch diesel research board showing field interviews with participants
The challenge

Find the right problem
before choosing a response.

Bosch needed to understand why diesel passenger cars were less popular than gasoline alternatives in the US. The California study had to distinguish customer experiences and perceptions from assumptions about the technology before identifying useful experience opportunities.

The solution

Give the discussion
a shared evidence base.

I connected owner, prospective-buyer and expert perspectives with the questions the project needed to answer. Organizing the evidence around trust, economics, awareness and expectations helped make the different influences on the decision visible.

I translated those findings into opportunity areas and design principles so the research could inform product and customer-experience discussions. The concepts then made the implications concrete enough to review and develop further.

The application

Research priorities
translated into proposals.

The study produced opportunity areas, design principles and proposed showroom and customer experiences. These gave the project a traceable connection between participant evidence and the direction of the concepts.

The research boards and proposed customer journey preserve that reasoning for review and further development.

Selected evidence

A traceable progression from the study question and interviews to findings, design principles and a proposed customer journey.

Project overview — understanding diesel adoptionDefine the passenger-car adoption question and the California study context.
Field interviews — participant conversationsUnderstand the choice through conversations in participants’ everyday settings.
Interview methodology and discussion frameworkCombine owner, prospective-buyer and expert perspectives.
Research synthesis — organizing participant evidenceOrganize participant evidence into themes that can inform design.
Trust — perceptions of dealershipsA finding about trust raises a customer-experience question.
Impressions — diesel stereotypesPerceptions of smell, size and noise inform communication opportunities.
Research-derived opportunity areasTranslate the themes into areas for further development.
Research-derived design principlesMake the research usable as guidance for concepts.
Proposed customer journey mapAn experience proposal informed by the research findings.
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Project context & process

Diesel passenger cars — study introduction
Study content overview
Research team and responsibilities
Research process — study stage
UX process — research through refinement
Research plan — defining the context of use

Field research

California field-research locations
Participant groups and experience with diesel
Participant profiles — gasoline owners
Participant profiles — diesel owners
Participant profiles — prospective diesel buyers
Participant profile — former diesel owner
Participant profiles — first-car buyers
Expert interview — diesel market perspective

Research findings

Research theme map — seven areas of insight
Economics — purchase, fuel and maintenance costs
Economics — maintenance perceptions
Image of use — future powertrain expectations
Image of use — appearance and identity
Image of use — driving enjoyment
Trust — friends and family as information sources
Trust — vehicle transfers within families
Awareness — gaps in diesel knowledge
Awareness — diesel marketing
Impressions — perceived maintenance costs
Impressions — perceived resale value
Infrastructure — finding diesel fuel
Infrastructure — diesel model availability
Future outlook — changing diesel perceptions
Future outlook — openness to changing powertrains
Future outlook — purchase-decision factors
Expert insights — economics, use and awareness
Expert insights — impressions and outlook

Opportunities & design principles

From research findings to requirements analysis
Opportunity — let people experience diesel
Design principle — make diesel visible

Concepts & customer journey

From design principles to ideation
Ideation map — connecting opportunities and concepts
Concept — diesel showroom experience
Concept — diesel ownership experience