design portfolio

Nanqian XuDesign Research | Product Design

Who are we designing for and what should we design? I’m always trying to find answers. The research and design exploration process excites me, and has led me to become a designer.

Nanqian Xu

Nanqian Xu | Product Design

737 New Generation Boeing Seat

New Generation Boeing Seating Design

Based on the result of the research project of Boeing flight experience, We are working on the premise of designing for the users with limited dexterity, sight and hearing impairment whose needs are extreme. These needs are looked at through the lens of universal design to reach out to a larger population base.During the design process, we used prototype as a way to simulate consumer experiences, get inspirations, generate concepts, and get feedback from users.I finalized our rough mock-up in this summer to make it into a 3D model that can be produced in reality.

Responsibilities

User Journey Analysis

737 Airplane Interior Mock-up (Full Scale)

Seat Mock-up (Full Scale)

User Testing

3D CAD Model Building



In order to understand the whole user experience, •we built up a full scale of half plane section. This helped us to experience the restraints of the space and the sequence of activities.

Prototype to Learn



Using 3 rows of seats from Boeing, within our full scale •cabin, we were able to simulate the whole entrance and exit process, the relaxation period and transition activities.

User Experience Simulation



Enter Settle Transition Exit

Get Information

Entertainment

Eat / Drink

Inform-- enhance entry experience by better informing users about seating area.

Storage-- provide better storage system to enhance user experience during travel.

Experience-- accommodating work/ rest/ entertainment and eating in the seating area.

Transition-- provide support for transition from sitting to standing positions.

Business Value & Opportunity Area

We decided to address the needs for baby boomers as inspirations because:Baby boomers will take up the US population for • 20% in 2030. Baby boomers will all turn • 65 between 2011 to 2030.Baby boomers spent • 2 billion dollar annually. Baby boomers share • 43% of domestic travel in US.


737 New Genera�on Boeing Seat

Based on the universal design principle to provide • equally solu�on for majority user, we brainstormed in those four opportunity areas. Later on, we reviewed our concepts with Design Director in Teague to filter down several frui�ul concepts and to understand the industry constraints.

Concept Brainstorm



We built this full scale seat which can be tested •by human weight and activities. Not only to make our concepts from 2D to 3D, we also want people to interact with concepts for real.

Inform

Storage

Experience

Transition

Concept Prototype



We did rounds of user reviews. The storage place, the lighting, and the •way that small table folds, which solved most problems we found during the user experience simulation, received the positive feedback.

User Reviews

Nanqian Xu | Design Research

New Generation Insurance Product

Understanding Intangible ValueNew Generation Insurance Product

Liberty Mutual is known for their global coverage and their east-coast based insur-ance network. They purchased SafeCo as their sub brand to achieve the west-coast market for SafeCo’s agent network at west coast. The economic downturn just hap-pened after this acquisition which put a pressure on SafeCo to create innovative products. Also, as personal insurance is becoming online, Liberty Mutual needs to find their way to utilize their wide agent network as a strength while targeting the individual insurance product.SafeCo brought this broad topic as: explore people’s intangible value and find out how can insurance industry play in this area. They were expecting opportunity areas and design principles. In our final report, we provided not only key insights about how people view their intangibles, but also how to use agent as a connection to ac-cess and protect people’s intangible value. This perspective brought our opportunity area to an actionable level. Our research results became really meaningful.

Skills:

Scope Frame: Opportunity Map | Trend Analysis | Research Protocol

Primary Research: Face-to-face Interview | Guest Tour | Photo Study | Collage Activity

Analysis & SynthesisInsight Analysis | Concept Generation Workshop

Planning & ImplementationScenario Planning | Story Board | Strategic Road map



Who should we interview?

Screening people is hard when the topic is vague. Everyone has intangible values, but who has the most interesting story? How can we reach into people’s value which is really sensitive, soft, and hard to articulate? We decided to go extreme. We included several people with speciality like art praisers, jack packs, museum curators, and etc.... We also felt group of people are easy to articulate the insights about how intangible value holds the group together.

I know people think biking is really dangerous. And sometime just those old crazy white guys will bike. But I just enjoy this noisy and si-lent moment. You feels like speedy and also isolated. ... This is SUZUKI. If I have money later, I will change it. I keep all the stuff relate to biking in one paper box. I do arrange those things frequently.

- Edy, Bike Club Member (Name and content is revised for confidential reason)

Copyright @ Nanqian Xu, 2009Copyright @ Nanqian Xu, 2009



How should we interview?

Intangibles are hard to communicate. We did several rounds of interviewing people using different protocols, like field research interviews, photo studies, collage creations. The communication was better when we provide medium. We need to dig into people’s value and how they treasure their possessions. We found it is a process from expecting an intangible to lose it. Both value and processions are always formed as a system, intangibles are always built around tangibles.

Copyright @ Nanqian Xu, 2009



Design Principles + Concepts

With the understanding of the nature of people’s intangible value, we were able to bring several opportunity areas for insurance products to step into. Both using the consumer insights and the insights about trends of insurance industry, we defined the new model of insurance products which will be target at intangible values.

Intangible assets are defined as identifiable non-monetary assets that cannot be seen, touched or physically measured, which are created through time and/or effort and that are identifiable as a separate asset. -Wikipedia



Existing Offering

Existing User

New User

NewOffering

MeasureResponse

Compensate

Existing Insurance Model

Existing Offering

Existing User

New User

NewOffering

MeasureResponse

CoachRevealProtect

ShareSupportCelebrate

Intangible Insurance Model

Through humanized agent-based insurance model, we are able to target people’s intangible value which is built through time and effort as a system.

Compensate



Scenarios + Stories

Part of my responsibility was to build the stories with different per-sonas, which will show how this new model of insurance are going to happen. Including agents as part of the stakeholder in the story helped us to deliver the new definition of agents in this new model.




When we deliver the final proposal...

We set up a museum showing “ Intangible Values” with our own treasures, like a plant from Mom, engagement ring, pho-tos, gift card etc... With the audio broadcasting of interviews, we brought the atmosphere to help our client to understand intangible values emotionally and to build a vivid connection.




What could we do better?

It took us some time to figure out that this was a phase 0 project, we decided it was more important to understand people’s value holistically rather than design detailed concepts. If we had more time, we could interview experts in intangible field, who might be a psychologist, and experts in insurance industry.


Design Management InstituteLong Term Planning

Design Management Institute Long Term Strategy Planning

Design Management Institute (DMI) is a non-profit organization aiming for bringing design and business together. With a long history which was started in 1975, DMI has become a center of forward thinking about innovation. Facing the challenge of other competitive organizations like IDSA, AIGA, TED etc., DMI wants find out what will be their long term vision for next 10 years.After analyzing existing opportunity area and DMI’s strength, we conducted 16 stakeholder in-depth interviews and also a concept generation workshop with clients. We realized DMI needs to reposition itself as a platform for knowledge sharing and network build in. In this way, the organization can keep up-to-date and build on its strength of senior membership.The project was so successful that DMI invited our 3 people team to report to their executive team and council members in Boston, their headquarter. After the presen-tation, we write out the 3 year short plan also a execution time-line for their 2008 anniversary conference, ReMix.

Skills:

Contextual Research: Opportunity Map | Competitive Analysis | Core Competencies | Value Web | Trend Analysis

Primary Research: Telephone Interview | Collaborative Workshop | Insight Matrix

Concept Building: Concept Evaluation | Scenario Planning | Concept Changed Landscape | Road Map



Understand Business

10 Types of Innovation Trend Analysis Competitive Analysis Value Web

Define Design Principle User Insight Tool Insight Matrix Value Web Analysis Fish Bone Analysis

Create Long-term Vision Concept Evaluation Senario Planning Road Map

Outcome:

Know the core competence •and issues within the organization•Know competitive land-•scape in the industryKnow driven trends which •relate to the industry

Overview of different •perspective from stakeholderFrame research process and •protocolConduct user research•

Frame problem based on •user and industry knowledgeStructured analysis of prob-•lem Define principle targeting to •problem

Building concept based on •company’s strength and user benifitsPlanning ahead for long term •vision combining with trends and industry analysis

General Process

Identify Stakeholder

Direct Interview Secondary Study Telephone Interview



Through our research, we find the problems are:

Ineffective internal operations•Inability of reaction to change•One fits all approach of knowledge •deliveryLimited networking opportunities •

Finance Processes Offerings Delivery

Business Model

Internationalnon-profit organization

ConferenceSeminarPublication

SponsorsPartner HBR

Members,Board of directors,Advisory council Partners

Speakers at conferences and seminars

Article contributors for publications

Small-scaleconferenceAcademicpublication

Conference video online

KnowledgeInternational connectionCross-displinary networking

ConferenceSeminarWebsiteMailing

Academicsenior levelGood reputa-tion

Personal contactOneway communicationClublike

Network Enabling Processes

Core Processes

Product Performance

ProductSystem

Service Channel Brand UserExperience

Ten Types of Innovation• provides a platform for organization to think about their core competencies. Ten Types of Innovation is an overview planning tool to bring innovative solutions in entrepreneurship.

3

2

1

0

-1

-2

The TED conference covers broad set of innovative and forward thinking topics.

TED created a global community around website with live streaming videos from presentation and archive of videos.

AIGA structures volunteer process which involves entry level designers and students.

AIGA builds on activism of local chapters. Businessweek created system that branches offline, online, video and audio.

DMITEDAIGABusinessweek

Finance Processess Offerings Delivery

Business Model Network Enabling Processes

Core Processes

Product Performance

ProductSystem

Service Channel Brand UserExperience

Know The Business

Design professionals

Design entry level

Academic Fun

British Design Counsel

ACM

Institute of Design

Red Dot

IxDA

IA Institute

IDSA

UPAbarcamp

Local cocktail hours/meetups

AIGA

TED

DMI

Opportunity gap

Opportunity gap

Opportunity gap

Partners

Board

Sponsors

Thought leaders

/ Content providers

Design community

Other fields of

DMI Members



The irelevance to practioners in design industry makes DMI offering acedemic heavy.• Communication channels with stakeholders are not effective and outdated• DMI’s processes are not effective• DMI doesn’t evaluate and implement new concepts & ideas• Networking leads to business deals• DMI members look for networking and personal relationship• DMI doesn’t support networking outside of conferences• The offering is not delivered effectively to members• The more involved the member is within DMI, the more networking opportunities they • have other organizations move into design business marketDMI attracts senior professionals across disciplinary is advantage in the field of design • organizationsDMI doesn’t have processes in place that make it easy for people to contribute• It’s easier to build network when members information is accessible • Content of the conference should be available in a form that members can access later• DMI’s events are not locally available to members in smaller cities• DMI’s staff are not motivated to make changes and try out new ideas.• To connect with members DMI needs to evolve at the same rate the world evolves.• DMI has a very professional and influential membership.• The more decision makers are involved the harder it is to make a decision .• DMI doesn’t react today’s changing marketplace which is moving towards a strategic • contribution of design

Identify Stakeholder

“I have been with the organization for more than 10 years. DMI is like an old uncle, we really like him. But we never take him to the party.”Darrel Rhea, CEO of Cheskin Added Value

Insights

DMI attracting senior professionals across disciplinary is an • advantage in the field of design organizations



Vision based on DMI’s advantage and user needs:

Involve and leverage highly skilled members to build a community of practice

Define Design Principle

DMIDMIDMI DMI



INVOLVEInvolving and leveraging members

Establish a network •Motivate participation•Organizational transparency•

CONNECTConnecting stakeholders

Build a community •Collaborate to learn from each other•Customize services•

EXPANDExpanding the influence of design

Bring design to other fields•Institute the value design•

Define Design Principle



near term medium term long term

Network

Strategy

Content

Experience

Cultural mentor

Active sub groups

Credit for content

Local chapters

Community beyond DMI

Different tiers of membership

Copyright of content

Solve design challenge together Design tourism / study abroad

Conference of conferences

Competition/award

DMI senior/DMI junior

Assigned contact person

Member profile & searchSupport network before & after conference

Special interest group

Publish annual report

Mentoring Referrals and invitation only

Include artistic sidePartner with design schools & students B-schools courses

DMI ambassador

Education for children

On demand content

Member of the week

Volunteering

Vote for theme & rate content

Advertising

Organization

Technology

Offerings

Road Map

The detailed concepts are framed into a strategy road map based on the user value, business value, organization strength and restraints.Further more, I participated in the DMI workshop in Boston to roll out the next 3 years execution plan and the details of their 2008 annual conference, “Remix”.

Create Long Term Vision

nanqian xu | product design

What would you do with

Concept that can not be sketched?

like a 60 feet long bus?

Spirit

Project Introduction

Project Scope

Needs

Learning by building

Faster commute within the bus

Help people to keep stable in the bus

. Prototype can be used as a concept

generation and communication channel rather than just to

test ideas.

Bus Rapid Transportation (BRT) is a new kind of bus that

will be launched by Chicago Transportation Association

(CTA) in 2009. It will be a 60 foot articulated bus with 3

doors for entry and exit.

Design the bus interior, shelter, and new information

communication to provide a better riding experience for

customer.

Bus Rapid Transportation, 2008

Chicago Transportation Association


bus rapid transportationChicago Transportation Association


A PROBLEM!

We found it’s hard to get the feeling

through just sketching, playing with floor

plan.

Then, we just built a 60 feet long model, to

see it, to feel it. We even add the bus sound

of the whole thing!



The full scale model helps us in� Communication with clients

We made several design plans with CTA AD people

when we walked through the model.

� User Testing

We ran 2 user testings with students in Institute of

Design and also daily passengers.

Insights� Create information both in front and back of the bus

� Create opening space feeling between front door and

back door, reduce the obstacle.



Final Proposal Showing by User JourneyThe whole journey starts from people getting information from shelter, till people get off the bus. We made big

changes in the whole layout to help people moving fast and keeping stable in the bus. We also considered people

with kid, visitors who is first time to Chicago, daily commuters and people with disabilities.



Ventilator Improvement Design (Summer, 2007)ShuaiKang Group Co., Ltd, China

ventilation improvement design


Existing Models in the Market

Market Analysis

Consumer Needs Found through Research

Existing product portfolio shows problems and also opportunities in these area:1.A matured market with competition based on price and adding functions.2.Product form has the same style with little change in detail.

1. Ergonomic test shows people are knocking their head when using the ventilators.2. Existing large volume product can not fit into modern kitchen decoration style.


Time

Market Performance


Design PrinciplesIn order to attract Y-Generation, and also considering the ergonomic factors, the design principle of this project is:

� feeling in material and color� shape to fit into modernized kitchen� surface providing easy cleaning process�distance from cook top to the cover

clean simplecurved

less


Concept Brainstorming

Thank you.

Appendix


Sketches and 2D Renderings

design portfolio

Documents

baby boomers

entry experience

design process

majority user

user reviewsna

transition activities

design director

design exploration process