Nissan
Nissan Insights: From Male-Centric Interiors to Smart Design for Everyone
Consulting Partner: Smart Design
Design Research
Concept Design
“The team discovered that American women misunderstand or ignore 66% of our interior features, a massive opportunity for design!”
Situation: 74% of American women feel misunderstood by the auto industry. The Nissan Research Center needed help understanding why.
Challenge: To help Nissan do better with American women drivers, we immersed their Japanese designers in American life. Through in-depth interviews and a few long road-trips, we set out to unpack the reasons why Nissan designers were missing the mark with American women.
Solution: First, after visiting the design studio in Tokyo, we observed how the designers were inspired more by personal interest than insight, with mood-boards filled with futuristic robots and motorcycles that were more in tune with teen boys than American women. Second, we learned that new features are missing the mark through a simple exercise using sticky colored dots. For example, out of all interior features, only 33% were used, while the other 66% were either misunderstood or ignored - a massive opportunity for design! Instead of multi-level menus, women prefer controls that don’t require long glance time. We identified driver and passenger needs for auto interiors that women will love, understand, and trust. Our research lead to confidential shifts in feature prioritization and usability.
Research Exercise: Using basic tools like sticky dots, our research participants scanned their interiors for features they loved, hated, or ignored.