As a lead interior designer, I led a team of 4 designers and worked with teams of engineers, product planning, and 3d modelers on the 2017 Chrysler Pacifica interior from concept to production. Created a new Chrysler brand image, by first conducting market research and interviews with a focus group in Anaheim, CA. Presented to Chrysler design upper management and direction was approved for production. Also, as a lead exterior designer of the pre-production 2014 Chrysler 200, I contributed to many advanced proposals and definitions of a new Chrysler form language.
The minivan sales rapidly decreased after 2005, and our customers are more inclined to purchase SUVs. We believe style and technology are the main reasons.
What if I create an SUV-like minivan? Could the instrument panel be designed to be sleeker with an integrated touch screen and a flowing center console?
LOFI and MIDFI Concept sketches
In Anaheim CA, SUV owners and minivan owners participated in a focus group.
I was heavily involved and partnered with a third party to validate my hypothesis. We validated the problem statement and realized my hypothesis is incorrect. The customers still want the practicality and functionality of a minivan, but they desire stylish looks. Their preference is not to have a connected center console like an SUV interior. They want their minivan to be stylish, yet not like an SUV.
Based on the user feedback we developed the following:
Pre-production theme selection, Painted full-scale clay model.
Final production design HIFI rendering.
Final production detail sketches and Alias 3D modelings
As a result, when the new Chrysler Pacifica came out in 2016, sales quickly reached 138% of our previous benchmark in 2005. The design also received one of the 10 best interior awards from Wards Auto in 2016.
Learnings: To convince upper management and to have a focus group, I had to draw Lofi and MidFI sketches first,
but I wish I had gathered customer feedback before the sketches. It would have saved half the development time.