OpenCar Weather.com

A Weather.com experience for Inrix OpenCar. Creating this experience required researching the current Weather.com website contents and deciding what would be relevant to a driver. I created an information architecture and wireframes based on my research. Then I used the styleguide I made, to create visuals and a prototype version to present to the stakeholders.

I started my process by taking inventory of the weather information on the Weather.com desktop site, mobile site, and application. As well as looking at the information provided to me by the OpenCar team, detailing the content deemed important by the stakeholders and Weather.com.

My first step in researching was to look over the current applications that were being developed for OpenCar to get context into the amount of information being shown to the drivers. Many of the OpenCar apps were music apps an they have a search feature and a way to save playlists as favorites.

My next step was to look at existing connected car applications like Android Auto (Carplay does not support weather applications). I found most apps for weather information for connected car systems had cluttered screens full of information that wasn’t relevant to a driver.

The next challenge I faced was creating a new chamber or layout for OpenCar specifically suited for weather apps and other future apps. As a design team we decided this new chamber needed to have the current weather, a list of supplementary information, a way to favorite/unfavorite locations, a list of favorited locations, a search bar, list of recently searched locations, and an overview on a separate page.

I learned from this project not to fall in love with the first version and to continue to improve the experience by asking for feedback. During this project, I improved my presentation skills in high pressure situations because I was often presenting to managers and once the CEO of the company came to see my presentation of the current version.