CLIENT: HIGH RES HYPE FOR INFINITI
Multimodal Autonomy.
UX design and research for the Infiniti QX Inspiration — designing a privately owned luxury SUV around omotenashi, Japanese hospitality, so screens, voice, biometrics and the cabin itself anticipate what people need, whoever is driving.
CLIENT
High Res Hype for Infiniti(Nissan)
ROLE
Lead UX Designer & Researcher
TIMELINE
May 2018 - Oct 2019
Los Angeles, CA - global team
DISCIPLINES
UX research, interaction design, multimodal UX, AD/ADAS experience
1
CHALLENGE
A car that behaves like a host.
2
RESEARCH
The trip as a guest's experience.
3
MODES
Hospitality depends on who's driving.
4
DESIGN
Digital and spatial, one host.
5
OUTCOME
An award-winning concept and where it led.
Omotenashi means anticipating a guest's needs before they ask. The challenge: make a privately owned luxury SUV feel that way — through its technology, not on top of it.
The QX Inspiration was Infiniti's first fully electric concept, and its electric platform opened up a spacious, lounge-like cabin shaped by omotenashi. I led UX design and research for the in-cabin experience, defining requirements and feature opportunities with Infiniti's global team for a future ADAS and autonomous-driving context.
Adding technology was the easy part. The hard part was restraint: a good host notices without hovering. Every screen, voice prompt and biometric cue had to feel attentive, never intrusive — and never pull the driver's attention when the road needed it.
01
CHALLENGE
I mapped the trip as a guest's experience, not a list of features — from the moment it begins to arrival, across every level of automation.
METHOD A
User Research
Planned and ran the studies. Qualitative Interviews with users of luxury products and services.
METHOD B
Journey Mapping
Mapped what drivers and passengers need at each moment - the cues a good host would notice.
METHOD C
Global Alignment
Turned findings into requirements and feature opportunities with teams across time zones.
02
RESEARCH
03
MODES
Hospitality depends on who's driving. Each mode changed which channel should carry an interaction — and how much it could ask of the driver.
PRINCIPLE 1
Show what the car is doing
The driver can always tell which mode is active and who is in control.
PRINCIPLE 2
Offer, don't impose.
Like a good host, the cabin can suggest; it changes nothing important without a yes.
PRINCIPLE 3
Make t easier to recover.
Every action can be undone, and physical controls stay available in every mode.
Concept-stage work: interactions were proposed for a future ADAS/AD context, not validated against safety standards or tested in a moving vehicle.
FIG. 03 — INTERACTION MODEL ACROSS DRIVING MODES
Digital and spatial working as one host: screens for a glance, voice for hands-free requests, biometrics so the cabin knows who it's serving — and the space itself responding around them.
04
DESIGN
User flows
BY DRIVING MODE
User flows
INCL. MODE CHANGES
Wireframes
MULTIPLE DISPLAYS
Interaction proposals
SCREENS - VOICE - BIOMETRICS
Spatial interactions
LIGHT, SOUND, SEATING
FIG. 04A — MULTIMODAL INTERACTION
FIG. 04B — VOICE
FIG. 04C — BIOMETRIC
05
OUTCOME
The QX Inspiration debuted at the 2019 North American International Auto Show and won three EyesOn Design awards.
Best Concept Vehicle, Best Interior, and Innovative Use of Color, Graphics or Materials — recognition for a cabin built around omotenashi. The journeys, flows and requirements I delivered fed Infiniti's thinking on feature opportunities for future ADAS and autonomous cabins.
Impact.
3
EYES ON DESIGN AWARDS, NAIAS 2019 - CONCEPT CONTRIBUTOR
EVOLUTION / VISION
From concept car to voice prototype
In 2026 I extended this work into an AI-assisted voice prototype: four dialogue iterations, intents and slots, consent before saving a preference, and error recovery. One utterance adjusts a setting while driving; saving it waits until parked and confirmed — a host asks before remembering. A portfolio study, not a shipped Infiniti feature.
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