Car Storytelling and Interaction Design

Car Storytelling: Intangibles Define New Creation What is it about cars that make people talk so passionately? This paper considers the developments in one mechanical engineering class, Tales to Design Cars By, at a west coast university. As certain stories only happen in cars, people tell car stories differently from how they tell other stories. Storytelling provides a generative focus to explore and discover the methods of inquiry from the class and apply them to how individuals tell stories about cars, and the ways their storytelling informs design. Drawing upon previous work, students not only learn about themselves as the ultimate user, they also practice by stepping into the shoes of others. They learn to define story and narrative in many different ways: to make sense of their car experiences; to replay memories; to examine the tangibles and intangibles of engagement; to understand user interviews; to inspire insights through another person’s point of view; and to start-­‐up something new. This typically means building on the ideas of others, which innately requires those involved to be willing to embrace an idea originating in someone else even when it is at the expense of one’s own vision. The applied theoretical perspectives from both social psychology and cognitive psychology; entrepreneurial leadership, design thinking; and art, informs design. Fundamentals of episodic memory, empathy, and collaboration were key components of the students’ experience and the core part of a final expedition and interactive showcase for more than 200 visitors. Two questions organize this paper: 1) How do we introduce and explore car storytelling as a way of understanding the intangibles of creation while navigating through ambiguity in fuzzy-­‐front start-­‐up projects? 2) How do we develop a scientific procedure for applying the storytelling final expedition and showcase results to illuminate other transformative design, product development and entrepreneurial leadership experiences? Key terms: Car storytelling, episodic memory, design thinking, transformative design, entrepreneurial leadership, user interaction, product development