With a team of exceptional OSU graduate and undergraduate design students, I was hired by Honda R&D in the summer of 2010 to use ethnographic research methods to understand how college students interact with their cars. Specifically, I sought to unpack how they use and would like to use their center consoles. The make-tool sessions I held with 16 groups of students and a custom tool kit were the most enlightening aspect of our comprehensive primary research. This generative activity enabled me to identify and physically map the most beneficial features onto the console. Though the details of the design remain confidential, our recommendations were built into two final concept mock-ups that we tested with more users for further feedback. The console is expected to debut on the 2016 Honda Pilot.
