In partnership with General Motors. Teamed with Hayden Battaglia, Spencer Goetz, and Dayani Harapanahalli

HOW CAN WE DESIGN A DIVISION OF GENERAL MOTORS THAT LISTENS TO THE INDIVIDUAL NEEDS OF USERS AND BRINGS EXCITEMENT INTO ACCESSIBILITY?

GM Access

Scope: Design Research in Accessibility, Service Design, Graphic Design, User Experience Research, Video Editing/Directing, Animation, Figma, Adobe Illustrator

Primary Research

Intervention with Braunability

I reached out to Ellen Braaten, a design professor who uses a wheelchair and owns a Braunability van. Braunability is a leader in accessibility technology in vehicles. But from our research, there was lots of pain points for users and little room for customization or troubleshooting. Through the ideation, Ellen became central to the development of GM Access.

After several rounds of ideating new wheelchairs, new cars, new dashboards, we came to a realization. The problem of accessibility cannot be solved with one individual product.

A SERVICE system must be DESIGNED to allow users to customize and personalize a solution to their individual conditions.

Areas of Opportunity

I hand-drew this map on Procreate to visualize where GM Access could launch trial programs. It highlights all GM dealerships in the U.S., with orange areas marking those in regions with a high percentage of disabled residents—ideal for launching an accessibility business branch.

Who would want this service?

GM Access initially targets wheelchair users and the aging population who drive their own vehicles, valuing the independence it provides for daily activities and medical appointments.

Wheelchair users often feel the world isn't designed for them. They seek normalization of disability and empowerment through design. Seniors face changing physical abilities, preferring simplicity in vehicle design with emphasis on function over form.

By looking at these two user groups, we developed the three pillars of GM Access.

In order to design a service, we needed to establish pillars for customer and General Motors success. These are the said pillars.

  1. Make Accessibility More Accessible

  2. Personalization is the Universal Standard

  3. Bring Confidence to the Table

Flow of Service

This diagram illustrates GM Access' service flow and highlights its three key pillars.

Accessibility is accessible by offering services at any GM dealership and coordinating appointments for multiple services in one visit—features not available in the U.S. currently. Personalization is achieved through consultations with accessibility experts who help select the right technology, whether it's a customized steering wheel or another option. Finally, GM Access builds confidence by letting customers test custom features in VR, ensuring a good fit and an enjoyable experience.

We had the opportunity to design a case study booklet and video pitch in a symposium presentation at General Motors headquarters in Detroit, Michigan.

Here we were able to speak to design, engineering, and accessibility professionals working at General Motors.

Pictured here from left to right: Danielle Mason (myself), Dayani Harapanahalli, Spencer Goetz, and Hayden Battaglia

My Designed Spreads

  • Cover and Back Page

    Whimsical cover page meant to bring a sense of playfulness to the speculation of the future of accessibility in personal transport. Accessibility can often feel medical and unfriendly, and with this graphic design, I wanted it to be exciting and inviting.

  • Process of GM Access

    A closed-loop diagram to illustrate the process of the business. It was hard to represent the system in one diagram, so I designed this to focus on the user’s perspective the ease of obtaining customized accessibility technology in GM Access.

  • Map Data Visualization

    Utilizing research about areas of high density of disabled people and maps of every General Motors dealership in the United States, I used photoshop to collage them together and illustrated the relevant data on a map. This was designed to give General Motors an idea of where the beginnings of Access can start.

  • Prospective Customers

    Wheelchair users and the aging population were the starting customer base for the business. The graphic is an echo of the venn diagram, and it is used to depict the unique traits of each group as well as the shared wants/experiences.

  • Section Divider for After Market Problems

    Introducing Ellen Braaten, a woman who lies at the center of our two focused customer bases - which explains the shift in background color. I interviewed her multiple times because she is both part of the aging population and wheelchair user population.

  • After Market Problems

    The change of background color is to distinguish these pages from the rest of the booklet. Ellen’s story was the heart of our project, and we wanted to ensure that these pages stood out from others. This describes the specific pain points we found in her vehicle.

  • Roles Defined

    I had the idea of everyone lay their sketches and inspiration spreads on a table to create a curated collage spread. With this, it brings a sense of “work in progress”, and the listed responsibilities of each person ensures that when General Motors moves forward with an idea like this - they know exactly who to contact.

Click here to see our full case study booklet!

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Video Pitch

I directed, edited, animated the logo, and created the voiceover for the pitch. Utilizing After Effects, I was able to stitch together the audio, video, and added visuals.

This pitch was inspired by existing General Motors videos that focus more on inspiring the audience rather than marketing products to them. It creates a sense of a symbiotic relationship rather than a materialistic salesperson-to-customer one.

This video was played before we presented our project to General Motors professionals.

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