VinFast

Role: UI/UX Design Intern

Tools: Figma, Screens Studio, Adobe

Skills: User Interface Design, User Experience Research, Product Strategy

Timeline: June 2023 - Sept 2023

The UI Concept Refresh project was an initiative to establish a modern, minimalistic brand identity for VinFast that differentiates it in the competitive automotive market. As a UI/UX Intern in the automotive industry, I was tasked with designing the clock and weather widgets for VinFast’s latest IPC model as part of their UI Concept Refresh project. My role involved conducting competitive analysis and user research to enhance the usability and aesthetics of these applications for the VF 3 model, set to launch in early 2024.

VinFast’s current IPC was considered outdated and complex, posing a challenge in their effort to break into the U.S. and global markets outside of Asia. Given the fierce competition in branding, pricing, and product quality, the UI refresh aimed to provide an intuitive and visually compelling experience.

Introduction

  • As part of VinFast’s mission to modernize its in-vehicle IPC (Instrument Panel Cluster), I was tasked with redesigning two key UI components: the clock and weather widgets. These features, though commonly referenced by drivers, were buried in cluttered interfaces and lacked clarity. My goal was to create intuitive, aesthetically aligned, and user-informed prototypes that reflected VinFast’s modern brand and explored new directions in EV UI design.

    • Audit the current widget interfaces and identify usability challenges.

    • Benchmark clock and weather widgets across automotive and non-automotive products (e.g., mobile, wearable tech).

    • Conduct lightweight user research to uncover needs, expectations, and pain points.

    • Design low-to-mid fidelity wireframes, incorporating simplicity, clarity, and customization potential.

    • Refine selected concepts into a high-fidelity prototype for internal presentation and future development.

    • Final prototype of redesigned clock and weather widgets

    • User insights summary: key takeaways from internal user testing and informal feedback

    • Benchmarking analysis: design references and best practices from across industries

    • Visual and UX decisions grounded in EV use cases, even if not yet common in current auto UI systems

Scope

This project focused on redesigning two essential widgets—Clock and Weather—within VinFast’s Instrument Panel Cluster (IPC). While the existing widgets were functional, they lacked clarity, modern design, and personalization, especially when compared to digital consumer products. My role as a UI/UX Intern was to reimagine these features in a way that elevated usability, integrated seamlessly into VinFast’s minimalistic EV brand, and introduced functionality uncommon in today’s automotive interfaces.

  • Benchmarking

    I began with a benchmarking study across both automotive interfaces and consumer tech products like smartphones and smartwatches, focusing on icon complexity and visuals while VinFast was still building its brand.

    This research guided early design considerations around visual clarity, user expectations, and adaptive features for a driving environment.

  • User Insights

    Commonly used features and their purpose were identified through user research, industry benchmarking, and academic studies on driver behavior and HCI to inform and enhance automotive UI design.

    Findings:

    1. Auto UIs tend to be cluttered or outdated

    2. Consumer tech emphasizes clarity, modularity, and—most of all—personalization

    3. Safety guidelines stress minimal distraction and glanceability

  • User Journey Mapping

    Mapped out typical driver interactions with clock and weather widgets to identify friction points and needs. This helped frame key How Might We (HMW) questions—like “How might we make weather info glanceable while driving?”—which guided ideation and feature prioritization.

Bridging User Research with Design Implementation

Demos and Final Iterations

Weather

Walkthrough of weather app’s widget and open app, including features like en-route weather, hour & daily weather, and EV-related alerts in regards to weather

Clock

Walkthrough of clock app’s widget and open app, including location changes and several personalization factors

Conclusions

Overall Project Outcome: Open-app and widget re-design for Clock + Weather with next step recommendations for an auto-unique feature set

Key Next Steps:

  1. Integration with third-party data sources

  2. Finalization of the design system

  3. Comprehensive user testing

Key Takeaways:

  • Always ask ‘why’ until there are no more questions left.

  • Investing more time in research before designing leads to a more efficient workflow.

  • Both positive and constructive feedback are equally valuable.

  • There is no such thing as a ‘perfect’ design—iteration is key.