Experience Design / Research / Content

Formula E-Zone

An onboarding experience that introduces new fans to Formula E’s racing mechanics and technologies.

Role

Researcher & Copywriter.

Designed surveys and interviews, analyzed collected data, extracted insights, created copy to communicate weekly progress and iterations, and used Figma and Adobe After Effects to create video mockups. The team worked collaboratively across project disciplines.

Four weeks · 10-minute read

Project Overview

Over four weeks, the team used research and experience-design methods to address a Formula E business problem. The resulting concept was an onboarding experience for the Formula E mobile site, designed to introduce new young fans to the mechanics of the sport.

Project Context

Initial research explored Formula E’s core concept, value pillars, business strategy, stakeholders, and touchpoints. Watching races, reviewing social media conversations, and reading critiques of the brand helped the team understand the experience from a new-fan perspective.

The Challenge

New viewers of Formula E were overwhelmed by the cognitive overhead of mechanics such as Attack Mode and Fan Boost. A lack of familiarity with teams and drivers made the overall experience feel confusing and intimidating.

Research Methods

The team reviewed community conversations across Reddit and Twitter, explored critiques of Formula E’s brand identity, and conducted interviews and surveys to gather targeted insight into new-fan frustrations.

Project Pivot

The initial direction considered a dedicated microsite, but feedback raised concerns about discoverability, overlap with existing content, and audience specificity. The team pivoted to recontextualizing Formula E content directly within the official site as a first-time visitor onboarding experience.

Design Explorations

The work progressed through precedents and image grouping, low-fidelity concepts, engine-comparison explorations, hall-of-fame screens, and several landing-page iterations. Feedback informed the pivot from a standalone microsite to an embedded onboarding experience.

Final Solution

The final concept reduces cognitive overhead by presenting Formula E in an immersive, digestible way. First-time visitors would be prompted into a mobile onboarding experience using short-form video, interactive hotspots for race jargon, scrubbing controls, and a persistent progress bar.

Reflection

The pivot clarified that the most useful intervention was not a separate destination, but a guided first-time experience built into the official Formula E context.