SCADpro x BMW
The SCADpro collaboration with BMW Germany involved a multidisciplinary team of 20 students and focused on designing an Emotional AI Virtual Assistant to facilitate communication and collaboration across teams. The project brought together students across service design, UX, design management, environment design, and motion design to explore how an AI-powered assistant could support BMW stakeholders across design, engineering, production planning, and decision-making throughout the car development process.
As Motion Design Lead and Co-Art Director for this 10-week project, I contributed to the early ideation and visual development of the assistant and was responsible for creating the final vision video. I brought together the work developed across the team to communicate the concept, interactions, and experience through motion. The video presented our vision to the BMW team and showcased how the assistant could enhance stakeholder experiences and workflows.
Created at SCAD.
Stills
Mantis States — Icon Animations
Designed by May
Designed by May
Sound Design by Logan Zimmermann
Early Concept Development
I also contributed to the early ideation and visual development of the assistant, exploring a nature-inspired approach to its personality, visual language, and interaction.
One of my concepts explored representing the AI assistant through the structure of an olive branch. The branching structure represented the different BMW stakeholders, while the trunk represented the central AI connecting them. The concept focused on interconnectedness, stability, and support. Like a tree's branches and roots, the different departments could remain distinct while still being connected through a shared system. The organic form also helped make the AI feel more approachable and human, while connecting to BMW’s broader focus on sustainability and environmental consciousness.
Early Doodles
Olive Branch Exploration
Early Doodles
Motion Test
Takeaways & Credits
This project taught me how to work within a large, multidisciplinary team while still contributing a clear creative perspective. One of the most valuable parts of the experience was learning how to take ideas developed across different disciplines and bring them together into one cohesive visual story.It also gave me the opportunity to take on a leadership role, from early concept development and visual direction through to storyboarding, animation, and the final presentation. Working with BMW challenged me to think beyond individual design pieces and consider how motion, design, and storytelling could work together to communicate a larger idea.
Research Team
Sneha Shetty - Design Management
Sree Sevithaa - Service Design
Shruti VR - Service Design
Sana - Design
Mingxu Xu - Interactive Design
Subin Cho - Service Design
Madeline Bay - UX Design
Phani - Game Design
Nourah - Themed Entertainment
Mrunmayee Bhate - Service Design
Creative Team
Eli - Sequential Art
Kodiak - Game Design
Brandon - Game Design
Rylee - Immersive Reality
Lucas - Game Design
Muskaan Sethi - Motion Media Design
Gert Slevin - Game Design
Tayyab Younas - Graphic Design
Logan Zimmermann - Game & Sound Design
May - Sequential Art
SCADpro × BMW
Created at SCAD, Fall 2023