General Motors Racing
GM Motorsports: Leading UX Transformation for High-Performance Racing
As Creative Director and UX Lead, I directed the end-to-end redesign of General Motors Racing’s digital platform—modernizing a legacy system into a mission-critical tool that supports real-time decision-making during NASCAR events. My role was to align stakeholders, lead discovery, and deliver a streamlined, data-driven user experienceoptimized for engineers, managers, and crew members under race-day pressure.
RGV interface demonstrates a high-performance solution transforming complex vehicle setup data into a clear, structured, and actionable interface that allows engineers to make fast, confident decisions under the extreme time pressures of race day.
The RGV interface maps complex vehicle data directly onto the car’s body and systems, creating an intuitive visual information architecture that mirrors engineers’ mental models. Inputs are grouped by system (body, suspension, powertrain, electronics), reducing cognitive load and enabling rapid configuration changes under race-day pressure.
To optimize usability in real-world environments, I introduced a dark UI theme for clarity in garages and pit stations, streamlined workflows for faster decision-making, and validated prototypes through direct testing with race engineers. The result is a high-performance, human-centered design that delivers speed, precision, and clarity when it matters most.
To optimize usability in real-world environments, I introduced a dark UI theme for clarity in garages and pit stations, streamlined workflows for faster decision-making, and validated prototypes through direct testing with race engineers. The result is a high-performance, human-centered design that delivers speed, precision, and clarity when it matters most.
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Challenges
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• Legacy platform lacked usability and slowed down workflows
• Slow performance and unnecessary complexity • Inconsistent information architecture created data silos across racing teams • UI failed to adapt to the extreme conditions of the racetrack (lighting, speed, environmental stress) • Engineers needed rapid access to vehicle setups, parts, and performance data during live events |
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My role
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Process
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Outcomes & Impact
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Research & Discovery
Before the kick-off of the workshop we sent a questionnaire to each of the teams and main stakeholders to learn more about their views on the current tool and future vision. Each comment was grouped into themes and helped us plan the following working sessions.
User interviews with engineers and stakeholders brought deeper understanding of the problem space, and a site visit to each team's race headquarters led to better understanding of user needs and real use-case scenarios.
User interviews with engineers and stakeholders brought deeper understanding of the problem space, and a site visit to each team's race headquarters led to better understanding of user needs and real use-case scenarios.
The features of the future application were discussed in detail during a multi-day remote UX workshop with multiple race teams.
On-site visit
On-site visits to race team headquarters and facilities allowed us to observe people in their environmental context, and better understand user goals, parameters, insights, assumptions and how people use the current application and why they ‘do what they do'.
Each week, before the next race, engineers prepare each race car
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Each race car is build to a specific design specification
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Race engineers at the control center during the race
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Design
Workshop findings were incorporated into medium-fidelity wireframes that served as a high-level outline for a functional prototype/MVP, a critical step to discuss and validate the structure, navigation, content, functionality, hierarchy, and layout with team members and clients.
Solution
Upon completion of the design phase, solution development and deployment started leveraging an Agile approach for developing and delivering the application. Some responses from key stakeholders: "This is awesome! Really good stuff"; "Our race engineers don't talk much but they said they were really impressed"
The new application in use during the Daytona 500
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Main outing screen
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Testing the new design to measure performance
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