Works
LynkieGo
About
LYNKIEGO
Voice Assistant, On The Go
A portable companion that lets Lynk&Co's voice assistant step off the screen, dock anywhere in the cabin, and follow the family home.
Role:
End-to-end Design Lead — UX, Interaction & Industrial Design, 3D Modeling, Prototyping
Scope:
A physical, dockable extension of Lynkie, Lynk&Co's voice assistant, for the Vehicle B family SUV
Deliverable:
Research & Strategy --> Concept Iterations --> Industrial Design & 3D Model --> Cardboard Test --> Rapid Prototype
Outcome:
Presented to senior management in China; a 3D-printed unit was shipped there for further decisions — paused when the vehicle program was frozen.
THE CONTEXT
Vehicle B was Lynk&Co's next family SUV — a new design language for Chinese families who spend long hours on the road together. The brief asked for five things:
FAMILY & CHILD
SMARTNESS
HEALTH & COMFORT
MODULARITY
EXTENDED EXPERIENCE
THE RESEARCH
What Chinese families want from a car
Kid Focus
$52B
Parent–child travel market. Half of users drive their kids every day.
Healthy Living
+400%
Camping in China grew to $29.9B in a single year. Weekends moved outdoors.
Smart Cabin
#2
Intelligent cabin ranks right after comfort in purchase decisions.
Modularity
Attach / Detach
People prefer to customize what they get; detachable features lift the experience.
WORKSHOP #1
Twelve themes, one loud cluster
Twelve themes went up on the wall. The strongest signal came from the voice assistant.
Baby Lynk
“A robot friend that entertains and teaches kids”
Parrot VA
“Talks like the family, laughs like the family”
Homework buddy
“AR help with homework, on the go”
12 Themes --> Voice Assistant -->
★ Lynkie as a Family Companion — Strongest Signal
HMW
Push Lynkie from a character on a screen to a companion the whole family lives with?
THE IDEA
Three iterations — each one pulling Lynkie a little further out of the screen.
IDEATION
Escaping the screen, one step at a time
01 · ON SCREEN
Dress her up
Personalization first: costumes and colours kids can change themselves.
02 · ON THE DASH
Break the glass
The centre screen moved toward the passenger, so Lynkie stepped out as a hologram co-pilot for the driver.
03 · IN THE CABIN
Let her roam
She travels to the second row as a companion and tutor for the kids.
LYNKIE'S REACH
Screen
Dashboard
Cabin
Beyond the car?
She was free of the screen — but still locked in the car. Families camp, hike and come home. Why should Lynkie stay behind?
HMW
Extend Lynkie beyond the vehicle — one companion across the road, the outdoors and home?
THE PRODUCT — MEET LYNKIEGO
The answer was a physical, portable Lynkie — one small companion you can lift out of the car, plug in somewhere new, and watch become someone new.
LynkieGo. Lynkie, finally with a body.
ONE COMPANION, FOUR DOCKS
Where you plug it decides who it is.
Together with the Interior team, we defined docking points in the cabin — plus one at home. Each dock gives LynkieGo a different role, a different voice and a different face.
Three docks in the cabin, one at home.
01 · IP
Co-pilot
Talks to the driver display and brings route and driver info forward.
02 · SEATBACK
Tutor
Switches to a kid’s voice and brings homework and practice content.
03 · DOOR
Play buddy
Clips next to the door speaker and becomes the kids' game and sing-along buddy.
04 · HOME
Smart assistant
Off the road, it becomes a smart-home assistant on the table.
USER FLOW
One weekend, one companion, six roles.
AT HOME
Plans the trip
Jack tells LynkieGo about the camping weekend; it plans the route.
Readies the car
It checks battery and tyres and warms the cabin before they leave.
IN THE CAR
Co-pilot on the IP
Docked on the IP, it guides Jack through heavy traffic.
Tutor on the seatback
On a quieter road, the kid plugs it in for homework help.
IN THE WOODS
Camp DJ
At camp, it plays music that fits the mood.
Trail guide
Out on the trail, it guides the family’s hike.
Storyboard illustrations generated from my own scenario scripts.
Co-pilot, tutor, play buddy, home assistant — one object. How it got from paper to a 3D-printed prototype is next.
Let’s connect
UNDER THE HOOD
How LynkieGo went from pen sketches to a 3D-printed unit shipped to China.
EXPLORATION
Scenes before shapes
Before any CAD, I sketched moments — on the dash saying hi, under a kid’s finger, carried out of the car, sitting next to a child in the back. The form had to earn its place in every one of them.
LOW-FI TEST
Cardboard in a real cabin
I unfolded the 3D model into a cardboard pattern and took it into the cabin buck. The team tested reach, grip and every dock by hand — cheap to build, honest about size.
WHAT THE REVIEW SAID
WHAT CHANGED
Make it smaller — even a child should be able to grab it.
→ Sized around the real parts: screen, PCB, speaker, as small as they allow.
The connector is too visible and too boxy.
→ Connector tucked inside the body, with a softer, rounder bevel.
One fixed angle can’t suit every dock.
→ Stepped rotation from 0 to 180°, in 10° steps.
It needs a home, a voice and a face per place.
→ A home dock, speaker holes, and a screen state for each placement.
RAPID PROTOTYPE
Real parts, real size, real presence
I modelled it around the actual electronics — two screens, a speaker module, a microphone and the PCB — then 3D-printed it so stakeholders could hold it, dock it and see the face light up.
WHERE IT LANDED
Liked in China, frozen with the car
The rapid prototype was presented to senior management in China. They liked it enough that we shipped a 3D-printed unit over for further decisions. Then the vehicle program was frozen — and LynkieGo with it.
Works
LynkieGo
About
LYNKIEGO
Voice Assistant, On The Go
A portable companion that lets Lynk&Co's voice assistant step off the screen, dock anywhere in the cabin, and follow the family home.
Role:
End-to-end Design Lead — UX, Interaction & Industrial Design, 3D Modeling, Prototyping
Scope:
A physical, dockable extension of Lynkie, Lynk&Co's voice assistant, for the Vehicle B family SUV
Deliverable:
Research & Strategy --> Concept Iterations --> Industrial Design & 3D Model --> Cardboard Test --> Rapid Prototype
Outcome:
Presented to senior management in China; a 3D-printed unit was shipped there for further decisions — paused when the vehicle program was frozen.
THE CONTEXT
Vehicle B was Lynk&Co's next family SUV — a new design language for Chinese families who spend long hours on the road together. The brief asked for five things:
FAMILY & CHILD
SMARTNESS
HEALTH & COMFORT
MODULARITY
EXTENDED EXPERIENCE
THE RESEARCH
What Chinese families want from a car
Kid Focus
$52B
Parent–child travel market. Half of users drive their kids every day.
Healthy Living
+400%
Camping in China grew to $29.9B in a single year. Weekends moved outdoors.
Smart Cabin
#2
Intelligent cabin ranks right after comfort in purchase decisions.
Modularity
Attach / Detach
People prefer to customize what they get; detachable features lift the experience.
WORKSHOP #1
Twelve themes, one loud cluster
Twelve themes went up on the wall. The strongest signal came from the voice assistant.
Baby Lynk
“A robot friend that entertains and teaches kids”
Parrot VA
“Talks like the family, laughs like the family”
Homework buddy
“AR help with homework, on the go”
12 Themes --> Voice Assistant -->
★ Lynkie as a Family Companion — Strongest Signal
HMW
Push Lynkie from a character on a screen to a companion the whole family lives with?
THE IDEA
Three iterations — each one pulling Lynkie a little further out of the screen.
IDEATION
Escaping the screen, one step at a time
01 · ON SCREEN
Dress her up
Personalization first: costumes and colours kids can change themselves.
02 · ON THE DASH
Break the glass
The centre screen moved toward the passenger, so Lynkie stepped out as a hologram co-pilot for the driver.
03 · IN THE CABIN
Let her roam
She travels to the second row as a companion and tutor for the kids.
LYNKIE'S REACH
Screen
Dashboard
Cabin
Beyond the car?
She was free of the screen — but still locked in the car. Families camp, hike and come home. Why should Lynkie stay behind?
HMW
Extend Lynkie beyond the vehicle — one companion across the road, the outdoors and home?
THE PRODUCT — MEET LYNKIEGO
The answer was a physical, portable Lynkie — one small companion you can lift out of the car, plug in somewhere new, and watch become someone new.
LynkieGo. Lynkie, finally with a body.
ONE COMPANION, FOUR DOCKS
Where you plug it decides who it is.
Together with the Interior team, we defined docking points in the cabin — plus one at home. Each dock gives LynkieGo a different role, a different voice and a different face.
Three docks in the cabin, one at home.
01 · IP
Co-pilot
Talks to the driver display and brings route and driver info forward.
02 · SEATBACK
Tutor
Switches to a kid’s voice and brings homework and practice content.
03 · DOOR
Play buddy
Clips next to the door speaker and becomes the kids' game and sing-along buddy.
04 · HOME
Smart assistant
Off the road, it becomes a smart-home assistant on the table.
USER FLOW
One weekend, one companion, six roles.
AT HOME
Plans the trip
Jack tells LynkieGo about the camping weekend; it plans the route.
Readies the car
It checks battery and tyres and warms the cabin before they leave.
IN THE CAR
Co-pilot on the IP
Docked on the IP, it guides Jack through heavy traffic.
Tutor on the seatback
On a quieter road, the kid plugs it in for homework help.
IN THE WOODS
Camp DJ
At camp, it plays music that fits the mood.
Trail guide
Out on the trail, it guides the family’s hike.
Storyboard illustrations generated from my own scenario scripts.
Co-pilot, tutor, play buddy, home assistant — one object. How it got from paper to a 3D-printed prototype is next.
UNDER THE HOOD
How LynkieGo went from pen sketches to a 3D-printed unit shipped to China.
EXPLORATION
Scenes before shapes
Before any CAD, I sketched moments — on the dash saying hi, under a kid’s finger, carried out of the car, sitting next to a child in the back. The form had to earn its place in every one of them.
LOW-FI TEST
Cardboard in a real cabin
I unfolded the 3D model into a cardboard pattern and took it into the cabin buck. The team tested reach, grip and every dock by hand — cheap to build, honest about size.
WHAT THE REVIEW SAID
WHAT CHANGED
Make it smaller — even a child should be able to grab it.
→ Sized around the real parts: screen, PCB, speaker, as small as they allow.
The connector is too visible and too boxy.
→ Connector tucked inside the body, with a softer, rounder bevel.
One fixed angle can’t suit every dock.
→ Stepped rotation from 0 to 180°, in 10° steps.
It needs a home, a voice and a face per place.
→ A home dock, speaker holes, and a screen state for each placement.
RAPID PROTOTYPE
Real parts, real size, real presence
I modelled it around the actual electronics — two screens, a speaker module, a microphone and the PCB — then 3D-printed it so stakeholders could hold it, dock it and see the face light up.
WHERE IT LANDED
Liked in China, frozen with the car
The rapid prototype was presented to senior management in China. They liked it enough that we shipped a 3D-printed unit over for further decisions. Then the vehicle program was frozen — and LynkieGo with it.
Let’s connect
Works
LynkieGo
About
LYNKIEGO
Voice Assistant, On The Go
A portable companion that lets Lynk&Co's voice assistant step off the screen, dock anywhere in the cabin, and follow the family home.
Role:
End-to-end Design Lead — UX, Interaction & Industrial Design, 3D Modeling, Prototyping
Scope:
A physical, dockable extension of Lynkie, Lynk&Co's voice assistant, for the Vehicle B family SUV
Deliverable:
Research & Strategy --> Concept Iterations --> Industrial Design & 3D Model --> Cardboard Test --> Rapid Prototype
Outcome:
Presented to senior management in China; a 3D-printed unit was shipped there for further decisions — paused when the vehicle program was frozen.
THE CONTEXT
Vehicle B was Lynk&Co's next family SUV — a new design language for Chinese families who spend long hours on the road together. The brief asked for five things:
FAMILY & CHILD
SMARTNESS
HEALTH & COMFORT
MODULARITY
EXTENDED EXPERIENCE
THE RESEARCH
What Chinese families want from a car
Kid Focus
$52B
Parent–child travel market. Half of users drive their kids every day.
Healthy Living
+400%
Camping in China grew to $29.9B in a single year. Weekends moved outdoors.
Smart Cabin
#2
Intelligent cabin ranks right after comfort in purchase decisions.
Modularity
Attach / Detach
People prefer to customize what they get; detachable features lift the experience.
WORKSHOP #1
Twelve themes, one loud cluster
Twelve themes went up on the wall. The strongest signal came from the voice assistant.
Baby Lynk
“A robot friend that entertains and teaches kids”
Parrot VA
“Talks like the family, laughs like the family”
Homework buddy
“AR help with homework, on the go”
12 Themes --> Voice Assistant -->
★ Lynkie as a Family Companion — Strongest Signal
HMW
Push Lynkie from a character on a screen to a companion the whole family lives with?
THE IDEA
Three iterations — each one pulling Lynkie a little further out of the screen.
IDEATION
Escaping the screen, one step at a time
01 · ON SCREEN
Dress her up
Personalization first: costumes and colours kids can change themselves.
02 · ON THE DASH
Break the glass
The centre screen moved toward the passenger, so Lynkie stepped out as a hologram co-pilot for the driver.
03 · IN THE CABIN
Let her roam
She travels to the second row as a companion and tutor for the kids.
LYNKIE'S REACH
Screen
Dashboard
Cabin
Beyond the car?
She was free of the screen — but still locked in the car. Families camp, hike and come home. Why should Lynkie stay behind?
HMW
Extend Lynkie beyond the vehicle — one companion across the road, the outdoors and home?
THE PRODUCT — MEET LYNKIEGO
The answer was a physical, portable Lynkie — one small companion you can lift out of the car, plug in somewhere new, and watch become someone new.
LynkieGo. Lynkie, finally with a body.
ONE COMPANION, FOUR DOCKS
Where you plug it decides who it is.
Together with the Interior team, we defined docking points in the cabin — plus one at home. Each dock gives LynkieGo a different role, a different voice and a different face.
Three docks in the cabin, one at home.
01 · IP
Co-pilot
Talks to the driver display and brings route and driver info forward.
02 · SEATBACK
Tutor
Switches to a kid’s voice and brings homework and practice content.
03 · DOOR
Play buddy
Clips next to the door speaker and becomes the kids' game and sing-along buddy.
04 · HOME
Smart assistant
Off the road, it becomes a smart-home assistant on the table.
USER FLOW
One weekend, one companion, six roles.
AT HOME
Plans the trip
Jack tells LynkieGo about the camping weekend; it plans the route.
Readies the car
It checks battery and tyres and warms the cabin before they leave.
IN THE CAR
Co-pilot on the IP
Docked on the IP, it guides Jack through heavy traffic.
Tutor on the seatback
On a quieter road, the kid plugs it in for homework help.
IN THE WOODS
Camp DJ
At camp, it plays music that fits the mood.
Trail guide
Out on the trail, it guides the family’s hike.
Storyboard illustrations generated from my own scenario scripts.
Co-pilot, tutor, play buddy, home assistant — one object. How it got from paper to a 3D-printed prototype is next.
UNDER THE HOOD
How LynkieGo went from pen sketches to a 3D-printed unit shipped to China.
EXPLORATION
Scenes before shapes
Before any CAD, I sketched moments — on the dash saying hi, under a kid’s finger, carried out of the car, sitting next to a child in the back. The form had to earn its place in every one of them.
LOW-FI TEST
Cardboard in a real cabin
I unfolded the 3D model into a cardboard pattern and took it into the cabin buck. The team tested reach, grip and every dock by hand — cheap to build, honest about size.
WHAT THE REVIEW SAID
WHAT CHANGED
Make it smaller — even a child should be able to grab it.
→ Sized around the real parts: screen, PCB, speaker, as small as they allow.
The connector is too visible and too boxy.
→ Connector tucked inside the body, with a softer, rounder bevel.
One fixed angle can’t suit every dock.
→ Stepped rotation from 0 to 180°, in 10° steps.
It needs a home, a voice and a face per place.
→ A home dock, speaker holes, and a screen state for each placement.
RAPID PROTOTYPE
Real parts, real size, real presence
I modelled it around the actual electronics — two screens, a speaker module, a microphone and the PCB — then 3D-printed it so stakeholders could hold it, dock it and see the face light up.
WHERE IT LANDED
Liked in China, frozen with the car
The rapid prototype was presented to senior management in China. They liked it enough that we shipped a 3D-printed unit over for further decisions. Then the vehicle program was frozen — and LynkieGo with it.
Let’s connect