About Me

✲ NASA COMPETITION ✲ BUILT

✲ ADOBE INTERNSHIP

Crafting AI-Driven Control Systems for NASA Rover Exploration.

MY ROLE

As the UX design lead on 1 of 11 NASA selected teams, I executed end-to-end design and helped with project strategy, feature prioritization, and user testing strategy.

TOOLS

Figma

Cursor

Jitter (motion)

TEAM

1 Project Manager

8 Developers

2 UX Researchers

TIMELINE

January - May 2026

✲ OUR BRIEF

Design a System for High-Stakes Lunar Missions.

The Problem:

My challenge was to design for a massive stream of data while accounting for the unique constraints of a lunar mission. Our goal was to turn a passive cockpit into a smart partner that tracks both the rover’s health and the external crew’s safety in real-time to minimize driver cognitive load.

Solution Preview

Final Design Preview →

✲ RESEARCH

Exploring the data astronauts need to stay safe and focused during lunar missions.

Research Strategy

CHALLENGE
We couldn't get input from our target users (astronauts) until test week at the end of the project.

SOLUTION
I relied on secondary research, design patterns and NASA mentor input.

Learning About High Stakes Design Patterns

Investigating high-stakes interfaces helped me understand how to balance the low density at-a-glance needs of drivers with the nuance needed to monitor life-critical vitals all in one system.

Organizing System Inputs by Prioritizing Functional Data.

Through conversations with NASA mentors and research into relevant data types, I learned to prioritize functional information like rover speed over raw data like oxygen levels.

All required features/data

Features/data sorted by category

Features/data prioritized by frequency of use and importance

This inspired me to prototype something for Figma…

Below is a feature I prototyped to improve the Figjam experience for using AI to sort stickies into 2 x 2s.

How might we ensure life-critical vitals always command attention without distracting from the mission at hand?

Our Direction →

How might we ensure life-critical vitals always command attention without distracting from the mission at hand?

The Goals

Design a system that ensures drivers are aware of life-critical data without distracting from navigation tasks.

Craft an intuitive system that absorbs some of the tasks during high-stakes missions.

✲ PLANNING AND ITERATION

Translating NASA specifications into a robust and adaptive system.

Deciding System Form

Option 1: One central screen

Option 2: UI projected on windshield

Option 3: Two screens; nav and data

Screen is within reach.

More room for physical controls.

Limited space for the UI.

Easy alert access.

Touch interaction is challenging.

View of terrain obstructed.

Plenty of room for data/ features.

Data/features divided by function.

Ergonomic strain for second screen.

Figjam link

High level user flow

Leveraging AI for Ambiguous Driver Tasks.

Defining Logic & AI Integration →

Mapping the crew's complex procedures highlighted where the AI assistant could help. I prioritized leveraging the AI assistant for mainly monitoring and mission-planning tasks.

Wire-frames to Hi-fis

See Iteration

✲ KEY DESIGN DECISIONS

Limiting cognitive load with color scheme and AI design.

#29292C

Background

Card background

#3A3A41

Danger

Warning

Safe

Low-glare

For grouping info

Fits mental models

Designing for Glare and Alert Visibility

I designed for dark mode to limit the increased solar glare on the moon and reserved saturated colors for coding data states to ensure alert visibility.

Cursor prototype for the AI assistant

Designing a Context-Aware AI Assistant

I considered the main use cases of the AI assistant, implementing suggested common actions and accounting for error states prototyped with Cursor.

✲ USER TESTING

Testing on 68 students and at NASA.

Testing on 68 users

Testing Results & Procedure

NASA engineer feedback.

Experiencing the real rover.

Testing at the Johnson Space Center.

Stepping into the user's shoes.

NASA designer feedback.

Astronaut feedback.

Adapting to Feedback

Made hazard and POI Plotting more visible

Made the tracker 2d to avoid confusion

Removed the confusing controller feedback

Updated search signal flow to better communicate autonomous search

Moved speed, throttle and roll/pitch closer to windshield

Made hazards circular instead of polygonal for easier plotting.

Removed x's from medium alerts

Adjusted the warning boundaries to reduce warning fatigue

Added an AI assistant to the data screen

Added a driver supplementary screen

Added a lidar detection modal to help with driver spatial awareness

This modal would be placed right below the windshield

✲ SOLUTION

A comprehensive navigation and data system for busy drivers.

*This mockup environment was partially generated with AI

AI Assisted Navigation and Task Management

The final AI-assistant guides users through complex tasks and fluidly handles actions like point-of-interest navigation. This flow robustly accommodates every user need with strong visual feedback.

1

Intelligent Alerts, Data and Trends

The final system surfaces critical alerts on the main navigation screen to save users' cognitive resources for the mission. For deeper analysis, users can instantly switch to a comprehensive data screen featuring advanced trends, visualizations, and metrics.

2

Other Key Features

Spacesuit Integration

The system allows drivers to monitor spacesuits out on a mission to ensure safety.

Voice Activation

Drivers can easily activate the system with just their voice to keep their hands on the driving wheel and their attention on the terrain.

Prioritized Driver Information

The most important information for driving is prioritized near the driver's view.

Hazard Mapping

Astronauts can plot hazards and points of interest easily by pressing and holding on the map.

SOLUTION

A comprehensive navigation and data system for busy drivers.

SOLUTION

A comprehensive navigation and data system for busy drivers.

SOLUTION

A comprehensive navigation and data system for busy drivers.

The Results

Achieved a 6.6/21 NASA-TLX score in initial user testing, with further improvements expected from recent iterations.

Received positive feedback from reviewers and astronauts, who noted excellent usability and zero safety-critical issues.

SOLUTION

A comprehensive navigation and data system for busy drivers.

Here is me presenting Practility at Iltacon 2025

We even got our logo on "stress brains"!

✲ FINAL THOUGHTS

On Complexity, Safety and Breaking the Rules.

The most complex UX challenges often only surface when interacting with a fully implemented system.
High-stakes systems often require breaking standard design patterns to prioritize safety and accuracy.
Partnering with researchers early ensures testing targets the most critical, ambiguous user flows.

The most complex UX challenges often only surface when interacting with a fully implemented system.
High-stakes systems often require breaking standard design patterns to prioritize safety and accuracy.
Partnering with researchers early ensures testing targets the most critical, ambiguous user flows.

The most complex UX challenges often only surface when interacting with a fully implemented system.
High-stakes systems often require breaking standard design patterns to prioritize safety and accuracy.
Partnering with researchers early ensures testing targets the most critical, ambiguous user flows.

Thanks for visiting! I go into more detail on my work over calls/interviews. Feel free to reach me here.

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But wait, there's more!