Case Study  ·  Automotive · Experiential · Web

Immersive
Sonic Challenge

A dual platform activation pairing a physical sound booth at SEMA with a web experience, challenging participants to identify the distinctive sound of a Lexus supercar.

Role Sr. Experience Designer
Year 2016
Type Experiential · Web · Autoshow
Client Lexus, Team One

Project Overview

Lexus
Immersive Sonic Challenge

Working with Team One, I helped bring a dual platform activation to life for Lexus at the 2016 SEMA auto show. The concept was straightforward: could you identify the sound of a Lexus supercar just by listening? A custom built sound booth on the show floor delivered the challenge in person, while a companion web experience extended it to a global audience who couldn't attend.

Role Sr. Experience Designer
Year 2016
Scope Experiential · Web
Sound Booth at SEMA
A specially engineered booth on the show floor. Attendees listened to a lineup of high performance engines through studio quality audio and tried to pick out the Lexus. The environment was intentionally visceral, designed to feel like the brand.
Web Experience
A digital counterpart that mirrored the booth challenge. Anyone could take the test from anywhere in the world, extending the campaign's reach well beyond Las Vegas and the show floor.

My Work

User Flows & Interaction Design

My primary contribution was the interaction design and user flows for both platforms. The challenge sounds simple, but designing for two completely different contexts required careful thought: a loud tradeshow floor with strangers walking by is a very different environment than someone sitting alone at a laptop.

01
Mapping both experiences
I started by mapping each platform independently, tracing every state a user could reach from entry through result. The flows had to match conceptually but allow for different interaction patterns given the physical constraints of the booth versus the open web.
02
Designing for the show floor
SEMA is loud, fast paced, and full of distractions. I kept the booth interaction minimal: clear audio cues, large tap targets, and an unmistakable reveal moment when the result was shown. There was no room for ambiguity mid experience.
03
Interaction document and handoff
I produced a detailed interaction document covering all states, audio trigger timing, transition behaviors, and edge cases for both platforms. This became the primary handoff artifact for the engineering team building the booth software and the web experience.
User flow diagram for the Immersive Sonic Challenge

Final Product

The Experience

The finished web experience brought the booth challenge to life digitally, matching the tension and reveal of the live version while working entirely through a browser.

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Results

How it landed

The booth drew thousands of participants over the course of the SEMA show. The web experience extended the campaign's reach globally, with users from outside the US taking the challenge long after the event closed. Brand feedback pointed to stronger recognition of Lexus's sound engineering as a differentiator.

1000s
SEMA Participants
Global
Web Reach
2
Platforms, One Experience
2
Platforms
SEMA
2016 Auto Show
1000s
Participants

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