Developing user interfaces specifically for automotive use is quite challenging. Besides a logically and visually compelling user experience you have to consider numerous factors as their relevance is specifically emphasized in a product like this. So it is crucial to choose font styles and sizes very carefully, avoid potential driver’s distraction and use animations that do not distract but support the user’s navigation throughout the system.
Whether it is a smart responsive design approach that automatically adjusts to the users screen resolution, ratio and rotation - or a highly optimized layout for a specific device. Designing for mobile requires special approaches to achieve fast loading times, support for gestures and the use of modern web technologies. Supporting HTML5 and CSS3 is as crucial as considering backwards compatibility for legacy browsers.
Timing, motion … emotion. A perfect animation should not distract a user’s experience. It should support the interaction and simplify the navigation flow throughout the system. In other contexts it has to amaze and impress the viewer like when it comes to visual effects in movies. It is quite easy to put things in motion but it is incredibly hard to make it feel right and natural for the human eyes.
Visualizing your ideas in a three dimensional environment can be incredibly amazing. It puts things into perspective and gives the viewer a better understanding of certain objects. Whether it is crucial to achieve a photorealistic result or go into a different artistic direction by using cartoon shaders or more experimental looks - with modern 3D tools it is possible to enhance reality. In the field of product design it also helps a lot if you are able to quickly prototype your ideas with modern 3D printing technologies.
Icons can be a piece of art on their own. Or in their subtlety simply support the users quick and efficient navigation. No matter if it is a minimalistic icon language or a stamp sized highly detailed and pixel perfect three dimensional object. Their success depends on the level of care you put into every single stroke and pixel. Often times you succeeded when the user quickly remembers functions and topics by the visual appearance of the icon alone without the necessity of textual explanation.
You can only do so much with carefully arranged layouts and graphical representations. When it comes to pitching your vision it is necessary to bring your static images to life. Beginning with a simple prototype to highlight key functions and flows of your experience reaching all the way to sophisticated native implementations – it is essential to understand the full reach of your concept. I strongly believe that every designer should have a basic understanding of programming principles and be able to – in whatever form or way – prototype design to an extent that other people can understand and experience their intention.
Beautiful layout, perfect typography and crystal clear images - it is still a very special moment to physically hold your design and ideas in your hands and be able to touch them. Enlighten the viewer with visually stunning infographics and interesting content. Especially in today’s fast paced “digital age” it is still something very unique to hold a physically printed product utilizing special ink and sophisticated embossing techniques.
Design surrounds me in every aspect and facette of my life. Even when it comes to my hobbies I like to customize and apply my own style to the products I use and care about. When it comes to motorcycles I am pretty obsessed to change and tune every bolt and nut until it fits just right. I believe it shows the level of dedication and attention to detail even outside of the traditional fields like “web, print and motion”.