LAND ROVER INSTRUMENT CLUSTER CONCEPTS NICKY HOPE - BRIEF 3 DESIGN BOARDS
image credit: JLR
OVERVIEW A project of fering a conceptual look into w hat instrument clusters can be in an autonomous, electric f uture. Ex ploring minimalism, lux ur y and f unctionality and applying it to a f uture, electric Land Rover Range Rover Velar.
DESIGN DIRECTION Informed by my C ontex t of Practice project, w hich looked into the impact of colour on user inter f ace design, a set of instrument clusters were designed under a number of dif ferent themes for dif ferent audiences and purposes. The Spor t Mode, for ex ample, used italicised type and the colour red to incite feelings of speed and ag gression. The clusters had to look appealing and contemporar y, but appropriate for Land Rover ’s f uture brand personality.
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42
78%
MPH
CAUTION Tyre pressure low. Check tyres.
P R N D
42
78%
MPH
CAUTION Tyre pressure low. Check tyres.
DESIGN DEVELOPMENT Incredibly minimalistic concepts were the f irst in the production process, w hich helped to discover w hat information is actually needed in a instrument cluster for a semi-autonomous, electric car. The real estate f reed up through actions like removing the skeuomorphic dial- circles allowed for more productive uses of the space, such as displaying a side prof ile of the vehicle to help the user better understand the location of f aults etc. Though these designs were discarded for the f inal , they were an interesting challenge of conceptual automotive U I.
CONCEPT PUSH To push the minimalist ex periment f ur ther before being discarded, it was given a variety of decorative, material backgrounds, and the type was reduced to a bare, critical minimum. Even the ver tical placement of the type would give a headache to any traditional cluster designer. These would only ever be appropriate for a f ully autonomous car, but are a usef ul study.
COLLABORATION This project was completed in collaboration w ith Keith Burden, Senior Inter f ace Designer at Jaguar Land Rover. His ex per t know ledge and skills at 3D design and vehicle rendering allowed me to use a realistic, 3D render of the Velar for the purposes of illustration. He also personally taught me the basics of Autodesk V RED Pro, and how to change aspects of the vehicle, alter shadow and light, and render images.
CONSIDERATIONS There are many things to consider in automotive U I design; in the case of clusters, the position of the steering w heel must be considered in order to avoid the obstruction of impor tant data , the colour theme must be considered in order to allow for acceptable legibility/readability and mitigated glare in all circumstances of lighting , and hierarchy is also incredibly impor tant in ensuring drivers can access w hat they need to access easily.
CONSIDERATIONS+ It was incredibly impor tant to consider Land Rover ’s f uture target audience as well as their pre - ex isting customer base; the design had to cater to both. Their traditional target is male and above the age of 50; their f uture f acing strateg y is to appeal to male and female customers 40 and above, and garner an interest in young people (using f uture technolog y and modernist design) w ho they hope w ill grow up w ith the goal of ow ning a Land Rover. The traditional , dial-style visuals on my design help cater to the traditional , w hile the minimalist design elements help cater to the new.
THEMES Three primar y themes were developed: Standard w ith Nav in use, Spor t Mode, and Eco Mode. It was impor tant to ex plore the impact Navigation instructions would have on the hierarchy of Standard Mode. In Eco Mode, the feature impor tance sw itches to range remaining , regen braking etc., and the colour blue is used to incite calm alongside a more relaxed, lighter weight of type. C ontrastingly, Spor t Mode utilises red, and a heavier, ‘faster ’ style of type.
69 MPH 69 MPH 69 MPH
Plex PLEX Plex Calm PLEX CALM Plex PLEX
Technical TECHNICAL
Plex Speed PLEX SPEED
DESIGN TECHNICAL Plex was chosen for its high levels of legibility at small sizes due to its easily dif ferentiated characters, and its versatile, technical albeit rug ged personality. It can look contemporar y, technical , rug ged or f ast depending on its weight and style. Regarding shape and iconography, an ex ample is fonud w ithin the Nav Instruction element. Its rounded edges and placement of type provides a visual link to road signage, elluding to its purpose immediately.
USER FEEDBACK More decorative and graphical elements were included af ter users said that although they appreciated stark minimalism of the early concepts, it might be dif f icult to make it match the vehicle interior, and was too big a jump f rom the traditional . C ircular graphics were added to incite a link to traditional dials, and colours were used to elicit specif ic emotional responses. When show n clusters w ith specif ic colours and no other elements, users correctly identif ied w hich was w hich.
St andard M o de instrument cluster mocked up in an L560 ( Velar) interior