SI 311: Automotive & Mobility UI Design Final Project
I had the opportunity to work under Scott Martin, the previous Creative Director for In-Vehicle UI at GM.
For our final project, I was told to innovate Corvette’s brand based on the phrase “For Those Who Chase The Horizons”
This led me to develop a new image of the brand and their vehicles based on three things
The words Futurism, Power, and Speed led my entire creative process throughout this project. I had envisioned the idea of a future Corvette with remnants of space in the design. This led me to want to create an edge case where Corvette ended up creating spaceships and working backwards from there. Thus, I came up with the design of a spaceship and new emblem to start off the real design process. (on the right)
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Corvette’s are known for their exhilarating driving experiences on the road, maintaining that power in both vehicle design and function was crucial
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“For those who chase the horizons”
This brought me to trying to develop a concept car with heavy influences of space and soaring through the stars, all while keeping what Corvette is but building on it for the future
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A Corvette needs to be fast, the feeling of shooting down a road to the horizons should be the driver’s experience, I had to keep this in mind to develop a concept and a brand that made sure to keep speed in the forefront to make an unrivaled experience
Creative Process
I then went on to use key aspirational imagery, benchmarking and a vision guide in order to truly guide my process to the final designs. (in my powerpoint at the bottom of the page). This led me to really hone on on what I wanted the cars to look like and guide me through the rest of the process.
I even wanted to experiment with future Corvette’s that had transforming front hoods to make the cars faster and more aerodynamic. This led to two separate designs, one that is more like current Corvette’s in its base form and one modeled more after a fighter jet/spaceship
Final Design
After looking back at my previous designs and the spaceship, I realized they weren’t progressing far enough for the brand, this led me to my final design that shows clear ties to Corvette’s history while also taking the spaceship design and key imagery words and running with it. This concept car keeps in some of the key features of Corvette that make them so easily identifiable while also creating something entirely unique made to gear up for the future.
Key Takeaways
This project gave me a major glimpse into seeing how far my creativity could take me if I was given a brand and a statement and told to run with it. Upon finishing this project, I had gained many insights into how to integrate AI with my ideas to create some exceptional images and ideas. I also learned how to use vision guides and key aspirational imagery to drive a project and show the thought process behind the end goal. Lastly, this project opened my eyes and let me see how much goes into a concept car project, from the Core UI colors, to the feel and look of specific materials, I was able to gain holistic knowledge on what is truly needed to grow and adapt in this field.