Luxury made visible – UID designs sample application for in-car navigation software "EB street director"

UID designed a reference user interface for a navigation solution developed by the software provider Elektrobit (EB). When developing the design, UID's designers adopted elements and structures used in car cockpits. Another special feature: The colors of the flexible screen design can be adapted to the corporate design of EB's customers.

UID designed day and night skins.

The minimalist design makes the icons easily perceivable for drivers.

All in all, UID adapted 400 icons .
The background

EB's Automotive Software Business has become a well-established global player in the field of software solutions for the automobile industry. Specializing in the development of future-proof products, solutions and consulting services for the automobile industry, this business unit develops software solutions to be used in serial production, such as AUTOSAR and FlexRay, infotainment, navigation, HMI and driver assistance systems.

The starting point

EB developed a usage concept for the software of its in-car navigation solution EB street director. UID was put in charge of creating an appealing screen design with day and night skins based on this concept. Providing such a screen design helps EB market their product: The sample application illustrates how the software's modules can be used. Moreover, it makes it easier for the software developers of EB's customers to familiarize themselves with the software.

The objectives

The main requirement for the screens designed by UID was to make their colors adaptable to the corporate design of EB's customers. Moreover, UID's designers were asked to develop guidelines for EB's user interface design.

The procedure

UID's designers started off by analyzing the color and image schemes used by EB and conducted a competitor analysis. In a joint mood workshop with EB, they then defined the design scheme and laid down the requirements for the new design. Based on the workshop's results, UID's designers developed two screen and icon variants. After one of the variants had been chosen, UID's designers worked out about 100 screens in day and night skins and adapted roughly 400 existing icons to the new screen design. During the design phase, UID's developers closely cooperated with the EB designers to ensure that EB's formatting conventions, laid down in a style guide, would be followed. That way, EB's developers were able to import the data provided by UID quickly and easily.

The result

The new user interface was developed in a color scheme designed specifically for EB. Ornaments and textures used give the screen a premium look and create spatial depth: The luminous edge between the screen areas subtly echoes the chrome elements found in the cockpit. The structures used in the screen background reflect the interior's carbon look. The minimalist design makes the icons easily perceivable for drivers. Moreover, the colors of the screen design and the icons can be adapted to the corporate design of EB's customers.