Dune

Hydrogen Car Interface

2024, Barcelona

Overview

DUNE is a speculative interface project exploring how future hydrogen-powered vehicles could rethink the in-car experience.

The project focuses on designing a coast-to-coast digital dashboard, where driving information, navigation, media, and secondary controls coexist in a calm, readable, and safety-first environment.
Rather than adding more features, the goal was to reduce cognitive load, improve clarity, and help drivers stay focused on the road.

 

My role​

I worked as a UX/UI & Interaction Designer, responsible for:

  • UX research and automotive benchmarking

  • Defining the interaction principles and layout logic

  • Designing the full dashboard interface (driver + co-pilot views)

  • Exploring accessibility, safety, and adaptive UI scenarios

  • Visual UI design and motion/behavior concepts

 

My Design Process

1. Understanding the problem

Modern car dashboards are becoming increasingly complex.
Large screens often display too much information, forcing drivers to constantly shift attention between the road and the interface.

Key problems identified:

  • Poor readability in different lighting conditions (day/night)

  • Too many buttons and scattered information

  • Lack of hierarchy between critical and secondary data

  • High cognitive load while driving

The challenge was not adding more technology, but deciding what information truly matters while driving.

Dashboard Sketches

2. Defining the Experience​

Before designing screens, I defined a clear experience vision:

  • Safety first: critical driving information must always be instantly readable

  • Calm over clutter: fewer elements, clearer hierarchy

  • Adaptive interface: the UI changes depending on time of day and context

  • Shared experience: supporting both single-driver and driver + co-pilot scenarios

This led to the decision to design a coast-to-coast dashboard, visually separating primary driving data from secondary content like media or entertainment.

3. UX Research & User Personas

4. Design & iteration

Information Architecture & Layout

  • Left side: driver cluster (speed, navigation, energy, alerts)
  • Center: shared controls (climate, system status)
  • Right side: secondary content (media, entertainment, maps)

Accessibility & Reach Zones

The layout was designed considering:

  • Natural eye movement
  • Physical reach zones
  • Effort levels for interaction (effortless / medium / difficult)

Adaptive Scenarios

The interface adapts to:

  • Day / night conditions
  • Driving vs stopped moments
  • Single user vs two users in the car

Multiple visual themes and contrast levels were explored to ensure readability without visual noise.

 

User Interface Design

Different scenarios

To enhance the user driving experience, the dashboard adapts every hour, to ensure better readability in both natural and artificial light conditions.

5. Outcome & impact

The final result is a clean, futuristic dashboard interface that prioritizes:

  • Reduced distraction while driving

  • Clear hierarchy of information

  • A calmer, more human driving experience

  • Better balance between technology and usability

Although speculative, DUNE reflects very real challenges faced by modern automotive UX teams.

 

Key learnings

  • Designing less is often harder than designing more

  • Safety emerges naturally when hierarchy is done right

  • Large screens require stricter UX rules, not more freedom

  • Automotive UX is about behavior and context, not just visuals

Why this project matters

DUNE is more than a visual concept.
It explores how automotive interfaces can move from adding features to designing safer, clearer, and more human driving experiences.

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