“Hidden doorknobs have security risks.
” some people think that this is an anti-human design.
In the final analysis, Tesla is the chief culprit for the popularity of hidden doorknobs.
Under its vigorous promotion, some domestic Tesla fans made the design popular.
At present, a large number of new energy products on the market use hidden door knobs.
This kind of design is more to show the difference between “Tesla” and traditional fuel cars, and the gimmick is greater than the practicality.
Photo Source: Weilai Automobile, in fact, the hidden door handle does not conform to the habit of opening the door that people have formed, and it may even fail to open it.
Test data show that the successful opening rate of hidden doorknobs in cold weather is only 26%.
A few days ago, when a rear-end collision occurred on a new M7 PLUS, the problem of “hidden doorknob could not be opened” was exposed, causing heated discussion.
However, the hidden door knob is only a microcosm of “pushing too hard” in the evolution of smart car functional design.
Under the guidance of Tesla, coupled with the increasing volume of the domestic new energy market, China’s new energy products have rolled up new heights in cockpit design, such as bigger and bigger screens, more and more loudspeakers, bigger and bigger canopies, and additional massage chairs.
Car companies’ pursuit of cockpit design is a double-edged sword.
On the one hand, it reflects the improvement of the thinking of Chinese brand users.
on the other hand, it is easy to fall into the strange circle of homogenization and over-design.
In this issue of “Hot spot Dialogue”-functional Design of China Automotive Design Evolutionism, Galaxy Automotive CEO and Information Editor-in-Chief will continue to discuss with Li Yanlong, head of Automotive Design Direction of Automotive School of Tongji University in Shanghai, Fu Jiong, Director of Design Trends Research Institute of Shanghai Jiaotong University, and Wang Honghao, founder of 180s Science Popularization and head of Car Styling China, on the characteristics of functional design of new energy vehicle products, and what a good functional design should be.
How did screens become popular? The screen seems to have become an iconic design to distinguish trams from oil cars, as well as a key carrier to show intelligence.
This has something to do with the characteristics of electric cars.
Compared with the oil truck is composed of complex mechanical parts, the electric vehicle structure is simpler, the maneuverability is higher, and the demand for vehicle-machine interconnection is enhanced, so it is more conducive to the application of intelligent technology.
Li Yanlong said that when new technologies bring new possibilities, it is a general trend to enrich the interactive experience while retaining the attributes of traditional automotive tools.
Photo: Xiaomi Automobile, in the Chinese auto market, consumers pay more attention to the interactive experience of cars.
Wang Honghao believes that this is related to national culture and consumers’ perception of vehicles.
He pointed out that vehicles need to solve two problems: one is the relationship with people, and the other is the relationship with roads.
Wang Honghao makes a comparison between Germany and China.
From the aspects of highway design, 5G coverage, speed limit policy, new energy penetration and charging facilities, most of the attention of Germans is on driving.
I don’t have much time to pay attention to the screen.
On the other hand, in China, because most of the highways are straight and the urban road driving is relatively smooth, “a lot of space for experiencing entertainment” has been created.
And compared with intelligent driving, car atmosphere lights, sound and other design effects are more easily felt by consumers.
Photo: Zhiji Automobile, Wang Honghao said, “We will pay more and more attention to the impact of this kind of intelligence and digitization on our lives, but this value has not been experienced abroad.
” The huge user differences have prompted Chinese cars to pay more attention to in-car interactive entertainment in terms of functional design.
Especially after the electric vehicle penetration is improved, users can realize the entertainment interactive experience through the large screen during the charging waiting period.
The popularity of large screens is also driven by cost and intelligent innovation.
Li Yanlong believes that compared with physical buttons, the screen is not only cheaper, but also can nest more functional levels.
“the screen is endless in theory.
” At the same time, Wang Honghao pointed out that China is a global leader in UI/UX interaction, an advantage that has gradually spread from the gaming field to other industries.
It is understood that many domestic automobile UI design companies originated from game companies, which can be regarded as a “dimension reduction blow”.
As a result, the cockpit design of electric vehicles in China is becoming more and more diverse, and large screens and multi-screens are becoming more and more popular.
Nowadays, it has become a habit of Chinese consumers to interact through the screen.
Falling into the strange circle of over-design, the advanced nature of Chinese brands in cockpit design has attracted the attention of the global automobile industry.
From last year’s Shanghai auto show to this year’s Beijing auto show, many multinational auto company teams came to the scene of Chinese brands to observe the product styling and cockpit design.
However, due to the deviation in the understanding of the market and consumer demand, car companies also have the problem of over-design and homogenization in the evolution of functional design.
The first thing to bear the brunt is to cancel the physical buttons and make full use of the touch screen, which extends from the cockpit to the center console, the co-pilot and even the back row.
For this trend, all three guests agreed that it was a bit over-designed.
Li Yanlong said that the full-screen design is “anti-human” because in the event of a black screen or an emergency, there are security risks.
He agrees that Wang Honghao’s proposal of “enriching screen content with necessary physical buttons” is the best combination, and believes that this may be the trend of car company design in the future.
After the launch of Xiaomi SU7, it still retains physical buttons on the basis of multi-screen design, which is an “intuitive design experience”.
Source: Xiaomi Automobile, Wang Honghao pointed out that the public opinion environment also affects consumers’ perception, such as “four-cylinder engines are more advanced than three-cylinder engines,” four exhaust pipes are more advanced than two, and “the bigger the screen, the higher the level.
” He says a large number of consumers have first established a perception of the car’s hierarchy rather than actually experiencing it.
The final feedback was sent to the automobile design department, forcing it to show product power through stacking configuration.
Secondly, it is agreed that hidden doorknobs belong to “anti-human design”.
In the event of a traffic accident, people actually open the door intuitively, while hidden doorknobs need to be judged by thinking.
Fu Jiong believes that designs such as full touch screens and hidden doorknobs stem from IT elites who “don’t know much about cars” and ignore the principle of natural interaction.
This is related to the lack of physical experience among Chinese consumers.
In recent years, China’s sports industry has sprung up.
As the core UI design team, IT elites are highly dependent on vision, but lack of understanding of experience, which makes it difficult to achieve visual, tactile and other comprehensive experience solutions in functional design.
Photo: Zhiji Automobile, Li Yanlong also said that panoramic skylights are also overdesigned.
He explainedThe reason why electric cars adopt skylight design is that components such as battery packs occupy more bottom space and need to use part of the top space, Dao said.
However, car companies beautify the skylight during publicity, which is “misleading” to consumers.
You know, every summer, there is always news that car owners with panoramic skylights are holding umbrellas in their cars.
In addition, the design concepts such as stereo, special-shaped steering wheel and steering wheel adjustment are actually not suitable for ordinary consumers.
Most ordinary drivers do not have high-precision requirements and agile response to speed, movement, field of vision and so on.
Using a special-shaped steering wheel and requiring a small virtual position of the steering wheel will actually bring safety risks.
By the same token, the hearing of ordinary users is not very sharp, and most of them can not hear the difference when installing more than eight loudspeakers.
In short, from a marketing point of view, stereo and stack configuration may be effective.
But from a design point of view, this is a manifestation of over-design.
What should a good functional design look like? The purpose of the design is to make things more convenient, not to complicate simple things.
” Although the evolution of functional design is related to technological innovation, it is more important to proceed from people’s habits and needs, that is, to be “people-oriented”.
On the whole, Li Yanlong believes that Chinese brands are more generous in the use of materials and customer service consciousness at the same price.
For current consumers, the car is not only a means of transportation, but also a “personal label” and “third space”, that is, a spiritual link.
Based on this change, Chinese brands have made great efforts in configuration and materials to create a comfortable and luxurious experience.
At the same time, it also creatively puts forward zero-gravity seats, queen cars and other configurations.
“although it is not too technically difficult, from the user’s point of view, it is really good value for money.
” Li Yanlong said that because the new power teams of car building are younger, the design team has a greater say and users think better.
In terms of cockpit design, Wang Honghao believes that the layout around the driver seat will not work in the Chinese market.
Chinese people attach importance to the sense of family atmosphere and like the interaction between family members.
He cited the NOMI as an example, which can interact with everyone in the car, “so that everyone can enjoy the value of spacious space, which is more reasonable.
” In fact, many domestic car companies have realized that car-computer interaction should be open to all people in the car.
It can be seen that recently, many new cars have achieved split-screen display, gesture / voice control, and equipped with independent regional sound systems and so on.
Source: Xiaomi car, at the same time, the use of light in the Xilai car is also very close to the high requirements of Chinese consumers for stillness.
Wei Lai uses soft reflected light to create a quiet space and give people a sense of relaxation like a living room.
Wang Honghao predicts that the lighting design of Weilai may represent the trend.
In Fu Jiong’s view, the study of synaesthesia will be a major trend in the future, extending from the interior lighting design to the five senses experience.
That is, the car can judge the emotional changes of passengers, integrate hearing, vision, somatosensory, smell and other senses, and provide suitable driving speed, atmosphere lights, fragrance, music and so on, making people relax and bring a pleasant mood.
But he points out that the difficulty in forming in-car synaesthesia is that automotive electronics suppliers’ sensory research lags behind industries such as spices and audio.
Generally speaking, in promoting the evolution of automobile functional design, automobile enterprises should realize the combination of “demand + innovation”, taking into account the needs of consumers and the forward-looking judgment of the market.
Fu Jiong suggests that when a new technology emerges, let designers make judgments in the middle of innovation transformation.
“because designers have more consumer experience, they can help enterprises or marketing departments judge and verify the potential of a technology.
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