VF3 Digital Interface
Development of a full digital in-car experience for a modern, simple and affordable mini-EV to provide safe and fun experience.
challenges
*Cultural differences and expectations
*Three major markets
*Tight schedule
*Small screen
position: UX/UI Lead
role: Strategist, PM, and lead designer
team: 3 people
stakeholders: 10+ (or endless 😉 )
time: 10 months
Vinfast
The first and only Vietnamese car manufacturer with bold ambitions and start-up like speed of delivery of the product to the market.
Cultural differences and expectations
Vietnamese customer expects more colourful and ”alive” solutions. For European and American customer we prepared simpler styles following dark and light interface standards.
Solution which visually and stylistically fit best in the car is the minimal version.
Three major markets
*Even though VF3 has been first released on the Vietnamese market design was prepared for three major markets.
*In a very confined space it’s better to design for the most demanding market. It helps to keep the design consistent and saves time of re-designing all when a new element needs to be introduced.
*Presented visualisations are only examples. They are not the exact VF3 screens.
VF3 has the smallest screen amongst all the Vinfast car screens which has to contain both driver information and the full infotainment system.
Due to legal and safety regulations some of the info can not be covered by anything else at any point which is challenging when screen is small.
Touch areas must stay big enough to provide safe interaction while driving.
Small screen
Marrying legal requirement with drivers’ preferences and company’s priorities is a challenge. To make information and interaction points accessible in an easy way we introduced swipeable and contextual menus and widgets. It allows to always give relevant info and don’t clutter the space when not needed.
Tight schedule
We had app. 7 months for the design, development, testing and shipping. In car industry this was a very tight and ambitious schedule. Hard work of all of the employees allowed to make it happen. We were all very proud of this achievement.
Final notes
This project was one of the most challenging and at the same satisfying. Vinfast is an extremely ambitious company with bold goals. Developing a car projects in such a speed was very stimulating and in many situations quite stressful. I definitely proved to myself that I can successfully wear many hats: from planning the design development, building strategies, discussing solutions with developers, and designing most of the digital experience of the VF3.
