Alpine Electronics is a Japanese manufacturer who developes high performance infotainment and electronics system. They are an industry leading manufacturer and are specially known for their premium sound systems.
At Sweden office, Alpine supply Volvo and Polestar with infotainment system such as displays and amplifiers. The engineering team at Sweden need test rigs to perform system and function test and to evaluate their products. The faceplate is the part of the test rig which directly integrates with the user. The test rig will be updated with new parts, therefor a new faceplate design is requested. There are many components on a limited space and the challange is to create a user friendly design.
The first step towards a more user friendly design was to explore different kinds of placing options. This was made by actual components on A3 paper with required outer dimensions. By letting the design remind you of the real environment, the usage of the test rig becomes more natural. A simple drawing of the first proposal was made in Inventor and printed out in real dimensions. Optimization of the surface was done by letting the handle also function as ventilation. An iterated version of the sketch was made of foamboard where attachment to the test rig bag was also tested. The end result is made of metal.
