Critical Debates in Design Task 2 (Wayfinding)

The signs I have chosen to look into are the signs and symbols in a car, i.e. the dashboard light, oil lights, petrol lights, indicator, etc. so purely focusing on the interior of a vehicle, how they could be improved, enhance the information and become more visually pleasing.

Believe it or not, but my car plays a major part in my life, having noticed these signs from a creative and engaging aspect, to me they do not all work well.

The simplicity of the signs works well but still very blunt and boring. The car manufacturers still use the conventional signs, and their idea of moving forward in time is to add different colours backlighting.

The signs in the dashboard are to indicate warnings, visible to the driver and only the driver, the sign itself self is not alarming, only until the backlighting appears, why is this! Why isn’t they’re more to the signs, what could make them more informational.

Here is the basic sign system for a vehicle and some can be applied to motorbikes.

Here is another example of signage being used in a vehicle, with a simple change in backlighting trying to show they are moving forward in time, to me this isn’t pushing the boundaries of designs,

Here is another example of warning lights working in a conventional way.

Below is the BMW 2005 dials.

Head - up - display

Here is the BMW M5 2005 edition, this is where the boundaries are pushed in the direction I wish see more. Cars will always be apart our lives, this being said, there should be more futuristic concept, as the head-up-display, shown in the above image. BMW idea behind this was to create the ultimate driving experience. In my eyes they have succeeded. The display indicates a range of information, such as km/h, petrol level, green, orange and red rev count. This is BMW’s way to enthuse and embrace the drivers every need.