I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Matt Taylor, a former product designer on the Jaguar Land Rover digital development team. Matt had the opportunity to work on the interior of the new Land Rover Defender, which smartly combines both physical and touch-based interactions. Familiar elements like the transmission lever and climate knobs retain their intuitive physicality, but with digital elements added, like the convenient display of the set temperature right on the climate knobs. Meanwhile, newer elements like navigation and streaming music controls are implemented on the accompanying touchscreen.

This approach makes perfect sense for the new Defender, which is a dramatic overhaul of its predecessor that retains the same fundamental spirit. I love how it facilitates an easier adjustment from traditional car consoles, without compromise on the inclusion of useful new technology. This became an important design goal for my project as well.