visual design explorations

at telenav

Telenav is an international company, whose flagship app was a popular alternative to Google Maps. During my time there, I helped to visually express the brand through the UI. The following are some samples of work.

MObile Explorations

Circa 2012, the iPhone 5 era. The dashboard screen (left) was shipped. It was well-received for its skeuomorphic elements. The navigation screen (right) features a traffic bar. An idea I came up with, being inspired by music apps’ play bar UI. The bar visually reduces the extent of the trip to a single horizontal bar with color markers indicating sections of high-traffic. Also, the movement of the “play head” from left to right was intended to give the user a sense of time, distance, and placement along the route. This exploration was not shipped.

in car explorations

Here are the dashboard and navigation screens (respectively) that I designed for built-in navigation systems, which were not as prevalent as today. I also drew most of the icons, except for the weather set. The angular style of the turn icons was intended to compliment the usage of Helvetica Neue as the system font.

Icons

I drew most of the icons because I wanted a sense of consistency throughout the feel of the UI. The icon grid that I developed (as seen below) was part of the same visual grid that I used to lay out the UI. This underpinned all the elements to a common foundation, giving them an intrinsic harmony.

the icon grid

As mentioned above, the icon grid extended into how I laid out the core UI. The icon grid was also built upon a pentagram shape, which has a natural strength and balance. These are the adjectives that I would use the describe the overall feeling I intended to express in the UI itself. I also love the sharp angles, which complement the usage of Helvetica Neue.

heads up display explorations

I had the exciting opportunity to explore head-up displays—UI that is projected onto the windscreen. These designs were never shipped, but nonetheless, it was great fun to explore the possibilities and present these ideas to the company.