What if a pure touchscreen car dashboard could be integrated with a simple control dial? Would it work or not? Let's find out!

In the first phase, I collected and grouped all the basic functions necessary for a car dashboard. Without claiming completeness, my aim was to try out an idea, not to build a perfectly working car dashboard device.

The basic idea was to combine a conventional touchscreen with special magnetic fields and a control knob with a magnetic attachment.

Simply dragging the knob to the right place can activate the function connected to the given spot and you can set the value by twisting the device. If more functions are available, you can push the button on the top of the knob to switch between them.

The test device was a Microsoft Surface Go tablet, so I designed the user interface elements adjusted to its proportions.

I have prototyped as many interface elements as possible to make the dashboard surface almost lifelike.

I’ve shared the Figma prototype to the public, so you can try it below or on this link. You can switch between the modes by clicking the time.

As an experiment, this is definitely an interesting concept idea. The prototype was easy to use, though of course it would be important to reduce the learning curve in everyday life. But I think the difficult part of this project is to make the magnetic contact between the screen and the knob strong enough, so that it won’t fall off while the car is shaking. I hope this problem can be solved by smart engineers.

First of all, I have to admit that this is not a perfectly polished project, it’s just a study about an idea I wanted to try. I'm a UI designer with some UX skills, I didn't do any research before this project and it hasn’t been user tested.