Envisioning a New Member of the Headset Family
Photo credit: Rand McNally
Energized by the success of our work on their ClearDryve Headset, Rand McNally came back to us to cast a design vision for the next generation of their trucking navigation devices.
Photo credit: Rand McNally
Challenge
Knack was asked to elevate this product’s look and feel, while also helping Rand McNally solve a big problem its first-generation products faced, overheating.
Photo credit: Rand McNally
Approach
Rather than fighting this constraint, we embraced it.
In order to achieve both a high-caliber design and low heat retention, we used perforation as a decorative texture to disguise the localized airflow vents.
Another, and arguably more challenging, task was to design in a fully adjustable, built-in dash cam, without enlarging the product package.
We benchmarked analogous products and explored a variety of articulating camera concepts until the ball and socket configuration proved most successful.
Outcome
Working closely with Rand McNally’s internal engineering team, we developed the final design direction to support their internal component stackup and be backwards compatible with Rand McNally’s existing accessories.
To usher the design intent from our hands to Rand McNally's key stakeholders and manufacturing partners, we provided design intent CAD, as well as, a colors, materials, finishes (CMF) guide.
Our design vision was applied to both the next-gen TND and OverDryve GPS which came to market later that year.
Photo credit: Rand McNally
Result
The new TND and OverDryve GPS successfully refreshed the product lines, upholding Rand McNally's mission “to continually improve, upgrade, and innovate in-cab tools for professional drivers.”
Photo credit: Rand McNally
