At CES 2017, Toyota unveiled their Concept-I vehicle featuring an “automotive UX that is intelligent, friendly and helpful.” In other words, HAL is now along for the ride.
The task of designing a friendly face for the introduction of this potentially scary technology fell to Toronto motion designer and animator Andrew Vucko, whose response was an elegant and joyful dance of circles.
Andrew Vucko: “Part video, part live presentation, the experience unveiled Toyota’s new concept car as a celebration of the bond between human and machine. Solidifying this bond is Yui, the personality and assistant that lives in the dashboard, represented by a small circle.
“Using Yui’s design as a jump-off point, the main challenge was to try to reduce as much as possible — distilling these complex ideas and communicating them with simple shapes.
Live CES presentation montage:
Nicolas Girard (Creative Direction, Animation): “Once the intro was finalized, we used Andrew’s designs and the circular language established for YUI as the basis for the art direction.
“This direction applied to the rest of the CES presentation, as well as the spacial design for the Toyota booth and the UI design featured in the accompanying film.”
Intro Film
Creative Direction: Worship
Design & Animation: Andrew Vucko
Written by: Caroline Leung
Live CES presentation
Creative Direction: Worship
Art Direction: Andrew Vucko
Design & Animation: Nicolas Girard, Rafael Ruiz
VFX: EightVFX
Production: Mt. MELVIL
Director: Laurent Barthelemy
Music/Sound Design/Mix: CypherAudio