Casper Kessels @casperkessels.com · 19/08/2026Here's what we've been up to these past months! A whole new design language for Rivian, across the vehicles, web, mobile, and even down to our internal tools. We put together a little something to celebrate the hard work that went into every last pixel. 092
Casper Kessels @casperkessels.com · 24/05/2026Went for a ride to get my mind off work and… oh, hello 😍 071
Casper Kessels @casperkessels.com · 12/03/2026Two months at Rivian and it already feels like so much longer. R2 is going to be a special car, so much exciting stuff in the works! 250
Casper Kessels @casperkessels.com · 13/01/2026I've joined Rivian! I'll be working as Lead Designer focused on Autonomy and I couldn't be more excited to help shape the future of driving! Just arrived in the Bay Area so say hi if you're around! 3160
Casper Kessels @casperkessels.com · 04/01/20263 years ago, I didn't see a single BYD in Brazil. Now they're everywhere. BYD uses Android without Google services, and interestingly, every Uber driver I've talked to has been to "a guy" who unlocked the system to sideload Waze and other apps instead of using CarPlay or AA. 020
Casper Kessels @casperkessels.com · 03/01/2026I salute the gentleman who is keeping his 164 alive in Brazil 110
Casper Kessels @casperkessels.com · 13/11/2025Language learning apps never properly match my level or pace, so I spent an evening vibe coding a Portuguese verb-conjugation trainer tailored to how I learn. Wild how fast you can build something that works better than existing apps. 010
Casper Kessels @casperkessels.com · 28/10/202560 euros for what?! Why stop there, why not make the seat optional as well! It's only a 70K car... 130
Casper Kessels @casperkessels.com · 24/10/2025Today I learned that carmakers can’t agree on which way the seat icons should face. BMW is so confused they use both directions in the same system. Obviously the only correct way is how Tesla and Rivian do it! 010
Casper Kessels @casperkessels.com · 19/09/2025You know you are in Germany when there are rules on how to hang towels 230
Casper Kessels @casperkessels.com · 11/07/2025My experiment with generative UI continues, now adding theme customization! 030
Casper Kessels @casperkessels.com · 07/07/2025Congrats to NIO for being the only carmaker to design big touch buttons, and making them look great at the same time. Applying mobile design patterns to cars doesn't work. The gestures, although hidden, are also really helpful while driving! 140
Casper Kessels @casperkessels.com · 05/07/2025One step closer to a fully customizable instrument cluster with generative UI! ChatGPT now creates custom React components based on mock vehicle data. Next up having it create custom UI themes! 040
Casper Kessels @casperkessels.com · 01/07/2025I’m playing around with the idea of using LLMs to create a fully personalized instrument cluster UI. Still totally insane to me that you can build the foundation for something like this in just 30 minutes with ChatGPT. 020
Casper Kessels @casperkessels.com · 18/06/2025Some days I think the car industry is slowly starting to get software, then Nissan ships this. How?! 000
Casper Kessels @casperkessels.com · 27/05/2025Experimenting with some storytelling to show how I created my travel map style 101
Casper Kessels @casperkessels.com · 26/05/2025It genuinely baffles me how many carmakers mess up steering wheel controls. Obviously volume should be up/down, and playback left/right! Peugeot decided playback is up/down. And naturally, pressing up moves down your playlist to the next song. 330
Casper Kessels @casperkessels.com · 20/05/2025This is UI that shipped in a new car in 2025. Not sure what’s worse: that nobody noticed, or that nobody cared to fix it. 110
Casper Kessels @casperkessels.com · 17/05/2025This has been my rental for the past week. The interior is full of quirky design decisions—some clever, some… less so. Will probably do a deep dive for my blog! 110
Casper Kessels @casperkessels.com · 15/05/2025This is probably the biggest news from the CarPlay Ultra launch. Some carmakers who initially rejected CarPlay Ultra may now reconsider their decision 021
Casper Kessels @casperkessels.com · 01/05/2025I’ve been designing my own map of a recent hike in Mapbox Studio. It’s been surprisingly fun to work with different geodata and tweak it endlessly. It turns the trip into something you can explore again, more than a static photo album. 030
Casper Kessels @casperkessels.com · 01/04/2025What if iPadOS supported CarPlay? Great use for an old iPad! 140
Casper Kessels @casperkessels.com · 30/03/2025Mapbox Studio is really underrated as a design tool, it's super fun to design custom maps and you can really tweak a lot! 160
Casper Kessels @casperkessels.com · 04/03/2025What if you could explore Wikipedia on a map? A little project I've been building with a friend over the past months! wikiexplore.org 1112438
Casper Kessels @casperkessels.com · 16/02/2025Really enjoying the 5x camera on iPhone 16 Pro, especially in combination with @halideapp.bsky.social & @usedarkroom.bsky.social 0150
Casper Kessels @casperkessels.com · 03/02/2025Getting close to a final version of my exploration of physical climate controls with haptic feedback. The article will follow soon! 1200
Casper Kessels @casperkessels.com · 02/02/2025There's cool, and then there's driving-a-Stratos-on-a-Sunday-morning-in-mid-winter-in-the-city cool 1171
Casper Kessels @casperkessels.com · 25/01/2025I don't know what they were expecting the public reaction to be, but probably not this! www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgvE... 140
Casper Kessels @casperkessels.com · 16/01/2025I’ve reached the level of procrastination where I am spending way too much time designing cover art in Blender instead of writing the article 3161
Casper Kessels @casperkessels.com · 10/01/2025It's telling how most new car models with physical controls are from budget brands. Clearly, it's not just a matter of cost-saving, it's about priorities. And few carmakers prioritize safety and ergonomics. 070
Casper Kessels @casperkessels.com · 09/01/2025I like that BMW is trying out fun display designs. Unfortunately, they only work well if you are in full control of all software and that is not the case anymore. So in practice, most drivers will see letterboxed content which doesn't look great. 381
Casper Kessels @casperkessels.com · 08/01/2025The fact that the gauge cluster is hidden behind the wheel is not a problem of placement, but size. If you can't design a minimal cluster, you are not going to improve it by moving it to a different location. Which doesn't mean that you can't create a great cluster in a different place though! 110
Casper Kessels @casperkessels.com · 07/01/2025I'm more critical of BMW as they used to set the example of gauge cluster design. Their typical orange color was carefully chosen as it's the easiest for the eyes to adjust at night. These big displays probably don't have the same effect. 130
Casper Kessels @casperkessels.com · 07/01/2025There is also the disadvantage of figuring out an interior layout where a driver can sit comfortably, see the display above the steering wheel, and at the same time have enough vision on the bonnet, which as Peugeot has figured out, is very tricky for all different body dimensions. 210
Casper Kessels @casperkessels.com · 07/01/2025At the same time, carmakers design these fancy screens first, then realize there is only so much important information to display. So they end up adding widgets like weather and AQI that aren't relevant enough to be always in the peripheral vision, and therefore distract. 120
Casper Kessels @casperkessels.com · 06/01/2025To prove that everything in Germany happens 10 years later, my bank is now offering Apple Pay 🎉 120
Casper Kessels @casperkessels.com · 03/12/2024This has been two years in the making and it's very exciting to finally share! I have been having great fun with it already over the past weeks! 060
Casper Kessels @casperkessels.com · 02/12/2024I spoke at Design Matters in October and I just discovered that my talk is online! I shared a brief overview of the core principles I use to design safe automotive interfaces, check it out: designmattersplus.io/talks/casper... 010
Casper Kessels @casperkessels.com · 29/11/2024If anyone's wondering what it's like to work with German carmakers: Credit: youtu.be/BC8PQPvQS-o?... 020
Casper Kessels @casperkessels.com · 28/11/2024Similarly, I use ChatGPT to select the right UI design by matching the highlight to a set of templates I created. The colors are generated from the book cover. I want to create a magazine-like interface that gives you a unique daily page based on one of your book highlights. 040
Casper Kessels @casperkessels.com · 28/11/2024I like using LLMs for filtering content instead of generating it. For my book highlights app, ChatGPT creates the input for different API calls, like Wikipedia, based on the highlight. And afterwards it even goes through the API returns to pick the most relevant Wikipedia articles. 290
Casper Kessels @casperkessels.com · 26/11/2024You can probably tell a lot about a person based on whether they prefer the Bertone or Pininfarina 308 151
Casper Kessels @casperkessels.com · 23/11/2024I've had more success treating my running injury with Claude than through the healthcare system. I gave it data like fitness performance, MRI scans, and injury history, and the output has been amazing. It's like having 24h access to a physiotherapist/fitness instructor who knows you really well. 020
Casper Kessels @casperkessels.com · 19/11/2024Jaguar's big rebrand is as polarizing as the design of their upcoming car. Not sure what to think of the new logotype with mixed lowercase and uppercase, but I like seeing carmakers make brave design decisions! 350