Sono Motors
Establishing scalable UI foundations for a rapidly evolving product
Duration
1 years
Made with
Icon Incar
Stakeholder
Sono Motors
Industry
Automotive
Automotive HMIs operate in environments where attention is limited, constraints are strict, and mistakes are costly. Interfaces must remain legible, predictable, and reliable across driving contexts, hardware limitations, and safety requirements. This project shows how interface and visual design decisions were made explicit and shared to build a coherent HMI system for Sono Sion’s first electric vehicle, balancing usability, brand expression, and embedded constraints.
Sono Motors
Establishing scalable UI foundations for a rapidly evolving product
Duration
1 years
Made with
Icon Incar
Stakeholder
Sono Motors
Industry
Automotive
Automotive HMIs operate in environments where attention is limited, constraints are strict, and mistakes are costly. Interfaces must remain legible, predictable, and reliable across driving contexts, hardware limitations, and safety requirements. This project shows how interface and visual design decisions were made explicit and shared to build a coherent HMI system for Sono Sion’s first electric vehicle, balancing usability, brand expression, and embedded constraints.
Sono Motors
Establishing scalable UI foundations for a rapidly evolving product
Duration
1 years
Made with
Icon Incar
Stakeholder
Sono Motors
Industry
Automotive
Automotive HMIs operate in environments where attention is limited, constraints are strict, and mistakes are costly. Interfaces must remain legible, predictable, and reliable across driving contexts, hardware limitations, and safety requirements. This project shows how interface and visual design decisions were made explicit and shared to build a coherent HMI system for Sono Sion’s first electric vehicle, balancing usability, brand expression, and embedded constraints.
Context
Sono Sion is an electric vehicle designed around sustainability, simplicity, and transparency. The in-car HMI had to support core driving information, infotainment, and vehicle controls within an embedded system, under tight constraints related to hardware performance, response times, and safety regulations. The challenge wasn’t to design a visually appealing interface, but to establish a reliable and scalable HMI language that could be implemented consistently and evolve with the product.
The real problem
The main risk was decision fragmentation.
In automotive contexts, UI, UX, and system behavior are deeply interconnected. Visual choices directly affect usability, safety, and technical feasibility. Without a shared structure, different contributors risk making locally valid decisions that don’t hold together at system level.
For a first production vehicle, this fragmentation would quickly turn into long-term debt, difficult to correct once the system reached implementation.
My Role
I worked as a Senior UI Designer, leading the visual direction of the HMI and guiding the UI team in the construction of a shared visual language for Sono Sion.
Beyond designing individual interfaces, my responsibility was to define and maintain coherence across typography, color, iconography, components, and motion principles. I helped turn high-level product values—such as sustainability, calmness, and clarity—into concrete, repeatable design decisions.
I collaborated closely with UX designers, engineers, motion designers, and technical stakeholders to align visual intent with embedded-system constraints and support a smooth path toward production.
Context
Sono Sion is an electric vehicle designed around sustainability, simplicity, and transparency. The in-car HMI had to support core driving information, infotainment, and vehicle controls within an embedded system, under tight constraints related to hardware performance, response times, and safety regulations. The challenge wasn’t to design a visually appealing interface, but to establish a reliable and scalable HMI language that could be implemented consistently and evolve with the product.
The real problem
The main risk was decision fragmentation.
In automotive contexts, UI, UX, and system behavior are deeply interconnected. Visual choices directly affect usability, safety, and technical feasibility. Without a shared structure, different contributors risk making locally valid decisions that don’t hold together at system level.
For a first production vehicle, this fragmentation would quickly turn into long-term debt, difficult to correct once the system reached implementation.
My Role
I worked as a Senior UI Designer, leading the visual direction of the HMI and guiding the UI team in the construction of a shared visual language for Sono Sion.
Beyond designing individual interfaces, my responsibility was to define and maintain coherence across typography, color, iconography, components, and motion principles. I helped turn high-level product values—such as sustainability, calmness, and clarity—into concrete, repeatable design decisions.
I collaborated closely with UX designers, engineers, motion designers, and technical stakeholders to align visual intent with embedded-system constraints and support a smooth path toward production.
Context
Sono Sion is an electric vehicle designed around sustainability, simplicity, and transparency. The in-car HMI had to support core driving information, infotainment, and vehicle controls within an embedded system, under tight constraints related to hardware performance, response times, and safety regulations. The challenge wasn’t to design a visually appealing interface, but to establish a reliable and scalable HMI language that could be implemented consistently and evolve with the product.
The real problem
The main risk was decision fragmentation.
In automotive contexts, UI, UX, and system behavior are deeply interconnected. Visual choices directly affect usability, safety, and technical feasibility. Without a shared structure, different contributors risk making locally valid decisions that don’t hold together at system level.
For a first production vehicle, this fragmentation would quickly turn into long-term debt, difficult to correct once the system reached implementation.
My Role
I worked as a Senior UI Designer, leading the visual direction of the HMI and guiding the UI team in the construction of a shared visual language for Sono Sion.
Beyond designing individual interfaces, my responsibility was to define and maintain coherence across typography, color, iconography, components, and motion principles. I helped turn high-level product values—such as sustainability, calmness, and clarity—into concrete, repeatable design decisions.
I collaborated closely with UX designers, engineers, motion designers, and technical stakeholders to align visual intent with embedded-system constraints and support a smooth path toward production.
Designing for predictability under pressure
Designing the HMI meant working within hard automotive constraints while coordinating multiple contributors around a single visual direction.
Rather than optimizing individual screens, the interface was conceived as a system. Clear visual rules, component logic, and shared libraries were established to reduce subjective interpretation and ensure consistency across screens, states, and driving conditions.
This approach allowed the team to move faster without fragmenting the experience, keeping interaction patterns, hierarchy, and visual behavior predictable and reliable in use.
Design decisions continuously balanced readability, safety, brand expression, and technical feasibility.
Design System
I developed a UI pattern library that aligns with the design direction by following a cohesive concept, ensuring that every component adheres to the visual style, functionality, and user experience goals outlined in the project vision.
Design System
I developed a UI pattern library that aligns with the design direction by following a cohesive concept, ensuring that every component adheres to the visual style, functionality, and user experience goals outlined in the project vision.
Design System
I developed a UI pattern library that aligns with the design direction by following a cohesive concept, ensuring that every component adheres to the visual style, functionality, and user experience goals outlined in the project vision.
Icon Design
I developed a complete icon set to ensure visual consistency and usability across the entire interface. Each icon was meticulously crafted using a custom perfect grid system, maintaining harmony, balance, and scalability at any size. To support seamless integration, I also created a comprehensive icon style guide documentation, detailing design principles, sizing rules, stroke weights, and usage guidelines to establish a cohesive and recognizable visual language across all platforms.
Icon Design
I developed a complete icon set to ensure visual consistency and usability across the entire interface. Each icon was meticulously crafted using a custom perfect grid system, maintaining harmony, balance, and scalability at any size. To support seamless integration, I also created a comprehensive icon style guide documentation, detailing design principles, sizing rules, stroke weights, and usage guidelines to establish a cohesive and recognizable visual language across all platforms.
Icon Design
I developed a complete icon set to ensure visual consistency and usability across the entire interface. Each icon was meticulously crafted using a custom perfect grid system, maintaining harmony, balance, and scalability at any size. To support seamless integration, I also created a comprehensive icon style guide documentation, detailing design principles, sizing rules, stroke weights, and usage guidelines to establish a cohesive and recognizable visual language across all platforms.
What changed
The resulting interface provided a clear and consistent foundation for the in-vehicle system, reducing ambiguity and supporting technical implementation. Teams worked with a shared interface language, leading to more stable decisions and fewer renegotiations during development. The system didn’t become simpler, but it became reliable.
Reflection
In automotive design, UI is not a visual layer. It is part of the system. When decisions are clear and consistent, the interface fades into the background and allows drivers to focus on what matters.
Related Projects
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E.
Currently available for product design roles
and system-driven projects on complex digital products.
If this way of thinking resonates, let’s discuss a product.
© Edoardo Sportelli - 2026. Living in Italy, in Fiastra, nestled in the Sibillini Mountains. Like Tuscany, but better. Policy Privacy and Data Protection. No reuse or redistribution without permission.
E.
Currently available for product design roles
and system-driven projects on complex digital products.
If this way of thinking resonates, let’s discuss a product.
© Edoardo Sportelli - 2026. Living in Italy, in Fiastra, nestled in the Sibillini Mountains. Like Tuscany, but better. Policy Privacy and Data Protection. No reuse or redistribution without permission.
Currently available for product design roles
and system-driven projects on complex digital products.
If this way of thinking resonates, let’s discuss a product.
© Edoardo Sportelli - 2024
Living in Italy, in Fiastra, nestled in the Sibillini Mountains. Like Tuscany, but better.
Policy Privacy and Data Protection.
No reuse or redistribution without permission.
E.