HEAD UNIT

Design thinking

The flip-out head unit was the flex of every early-2000s import build. HEAD UNIT is one rendered single-DIN stereo with its screen flipped up, and the video plays on it. The blue LCD is fully live: it scrolls the title, shows the time, the speed and the volume, and draws a spectrum analyzer from the real audio. The chrome knob is the volume and actually turns, the five amber rubber keys are the transport, tapping the LCD changes speed, and the blue corner LEDs breathe with the bass.

Keys have touch areas sized to the gaps between them, the LCD reads at any size, focus shows as a blue ring, and the marquee holds still with reduced motion. On phones the unit stands upright: screen on top, the chrome knob in the middle, keys and the live LCD below.

Controls

• Space Play or pause
• ← → Seek 10 seconds
• ↑ ↓ Volume
• 0–9 Jump to 0–90%
• M Mute
• F Fullscreen
• 2× tap Sides seek, center goes fullscreen