Context: Advanced R&D studio building defense, automotive, aerospace, and immersive UX systems
Role: Industrial Fabricator · UX/UI Pioneer · Human-Factors Specialist
Timeline: Feb 2004 – Nov 2008
Applied Minds
Designing Next-Gen Defense & Automotive Interfaces at Applied Minds
I helped build early multisensory interfaces for defense, aerospace, and automotive OEMs—combining hardware fabrication, UX innovation, and human-factors research. From 2.5D terrain systems to in-vehicle navigation concepts, I bridged physical and digital workflows to prototype high-stakes tools years before they became industry standards.
IP Car Concepts Industrial Build
GM Car Design: Reach Radius, Line of Sight Safety
Safety Heat Map of Car Zones
Measurements of IC and Console
Flash Info Visualization displaying Reach Areas
Early TouchScreen Console UI
Early Touch UI with Primary Actions
HVAC UI Concept for Temp & Strength
HDD UI Concept for Audio
IC Concept Persona Type 1
Fabrication In-car Mockup Placement
Future facing in-car concept
01
Foundations
Early Multimodal UX Across Defense & Automotive
Human-Factors Research — Mapped reach, visibility, cognitive load, and situational-awareness requirements for high-risk environments.
Hardware-Software Integration — Built prototypes blending physical controls, custom electronics, and interactive UI.
Cross-Disciplinary Workflow — Partnered with engineers, researchers, and storytellers to shape concepts rapidly.
Innovation Groundwork — Established early interaction models that later informed modern automotive and defense UI patterns.
2.5D Terrain Table
I helped fabricate a 2.5D terrain table that used a touch interface to control more than 3,500 motorized pins, each responding to real geospatial data. Selecting a location triggered the table to shift, focus, and render elevation changes in real time. The system allowed teams to interpret complex terrain without relying on language, enabling rapid, intuitive geographic analysis.
02
Terrain systems
Designing Tactile & Spatial Intelligence Tools
2.5D Terrain Table — Fabricated a pin-grid elevation system driven by geospatial data, enabling tactile map exploration.
Touch-Enabled Menus — Implemented a multiuser touch interface for navigating, zooming, and interpreting terrain features.
Geospatial Visualization — Designed interaction patterns to make complex elevation and topographical data more intuitive.
Collaborative Analysis — Enabled teams to explore and communicate geographic intelligence without technical barriers.
TouchTable
As an industrial fabricator at AMI, I built these tables from scratch in the workshop. The TouchTable is an advanced system where multiple users can visualize, navigate and analyze large amounts of information. Two or more TouchTables can be networked, allowing people in different locations to work together in a common virtual space.
03
Automotive IP
Prototyping Navigation & Personalization Before Smartphones
Navigation Concepts — Created UI for early touch-screen automotive navigation, including predictive address entry and side-rollout menus.
Driver Safety Models — Designed around strict NHTSA constraints—minimizing taps, distractions, and visual load.
Personalization Systems — Developed concepts for user presets, themes, and multi-driver profiles long before mainstream adoption.
Digital Interaction Experiments — Built Flash-based prototypes to test dials, menus, and gesture patterns in low-fidelity form.
Navigation IP Concepts
GM hired us to design a new navigation experience for an 8-inch diameter screen. Given the limited space and the novelty of touch screens at the time, we developed side-rollout menus to maximize functionality. Our design incorporated features like navigation, points of interest, and personalization, which were key initiatives.
GM Car Concept Address Entry
In 2003, touch-enabled interfaces were limited to 9 keystrokes before lockout due to NHTSA safety concerns. Despite the primitive look of the UI in Flash, we developed workaround concepts using predictive text entry to find destinations with fewer keystrokes.
IP Digital Flywheel Song selector
Finding new ways to streamline tasks made combining innovation with personalization exciting in my early career. Here, you can see a Flash-animated concept showcasing how virtual dials could be used to select songs.
GM Personalization IP Concepts
Before smartphones, the first touch screens were in cars with limited functions. Here you can see several concepts around user personalization including wallpapers and presets
04
Reviewing the current state
Architecting Systems, Specs & Prototypes for Engineering
Handoff Packages — Delivered interaction models, UI flows, and component behavior specs ready for engineering integration.
High-Fidelity Prototypes — Built functional simulations demonstrating navigation, audio, personalization, and mapping features.
Hardware Schematics — Documented fabrication details for terrain tables, touch tables, and in-vehicle concepts.
Future-Facing Patterns — Produced foundational UX models that informed next-gen automotive displays and defense visualization tools.