Grant LeslieHonda HMI Redesign
HondaConnect
Redesigning the 4-inch round display of the Honda Rebel 500 into a community-driven, socially connected riding experience.
UX/UI Design
Team Bravo, 8
10 Weeks
HMI + Companion App
Context
The Challenge
We redesigned the HMI for the Honda Rebel 500 to be more community and new rider oriented through both new and improved features. Our mission: connecting riders in a stronger community. Our target audience: new rider and college age, female riders.
Current production Honda Rebel 500 LCD cluster, starting point for the redesign.
The Vision
A Social Compass
for Motorcycles
A connected app and HMI system that turns the Rebel's cluster into a social compass for the whole ride. Before the ride, riders plan routes and find riders from the companion app. During the ride, they get real-time navigation, pack mode, and glanceable alerts on the HMI. After the ride, they can share recaps, connect with new riders, and track stats.
Four blue sky features bring this to life: Pack Mode, Request Assistance, Community Heatmap, and Bike Bump. Each lives on the HMI, the app, or both.
HMI
Pack Mode
Social compass and nav syncing across a group.
APP
Community Heatmap
Live map of nearby bikers, events, and hotspots.
HMI & APP
Request Assistance
Built in safety for quick help on the road.
APP → HMI
Bike Bump
Tap to send a friend request via NFC.
Research
Research
5
Participants
130+
Data Points
01
Physical → Digital
Interface must match handlebar input layout.
02
Glanceable Info
Critical data stays large, central, readable.
03
Simple Navigation
Turn by turn arrows, minimal menu depth.
04
Notification Hierarchy
Alerts in a dedicated status zone.
Field Research
Field Trip 01
Savannah HD
Riders prioritize simple, glanceable displays. Reinforced minimal distraction in HMI design.
Field Trip 02
Honda Team Trip
Hands on ergonomic feel of the Rebel 500 and 1100, informing HMI placement and content.
The Disconnect
New riders face isolation, lack of confidence, and fear, while existing biker communities rely on scattered forums, word of mouth, and informal groups.
What Riders Said
I think it would be kind of cool to just pop up. They'd just go out for a ride and suddenly you appear.
Rider Interview #2
It can be something as simple as riding on the highway and another biker passes, and suddenly you kind of group together.
Rider Interview #4
I've been on rides for 70 plus people, and now I know most of them by name.
Rider Interview #5
The Opportunity
No universal, real time platform connects riders for spontaneous meetups and safety support.
How Might We
“How might we redesign the Honda Rebel 500 HMI and mobile ecosystem to transform the riding experience from a solitary mechanical task into an intuitive, community-driven journey?”
Design
User Persona
“I bought this bike for freedom, but riding alone feels lonely, and sometimes unsafe.”
Pain Points: Little Representation · Isolation Fear · The Disconnect
Goals: Confidence · Connection · Content
Jenna Smith · 23 · Barista · 5 months riding
User Scenarios
Feeling Unsafe
Going About Life
Planning a Ride
Bike Bump
Early Exploration
Sketches & Lo Fi
Before moving into mid fidelity, we sketched dozens of cluster layouts and flows on paper. These lo-fi frames helped us explore states quickly and decide which ideas were worth refining.
Sketches
Lo Fi HMI Frames
Iterate
Mid Fidelity
This stage was defined by constant iteration. We moved rapidly between sketches, wireframes, and mid fidelity screens, pressure testing our four blue sky features: Pack Mode, Request Assistance, Bike Bump, and the Community Heatmap. Each concept went through multiple rounds of critique, user feedback, and refinement before earning its place in the final system.
HMIs
Refinements
Map layout
Carousel
Notifications
Request Assistance
Boot-up
App
HondaConnect App
Mid fidelity for the companion app. Same iteration stage as the HMIs above; riders plan routes, discover events, and stay connected before and after the ride.
Architecture
System Flows
Detailed interaction flows for each core feature, ensuring minimal cognitive load while riding.
Request Assistance
Going About Life
Bike Bump
Zoning
Two layouts: driving (protected telltales) and user (flexible content windows).
Driving
Other Pages
Final
Final high fidelity
Universal trip bar across all screens. Riders scroll key ride info using a single control input.
Universal Trip Window
Notifications
Pivotal decisions
We made key design choices along the way. Here are a few that shaped the final system.
Before
After
We got rid of the TV remote paradigm and moved to a D-pad style for navigation.
Before
After
We moved from a tick mark grid to a more dynamic grid. It moved better, simulated speed better, and felt more unique and interesting.
Before
Before
After
After
We got rid of the media page and added Pack Mode instead. Media now lives in the universal trip window so it can be accessed on any screen.
Features
Deep Dives
Pack Mode
Social Compass
Shows nearby riders, syncs navigation across a group, and enables spontaneous or planned ride coordination.
Request Assistance
Safety First
Share location with a preselected contact or call for help through voice commands; hands stay on the handlebars.
Community Heatmap
Discover Riders
Live map of nearby bikers, events, hotspots, and popular routes.
Bike Bump
Instant Connect
Tap phone to HMI to send a friend request. Turn a gas station encounter into a lasting connection.
Exploration
Directions We Explored
Alongside the final system, we explored several directions that pushed how far the Rebel's cluster could go. These didn't make the first release due to time and scope, but they helped define the edges of what HondaConnect could become.
Voice Commands
We explored voice-driven interactions for hands-free control while riding.
First-Person Map View
We explored a first-person map perspective for in-ride context.
TV Dock & Remote
We explored a TV remote / docked system interface; we later dropped TV mode and the media page, moved media into the trip window, and replaced the media page with Pack Mode so the experience stays ride-focused.
Color Styles
We explored customizable color styles for the home screen, from more playful gradients to muted options that keep focus on the ride.
Ecosystem
HMI + App
The complete HondaConnect ecosystem, supporting the entire ride journey: before, during, and after.
Development Handoff
Design → Dev
We worked closely with a developer to make sure every key part of the handoff landed at the right time, from flows and states to edge cases and interaction details. It was a big learning experience in translating design decisions into implementation, and it shifted my perspective on how engineers think about constraints, tradeoffs, and feasibility.
Live Prototype
Brought to Life
A developer built the prototype: they used a screen recording of an actual ride and mapped our HMI designs onto it so the ride and all the features we designed could be shown in context. We did not build the prototype ourselves; the demo brought our work to life.
