Carabiners, the metallic hooks favored by rock climbers, might not seem like a particularly rich trove of influence for a premium car brand like Rivian. But take a closer look at the electric vehicle maker’s distinct oval headlights, and you’ll see the signature shape of a climbing clip start to emerge.
“Good design, especially in automotive, is: Can you close your eyes and still remember it?” Jeff Hammoud, Rivian’s chief design officer, told Observer at this year’s SXSW in Austin. “That’s what I think we did a good job of being able to achieve here.”
The emphasis on outdoorsy activities shouldn’t come a surprise to those familiar with Rivian’s R1T pickup truck and R1S SUV, which are marketed not just as luxury EVs but rugged cars designed for adventure. The carabiner motif came about by accident after the automaker’s design team brought in a climbing clip for color inspiration. Gear like backpacks and hiking shoes were also mined for material and color ideas.
Hammoud, who previously designed various models at Jeep before joining Rivian in 2017, became set on automotive design at the age of six after flipping through car books his father received from Mercedes Benz. “I learned in there that it was a profession,” said Hammoud, who still cites the Mercedes 300SL Gullwing as one of his all-time favorite designs.
In the years since, he’s managed to carve out a unique design identity for Rivian. Color plays a large role. Rivian’s distinct and subtle earth tones differentiate the brand from competitors. Models still come in the requisite whites, blacks and grays, but Rivian also offers tones like its limited California Dune Edition, a pale goldish sand color. “The take rate on them—and this is for any automotive brand—is relatively low, but the people who get them absolutely love them,” said Hammoud.
Rivian’s subtle shades aren’t just pretty to look at—they’re also meant to get dirty. The beige-colored California Dune R1, for example, was specifically chosen to conceal dust from sandy terrains like California’s Joshua Tree. This means Rivian’s EVs aren’t “just easy to clean, but stay looking clean longer,” said Hammoud. The company’s sensibility of enabling adventures extends to features like woven floor mats, which come in neutral tones to hide dirt residue, and a cargo tunnel designed to discretely store gear.
At price points of upwards of $70,000, Rivian’s R1T and R1S don’t come cheap. In order to enable widespread EV adoption, “we need choice,” said RJ Scaringe, Rivian’s CEO, while speaking at SXSW last week. That’s why the carmaker is pushing out more affordable models like the R2, which will be released next year at a starting point of $45,000.
“I often say the R2 will be the best thing we’ve ever developed,” noted Scaringe, who described the model as combining the R1’s “magic” with “tons of innovation around cost and manufacturing efficiency.” Another upcoming release, the R3 and R3X, is expected to follow the R2.
Design through subtraction
Designing the R2, which effectively shrunk the R1S into a mid-sized SUV with a more athletic feel, was no easy task. It also required a completely different design approach, according to Hammoud. “With R1S and R1T, it was more around design through addition. We got to throw the kitchen sink at those vehicles,” he told Observer. “With R2, it’s design through subtraction—really trying to figure out: what are the key elements that we want to keep?”
The R3 and sportier R3X, on the other hand, provided an opportunity to “show how we can stretch the brand,” said Rivian’s design chief. Inspired by the Group B rally cars of the 1980s, the hatchback vehicles are Rivian’s smallest models yet. They’ll also be its cheapest, with a price point even lower than that of the R2.
Innovation within a popular brand takes a delicate hand. “If you throw everything away and start over, then it’s hard to really establish identity,” said Hammoud. Rivian is attempting to strike a balance between the strategies of fellow auto brands, which the design chief noted typically either produce entirely different vehicles or make slight changes between models. “We’d like to be somewhere in between that,” he said.
Keeping an eye on competition is also what helped push Rivian to upgrade its user interface. Unlike the ultra-realistic digital renderings of vehicles that are prevalent amongst other EV brands, Rivian’s touchscreen instead opts for cartoon-style cell shading. The unique visuals were inspired by Japanese manga and animation like that produced by Studio Ghibli, according to Hammoud.
Containing 3D objects that move, such as spinning windmills and waving blades of glass, Rivian’s user interface changes scenes depending on drive mode. Its display of a user’s car, meanwhile, is accurate down to the color of its wheels.
The company’s software updates allow for even more whimsical design elements. Last Halloween, Rivian users turned on their touchscreens to an interface filled with flying bats, old castles and a spooky witch. The company’s playful approach to the user experience is continued through silly details like Gear Guard Gary, a cartoon Yeti that acts as the company’s mascot and signals that Rivian’s security system is in use.
“It’s just one of those things that’s kind of special,” said Hammoud. “We like to have those little moments of joy.”
