Lynk & Co 900
Rear control display design
overview
The Lynk & Co 900 is a six-seat SUV with multiple digital touchpoints across the cabin.
I led the interaction design for the Rear Control Display (RCD), taking it from early research and concept development through prototyping, validation, and handover.
Outcome:
A validated widget-based interface that gave rear passengers direct access to comfort, media, and shared cabin functions. Its core architecture and interaction principles were retained in the production vehicle launched in April 2025.
Role: UX/UI & HMI Designer
Ownership: Interaction design for the Rear Control Display
Scope: Research · Interaction design · Prototyping · Validation · Handover
Project timeline:
7 months
Team:
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Six UX designers
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HMI & UX chief designer, Louise Kivi
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China-based UI and production teams
Market launch:
April 2025
THE CHALLENGE
The team needed to define how the vehicle’s digital touchpoints should work together across a six-seat cabin, then translate that system into concepts for stakeholder validation.
The central challenge was giving passengers individual control while maintaining a consistent cabin experience—without distracting the driver or disrupting other passengers.
We needed to:
• Understand the needs of six different passenger positions
• Define how information and control should move between touchpoints
• Make complex cabin functions clear and accessible
We began by stepping back and looking at the entire ecosystem of screens and controls inside the 900. Our first mission was to understand how all these surfaces would relate to each other, how information and interaction would flow between them.
We mapped six unique user journeys, one for each passenger, exploring their potential needs, desires, and moments of delight during a drive.
Would the driver want fast climate control shortcuts without breaking focus?
Could a second-row passenger adjust ambient lighting without disrupting others? How might a child in the back watch a movie, play a game, or turn on their seat heating without needing help?
Below are the next three steps we took.
MAPPING THE CABIN ECOSYSTEM
Before dividing ownership across the team, we mapped the vehicle’s screens and physical controls as one connected system.
This revealed dependencies between touchpoints and helped us define where information and control should sit across the cabin.
1
3
2
4
1) Central Stack Display (CSD) 2) Rear Seat Display (RSD) 3) Driver Information Monitor (DIM) 4) Rear Control Display (RCD)
Mapping Passenger Journeys:
We mapped six journeys—one for each passenger position—to understand differences in context, autonomy, and access to shared functions.
The work focused on three questions:
• Which functions should be personal, shared, or controlled by the driver?
• How could passengers adjust the cabin without disrupting others?
• Where did interaction patterns need to remain consistent?
Testing passenger scenarios in context
Before moving into detailed design, we tested passenger journeys in a full-scale prototype cabin.
Acting out scenarios—including reclining seats into a bed and rotating a seat to reach a child—revealed spatial constraints and dependencies between physical and digital controls that screen-based flows alone could not show.
These findings informed how functions were distributed across the vehicle’s touchpoints.
My role:
Rear control Display
After the shared research phase, ownership was divided across the vehicle’s touchpoints.
I led the interaction design for the Rear Control Display, translating our findings into user flows, interaction concepts and validated prototypes.
Positioned between the second and third rows, the RCD needed to give rear passengers direct access to cabin functions while remaining consistent with the wider vehicle system.
Functions within my scope:
Media · Climate · Sunroof · Seat comfort · Fridge · Ambient lighting · Volume
From research to
user flows
I reviewed existing research into the expectations of Chinese luxury-car users and observed colleagues from different departments testing second- and third-row passenger scenarios in the prototype cabin.
I translated the findings into passenger scenarios and explored different menu structures before developing the final user flows.
The main challenge was balancing direct access to personal functions with control of shared cabin features.
MAKING THE CASE FOR
A LARGER SCREEN
The Rear Control Display was initially planned as a much smaller screen.
With several cabin functions competing for space, the original format would have required deeper navigation and reduced the space available for clear touch targets.
I worked with the technical team to make the usability case for a larger format. The screen increased across two development iterations, allowing us to simplify navigation, strengthen the hierarchy and improve touch accessibility.
FIRST SAMPLE
2ND SAMPLE
FINAL SCREEN SIZE
a CUSTOMIZABLE WIDGET SYSTEM
Rather than giving every passenger the same fixed layout, I designed a widget-based system that could adapt to different priorities.
Passengers could bring frequently used functions forward and rearrange them through press and hold, while less frequently used controls remained available through the main navigation.
The system provided:
• Personalized layouts for different passengers
• One-tap access to priority functions
• Continued access to the complete set of controls
• A clearer hierarchy across cabin functions
Press and hold
to rearrange widgets
validation & handover
During the final stakeholder review, senior representatives from China tested the
high-fidelity prototype and successfully navigated its key flows.
Together with earlier validation, this supported the decision to move into production development.
I handed over the interaction design to the China-based UI and production teams, coordinating prototypes, specifications and design decisions across an eight-hour time difference.
The production team refined the visual design and adapted some interactions for implementation, while retaining the core architecture and interaction principles.
The RCD within the rear-cabin environment.
Users can adjust the fridge settings directly from the display
Outcome
The Rear Control Display launched in the Lynk & Co 900 in April 2025.
Its core architecture and interaction principles remained aligned with the validated concept through production.
Key contributions
• Led the RCD interaction design from research through handover
• Built the usability case that contributed to a larger production screen
• Designed a customizable widget system for personal and shared controls
• Delivered a validated high-fidelity prototype for production development
LEADERSHIP FEEDBACK
Louise Kivi
Former HMI and UX Chief Designer at Lynk & Co Design
Read the full recommendation on LinkedIn →
“Rita was responsible for the interaction design of a rear-seat display,
and her contributions were consistently well-executed…
She was a key part of keeping the project moving forward smoothly.”
