The advent of electric vehicles offers car manufacturers the opportunity to review the relationship between the vehicles they produce and the urban environment. Sound design is therefore at the forefront of accompanying users on their journeys without disrupting their habits. It is with this delicate balance in mind that the Renault group enlisted the expertise of musician Jean-Michel Jarre, who is passionate about technology and innovation, to create a sound environment that enriches the driving experience and reinforces Renault’s brand identity. Jean-Michel Jarre and Gilles Vidal, head of Renault design, met at Maison 5, a temporary store in Paris created by Renault.
For Gilles Vidal, the design mission serves as a starting point to ‘improve the user experience in everyday life and arouse enthusiasm’. This thread must apply to all stages of vehicle creation, including the sound component, which must be taken into account from the very beginning. If users increasingly communicate with their vehicles, design must ‘create a multisensory experience, tell a story and convey messages’. The sound component therefore becomes of paramount importance. On the other hand, Jean-Michel Jarre believes that, with the ‘immersion’ of the human component in the driving experience, ‘the professions of designer and composer have completely merged’. He points out that ‘the first of the senses that conveys the feeling of immersion is hearing’. This is why sound design is so important in today’s vehicles.
