Gaggenau, the leading brand of luxury kitchen products, has been writing its own history for 330 years based on a unique combination of innovation, quality and expertise. Every product is conceived, designed and manufactured to the highest standards according to the Gaggenau standard. The Gaggenau Expressive series is not only intended to replace the previous product range of future heating appliances, but also to herald a new era of digital operation. Analogue touchpoints are deliberately retained in order to create a holistic, sensory brand experience. The challenge of the interface design project was to meet Gaggenau’s standards while combining the digital with the tactile and the visual with the acoustic in order to celebrate the diverse sensory experiences in the kitchen context. The aim is to carry the brand and portfolio history into the future and enable perfect results and unique cooking experiences.

1/ Strategic basis
Precision, clarity and Bauhaus-inspired architecture: we translated Gaggenau’s brand values and design goals into visualisation, interaction and motion solutions. The goal: an interface that brings design quality, brand and product standards to life – holistically, through the interplay of haptics, acoustics, visualisations on displays, light in the appliance and animations for emotional and guiding moments.

2/ Design development 
The minimalist interface design impresses with motion graphics that make dynamics and orientation visually tangible. Iconography and typography are tailored to the brand aesthetic and systematically expanded for different product characteristics to create a consistent user experience. The control ring was the focus of the design development. In iterative cycles, control logic, visualisations and animations were prototyped, tested and optimised with a view to intuitive and aesthetic use.

3/ Systematic implementation
The results were documented as a scalable design system specific to the product for development and, at a higher level, for the future visual brand language of interactive systems – transferable to other devices across different display sizes and interaction methods.

With its iconic, sculptural forms, the Gaggenau Expressive series is based on the design principles of the Bauhaus and modern architecture. ‘Two frames, one circle, one work of art’ sums up the essence – clear, timeless, typical of the brand. The clear basic forms and perfect lines of the product design are continued in the interface design. At the centre is the floating, illuminated control ring, the central control element of all appliances in the series. In combination with a touch display, it enables a unique, intuitive user experience based on clearly standardised gestures.

The floating control ring responds with haptic and visual feedback, recognises touches precisely and provides context-sensitive support to the user without being intrusive. Important information on the display is harmoniously arranged around the ring and blends into an aesthetic whole. Dynamic animations, perfectly matched to the control ring, support user guidance. The interface is complemented by brand-specific sound design and a proximity sensor that responds to interactions in the room – for an all-round immersive experience.