Sleeping cabin VDL travel coaches

Abstract

This master thesis shows the redesign of a travel coach sleeping cabin. The sleeping cabin used to be an empty box with a mattress only, but after the redesign it has become a pleasant environment to sleep in and wake up in. The sleeping cabin contains several unique selling points which will help VDL distinguish themselves from their competitors, but also which will offer the travel coach driver a unique user experience with the aid of product interaction.

The redesign has been based on an iterative process in which research, such as literature about comfort, experiences and well-being has been done. As well as field research (interviews and observations) and user tests. This research has been used in order to get insights in the possibilities within a sleeping cabin. The ideation and conceptualisation phase have been done as well, resulting in different concepts based on experience, not in shape. The final stages as embodiment design and validation have been done simultaneously, resulting in a final user test, done with a full scale mock up.

Overall, it can be concluded that the sleeping cabin has been improved significantly and that VDL can distinguish themselves from their competitors.