In the aftermath of 9/11, Jr Neville Songwe [RISD MID ’05 Industrial Design] began to see firefighters, police officers and other rescue workers in a new light. One day shortly after he had arrived at RISD, he happened to look inside a parked police vehicle and discovered that the interior jarred not only his designer’s sensibilities but also his newfound sympathy for the police. The front seats were cramped and cluttered, making for a poor work environment for those charged with keeping the community safe.
Songwe was immediately seized with a desire to redesign the car, an impulse that proved to be the genesis of his master’s thesis project — to focus on improving the dashboard, the single most important area. “Special vehicles have been designed and engineered for the military, for firefighters and for medical workers, but no one has designed cars especially for police use,” Songwe says. Instead, police departments have simply adapted ordinary vehicles to their needs.
“There is a psychological gap between the police and the community,” says Songwe, a native of Cameroon who studied industrial design at the Instituto Superiore per le Industrie Artistiche (ISIA) in Rome before coming to RISD for his master’s. “Many people don’t understand that police work is risky, high-stress and poorly paid.” The poor design of their cruisers only exacerbates the problem, he noted after driving around with Providence police officers for several months. “Police cars are mobile offices that deserve the same kind of attention we give to designing ergonomic office furniture.”
As an alternative, Songwe and his team at the Central Falls, RI firm Joneso Design developed a new dashboard design — called Brijo in honor of his parents, Bridget and Joachim, with whom he often discusses design problems. It’s a sleeker, safer and more convenient console — an “in-vehicle information and communication system.” A logical layout of monitors and controls reduces dashboard clutter and allows officers to manage several functions from the steering wheel; additional features include hands-free communication devices and an adjustable computer monitor and keyboard.
The Joneso team unveiled the Brijo at a press conference in August 2007, and following further road testing, the Providence Police Department hopes to install the design in all its vehicles. “It was a pleasure working with Neville on such an ambitious project,” noted Colonel Dean Esserman, chief of the department. “His redesign of the patrol car exhibited tremendous insight into the day-to-day challenges faced by police officers today.”
