Door panels are a preview, a sneak peak into the interior of a vehicle. How many times have you seen a beautiful custom car on the outside but when the door is open your looking at rust and springs? A vehicles interior is where the heart is, it’s where you spend most of your time.

Door Panels are typically not the first thing you think of when designing an automotive interior but they definitely deserve a lot of consideration. Of course their most important function is to let you in and out of the vehicle. While your getting in and out they also perform another subtle function, they give the rest of the world a glimpse of what is going on inside.

Take this door panel for example:

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I don’t know about you but I sure do want to see what they did to the rest of this truck. For more pictures of this interior click on the source link under the picture.

Integrating Door Panels and Dash Design

The best designed interiors always keep flow and integration in mind. The way the dash and gauges work with and flow into the door panels and door hardware should be seamless and flow together with ease.

This door panels here are inspired by plumbing materials but they have a nice look and integrate the other fixtures and accessories in the vehicle nicely.

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The design doesn’t have to be elaborate to make a statement, this one says all it needs to say with its design.

Integrating Color and Fabrics From the Seats

Another way to make the door panels flow with the auto interior design is to use the colors and fabrics from the seats to bring it all together. Using different colors and textures from the seats makes the interior look put together and the close attention to detail really makes the whole thing come together.

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Integrating Door Panels With Lighting

Integrating door panels with the use of lighting has been one of the most popular trends in the past few years and it doesn’t show signs of stopping. Why should it, the look is clean, sophisticated and provides good ambiance. Not to mention, lighting pulls together a design in a strong yet subtle way and it looks so expensive.

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For more information on the future of LED lighting in auto interior design visit The Hog Ring by clicking the source link above.

Your vehicles doors are more than just a means of getting in and out of your car. Use them as a way to intrigue people into wanting to see more by incorporating one or all of these key principles for designing door panels.