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Devin speaks with two leaders at Slate Auto, an EV startup that’s designed a cheap modular pickup truck. Tisha Johnson, Head of Design, and Ben Whitla, Head of Brand and Marketing, join Devin to share the big, gnarly challenges Slate is facing in getting a low-cost, personalizable vehicle to consumers—from design to production.
They tell Devin about the joy and terror of relinquishing design control to their customers, and how they take inspiration from collaborative brands like Lego and Vans. They explain where their two disciplines, vehicle and brand design, inform one another at Slate, leading to a more integrated design approach than either of them expected. Plus, they share their hot takes on why screens in vehicles are totally overrated.
1:49 Why this kind of modularity hasn’t been seen before
3:43 Their breakthrough in designing the front fascia
5:51 How brand and vehicle design align
8:58 Designing for customer’s self-expression
11:38 When car owners go wild
14:30 Affordability through minimalism
19:00 Taking the leap on a start-up
23:26 Collaboration vs. AI agents
26:16 Lightning round
TLDR AI SUMMARY
In this episode of the podcast Design This Day (produced by the design firm Teague), host Devon Liddell interviews Ben Whitla (Head of Brand and Marketing) and Tisha Johnson (Head of Design) from Slate Auto, an electric vehicle (EV) startup.
The conversation focuses on how Slate Auto is intentionally throwing out the traditional automotive playbook to build a highly affordable, modular, and minimalist electric truck [00:43].
Core Concepts & Strategy
- The Blank Slate Concept: Slate’s base vehicle is a compact, stripped-down, two-seat pickup truck priced in the mid-$20,000s [10:32]. It is roughly the size of a 1980s Toyota pickup—significantly smaller than most trucks on the modern American market [01:06].
- Extreme Modularity & Co-Design: Rather than building a luxury, tech-heavy vehicle, Slate is leaning into customer agency [01:26]. The truck can be modified by the user into completely different configurations, such as converting it from a pickup into an SUV [01:18, 10:32].
- Radical Price & Simplicity Trade-offs: To hit their target price point ($20,000–$25,000), Slate removed features modern drivers usually take for granted [14:32]. The base model has manual crank windows, no built-in digital screens, no heated seats, and no integrated sound system [14:52].
- The "No Screen" Philosophy: Instead of an expensive integrated infotainment screen that distracts the driver or inflates the cost, the dashboard features a physical cradle designed to hold the driver's smartphone high up near their line of sight [16:58, 17:24]. For audio, users can simply bring their own Bluetooth speaker or opt to upgrade later [18:01].
- Letting Go of Brand Real Estate: Tisha recalls a pivotal development moment when the team decided to design the front fascia (the "face" of the car) with exposed fasteners [03:43, 05:04]. This explicitly allows owners to unscrew and completely remove the Slate brand logo if they want to customize the face themselves [05:12].
- Embracing Customer Mistakes: Tisha notes that standard design studios secretly spend massive energy trying to "protect the design of the vehicle from customers' bad decisions" [11:51]. Slate rejects this, drawing inspiration from Lego and Vans shoes, where user modifications (like drawing graffiti on shoe sidewalls) are celebrated [12:25, 13:04].
- The Value of Human Touch over AI: The team heavily emphasizes physical collaboration and manual clay modeling over AI tools [24:18, 25:16]. They argue that true, constructive debate and tactile, three-dimensional problem-solving require real human connection and empathy [24:45, 26:06].
- Overhyped Tech: Enormous digital screens in modern cars, which they describe as attention-dividing and stressful compared to a calm, tactile cabin [26:37, 27:01].
- Underhyped Tech: On-demand, pressurized running water, noting how easily society takes clean, accessible water for granted [27:50].
- Formative Media: Ben cites filmmaker Wes Anderson for his incredible environmental precision and specific world-building [29:10]. Tisha recommends the books Cradle to Cradle by Bill McDonough (for sustainable accountability) [29:53] and Face to Face by Brian Grazer (on how introverted creatives can meaningfully connect with others) [30:19].
