IDA offers specialist transport design and development services in the Rail, Marine and Automotive sectors that integrate seamlessly with our clients marketing and engineering teams. Our processes and strategic research leads to design development that delivers distinctive style, innovation and functionality. We do this with high consideration to safety, manufacturability and international compliance standards. Part of our process is cultural research so that we develop designs that are empathetic to specific regions of the world. This maximises the designs acceptance by the end users.

We have added style and experience to projects in most parts of the world ncluding Australia, New Zealand, Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, and China. Our expertise in Rail, Marine and Road Transport design brings creative innovation without compromising safety, compliance issues or manufacturability. Some of the major transport design projects that we have worked on during our careers are NSW New Intercity Fleet, New Macedonia EMU/DMU, China Fuxing CR400BF Standard EMU, China CR400BF-C Exterior Styling and Design, Wellington NZ Matangi, Istanbul Turkey Marmaray Line, Athens Greece Atiko Line, TJ Andrews Allonge Hearse and Holden VR Commodore.

IDA has worked extensively in the Asia Pacific region developing their knowledge and experience in the Passenger Rail Design industry. They understand the diverse range of influences that go into any rolling stock design project including passenger comfort and safety, accessibility, crew comfort and safety, maintenance issues, manufacturability, and then roll all this into a visually distinctive package that gives both the travelling public and the operator confidence in the new design.

IDA Directors started working in the Marine Design Industry in 1992 styling boats ranging from large passenger ferries to small leisure craft.

Our services in the transport sector include:

It’s said that you only get one chance to make a first impression! Exterior styling is the starting point for people to form an opinion about any given form of transport. Its important to optimize that first point of contact with outstanding styling. Our exterior styling expertise uses fresh thinking and innovation as a platform to create styling that delivers style, function, comfort, and safety. We understand that there are hard points that cannot be moved for manufacturing, structural or compliance reasons. We push the boundaries for innovation, without compromising technical integrity.

We understand that the fundamental purpose of passenger transport is to move people. At the foundation of all our interior design efforts is to improve the experience of all passenger groups, whether they be elderly, have a disability, are parents with small children, people on holidays or on their daily commute to work. With each project, IDA’s design process seeks to bring greater comfort, greater amenity, and greater accessibility to each new design. We aim to localize each design through styling and colour selection, with increased usage and acceptance by the travelling public being our measure of success.

Our experience ranges from low cost metro trains through to 1^st Class high speed train interiors, bus interiors as well as low volume production road vehicles.

IDA designs and specifies livery that supports the operators brand, while integrating and enhancing the surface design of the vehicle it’s applied to. We have created liveries for major city’s metro buses and metro trains, through to the special livery used on the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic express high-speed train.

Our experience includes developing passenger information and wayfinding decal solutions for passenger vehicle interior and exteriors. This includes preparing final artwork for handover to the printers

With today’s rendering techniques it is difficult to tell the difference between a 3D rendering and a photograph of the actual product. Before a product is even made, we can create convincing, life like renderings from the 3D models we create, or are supplied. These renderings can be used in pre-launch material, media packs or in advertising campaigns. We use the latest rendering software and techniques to create impactful images of products before they are brought into reality.

IDA has extensive experience in analysing and reporting on Human Factor issues for both passenger and crew areas. Human factors analysis is performed against relevant standards and best practice. This experience is also used at the beginning of the design process to validate concepts during the early development phases.

A large part of any public transport design project is to provide access for all user groups, including those with a disability. IDA has extensive experience working within the Australian passenger rolling stock industry, which has some of the most stringent accessibility standards in the world. We follow the latest standards, best practice, and user feedback in design for accessibility.

Thorough design documentation ensures that the design intent of the chosen concept is maintained, and the errors are eliminated as a project transitions into the manufacturing phase. IDA’s designers and engineers work with their client’s engineering teams to ensure our designs meet manufacturing and cost requirements and that detail issues are resolved. Documentation is supplied in both 2D and 3D software formats and can be produced to a level suitable for hand-off to a manufacturer.