car design thread

"He seems to be speaking in a vague nomenclature that isn't intuitive for me, so I've no idea what he's saying in that interview."
Andrew, this made me laugh, and I'd try to explain why, but it's one of those things that would strike most designers as humorous. Used to work for a gentleman that said 'never trust a designer that talks too much!'

While I would never try to explain someone else's design philosophy, particularly, Mr. Bangle's, let me try and give you my spin on what he's talking about.

Starting with his 1st 'rule' about 'shooting your own dogs', which by the way I thought it was an odd analogy, my takeaway is: don't necessarily think you always have to do things according to: 'that's the way we've always done things around here'. Every organization has it's own 'rules' that they design around......but as I like to tell my class, 'there's only one rule, and that's there aren't any'
Too many designers and design staffs are locked into 'that's the way we've always done it around here' and with that attitude, not much will ever happen truly innovative
Witness the conservatism rampant today in the automotive landscape


'The fox is pretty......' rule he says comes from an Italian architect, and my opinion on what he's referring to is think of the effect your design work will have on those around you, particularly those closest to you. Just because I look good, does my family, team etc. also look good from what i'm designing. It must be an Italian thing! But I think i get the gist of what he's saying.


Flowing the other way...the viewer is simply not impressed with a design proposal, so states it would be more impressive if it were the opposite.
While I understand what he says, it is an unusual way to describe the design critique process. Too often during a design critique, there isn't enough objective honesty. 'I like what he likes'.


Not A nor B, but A & B.....rather than look at design alternatives singly, think of them and observe them holistically. Saying it's either A or B is a rather limiting way of evaluating design proposals. Having said that, there is always the danger of doing a horse that was designed by a committee, and you wind up with a camel. We've all seen those designs.


Why- How- What.....it gets at the heart of the design process as far as i'm concerned. WHY are you doing this project? The fact that you CAN or know HOW should not be the question, but the WHY. 'Let's do a 2 seat sports car'.....WHY? We know HOW and we know WHAT to do, but WHY should we do it?


MAYA.....'Most Advanced, Yet Acceptable' this is the very fine line designers walk creating enough 'Reach' in a design as well as enough 'Appeal'
something can be 'far out but no one accepts it OR it might appeal to everyone, but has no 'reach' at all so will become boring/stale quickly. It's walking that fine line to get acceptable reach V. appeal
The first Ford Taurus had a great deal of 'reach' but limited 'appeal' in the beginning of it's lifecycle.....but over time the public got used to the design and it became a success
Automotive design is very sensitive to this phenomenon. Too far out & no one likes it......too conservative so that everyone likes it immediately and it will be 'old' very quickly.
Just read the comments on this site about Ferrari design and I'm confidant you'll understand the concept exactly.


His final comments about corporate designers is on point, in that to the corporate officers outside of the design function have to understand in Bangles words, 'it's like having a dog, if you don't love that dog, then it's a pain cleaning up after it'
Too often corporations treat the design function as a necessary evil rather than being a means go being part of the corporate strategy


Hopefully my brief spin on his words make some sense. But it's just my $.02.
We'd have to ask him for his explanation.

 

just got this today
comprehensive history of Jaguar Design
500+ pages
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yes I agree, that Pininfarina Alfa is cool

 

cool, thanks for posting

and even though Art Center is my Alma Mater, I would argue with his statement about it being THE only school for training car designers....
but it's certainly one of a select few schools that are at the top of the 'food chain' of design education

 

my leftcoast peeps all tell me the new Peterson renovation is over the top awesome

 

i knew that was coming.....

 

among others, yes..

i really need to see the actual bldg.
it looks OTT, but one certainly can't ignore it, that's for sure

 

well done video about Transportation Design at Art Center in Pasadena,CA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHavcylj2O4

 

Yes, CCS is in fact the same proposition as ACCD
With the major Domestic mfg here in Mi, visits from professional designers take place all the time
and it's one of my roles to make sure the graduates are indeed ready to hit the ground running

 

I like your effort on the FF re-do