Where are the new iconic designs?

I think a lot about this topic as well when I go to car shows; was at one with my 16-year old car nerd nephew a month ago and we came upon an original Esprit, as we got closer he had no idea what it was; I was like, "dude, SERIOUSLY? You don't know what that is??"

Then again, he was pointing out "that's the Gen 3 this" and "that's the updated that", identifying cars that I don't have a clue about.

I would say ergonomics and aero have hampered design, maybe not killed individuality - new regs and tastes have made cars huge, there's a need for pedestrian impact areas, etc. - and I do miss some design cues that were copied and emulated by makes in the past (think flying buttresses) vs the sort of stylistic copy thing going on today (think huge bucktoothed BMW grilles).

Looking back on my "car appreciation development" - I'm 47 and became car obsessed when I was about 12 I think, 7th/8th grade, so 1986 or so? - I feel like I was present for sort of...the end of a "golden age" in car design, when Ferraris and Porsches were still little, cars were analog, you could look at a car and know what make it was, etc., and design mattered A LOT, like when the Testarossa came out and it knocked everybody's socks off. Do modern cars do that today anymore? Maybe it's my age, partly, but I kinda don't really think so, not the way they used to.

And yeah, I'm also pretty ok with that, for the same reasons you mentioned.

 

I contend that this needs to go on the list!
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AAGGHH!!!
Thank god cooler heads prevailed...........
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https://www.designboom.com/technology/porsche-cayenne-convertible-suv-20-year-08-05-2022/?utm_source=designboom+weekly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=one-off+open-top%3A+porsche+trial+built+a+cayenne+convertible+SUV

I would have had to turn in my badge......

 

Absolutely! One of the top 5 or 10.

 

Sometimes, logic and reason DO prevail. In spite of everyone's wishes.

 

Horacio gettin' his Loewy on a while back. Had/has watches, as well, in addition to tune cruisers ...

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There is a theory thats supported by some research, that all the best of anything creative is done at the early stages of whatever it is, but not the absolute very beginning.

Think about movies, music, video games, break them down into genres and see at what point the 'classics' came from. At the very beginning things are clunky, but then the artists find the pure forms in whatever it is, and once those are discovered, future artists have no choice but to keep trying to reinvent those forms, which will never be as good as the original purity of the early concepts.

I wish i had more time as i find the theory fascinating.

 

This is also true for individual artists. I had this discussion once with Smokey Robinson. Poets, song writers, and such peak early. His thought was you are more emotional when you are younger. Love is a new experience.

Authors however typically get better. Most authors I've known can't stand their early work.

 

Jerry, this is a very interesting topic for myself.
I like to recall what Bob Dylan said in an interview once about why he didn't record songs anymore. His answer was: ' I don't have anything left to say'

I've been doing what I do for 50+ years. Some of my family members and friends ask why I don't draw cars anymore. My response is akin to Mr. Dylan's answer. Not sure I have anything left to add to the conversation. Can I still do it? Of course. In the old analog way.
But do I want to do it? That's another matter.

There is a group of retired designers that yearly choose a brand and design a future version. Some of these designers should have stopped years ago based on their work IMO. But if it makes them happy, have at it.

Mick Jagger said when he was younger, he couldn't imagine himself singing' I Can't Get No Satisfaction', when he would turn 60. Here he is, close to 80 and still doing it!

 

I dont believe you dont have anything left to say. Maybe in auto design, but Im sure you are being creative in other ways.

I dont really have anything left to say as far as action figures. Ive done everything i ever set out to and more in that world. But Im now developing plush/stuffies and I find it a lot of fun since its a new category that Ive never dabbled in.

 

True, but he’s not writing any new tunes. True passion belongs to the young. Young, dumb, and full of cum.


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It’s funny how writers are the opposite. They get better with age.


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That's because you need life experience to write. That's why there are no child prodigies in writing. Art, music, sure. Never in writing.

 

Interesting. I’ve never thought about that way. I’m thinking you are right.


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Not my original thought either, unsurprisingly it comes from a writer (Fran Lebowitz) with a lot more life experience than me.