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Rally Car for Abramov R&Ddiagram
Above: a folding car for CityTransformer
On the right: Hardened tablet for truck fleets for
Micronet
Headline photo: inside a 4X4 for Logic
unique requirements. The design
serves a number of issues. The
obvious issues like aesthetics or
ergonomics also appear in other
products. Although some of the
design challenges are common with
other consumer goods, they are
especially significant in car design.
The first challenge is seasonality, a
concept borrowed from the fashion
industry. In 1942, Alfred Sloan,
Head of Marketing and Sales in
General Motors, suggested that
every company in the Corporation
should come up with a new model
or design every year. The goal was
to encourage the consumers to
replace their cars more frequently
(until then the models were not
replaced for more than a decade).
Many of the smaller manufacturers
disappeared because of the new GM
norm, unable to meet the frequent
design changes.
The second challenge is the design
language. Nowadays most of
the consumer goods companies
strive to create a precise design
characterization and language, but
in car design it’s critical and of the
utmost importance. The design
language is managed zealously,
and its goal is positioning the car
from a marketing point of view,
and stirring expectations about
the car's "behavior" and even its
"social status." For example, the
BMW creates a feeling of a very
long engine compartment (by
pushing the front wheel to the edge
and flattening the nose). It also
integrates voluptuous lines that
divide the car and create sharp and
fast elements, like the headlights.
The goal is to relate to the BMW's
characterization as a strong and
wild but also a manageable car.
That's the company's "genetic
code." Audi is another example of
this category: it derives elements
from the industrial world, sharp
and distinct lines as well as an
expressive waistline. As in the BMW,
the goal is to project strength, but
also precision and restrained power.
That's Audi's genetic code.
The third challenge is the emotional
characterization.
With
this
characterization the companies
attract their clients and bond with
the drivers. Actually, the company
attempts to create a faithful tribe.
We’ve all heard of "the Alfa crowd" or
people "who will only drive a Toyota."
A lot of people use a car photo as
their computer background picture.
When did you last see a T-shirt with
a Phillips print or someone with a
toaster screen saver on their cell?
The emotional characterization is
part of the design, but it's focused on
the feeling the manufacturer wants
to evoke in the client (as opposed to
the actual feeling). Cars can feel like
sports cars and others less so, even
if they are in the same category
and have an identical or a close
performance package (for example,
the sportive Seat and its VW
sibling, the domesticated Skoda).
The emotional characterization is
a whole package that can be seen
in commercials, car races etc. In
design, it can be expressed in the
42 l New-Tech Magazine Europe