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Book club for car designers: book 1
It has been at least 30 years since I first became interested in car design. My childhood obsessions swerved towards cars early, but then learning about how they came to exist was harder. Occasional design articles in Car Magazine helped educate me, and around the same time I wrote a letter to Rover Design –…
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BMW iX Sketch vs Production.
Remember when designers had to draw a side view over a package? The actual production vehicle package? It seems designers no longer do this. Obviously at sketch phase, character is key- but eventually… surely…. one MUST draw the same design over a package? This is what I was taught, but I guess design schools stopped,…
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e(M)barrassing or i(M)pressive?
When the new BMW M3 and M4 were announced it sent car Twitter into commentary not seen since the days of Bangle Butts. We all know about those massive upright grilles, but those are really not the controversial part of the design. My first instinct was that this felt like a turning point in German…
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Ultimate styling
Spotted in my work car park- in yellow, is my own recent acquisition. A Coupé Fiat, a car that inspired me to want a career in car design. I read in Car Magazine the story of it’s design in 1993, and how Chris Bangle wrestled with this pure sculptural and radical artistic shape (over humble…
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Practical cars. Rationalism, or not.
Consumerism and useless product design… This blog is titled autoSTYLING for a reason. I couldn’t get a car design URL…. but seriously it is important that the word styling was used. I am a design lecturer, but when I started this blog I just wanted to talk about cars as a passionate hobby and only…
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Lahti Classic Car Show 2019
I just found that I uploaded my photos from last years Classic Car Show (here in Lahti, Finland) to my blog, but never shared them. Because of the cancellation this year it seems appropriate to remember this show. I’ll just create a gallery here for you all to browse. There was a great display from…
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10 car design leaders
I was asked my opinions on some current leaders in the world of car design. I actually checked up a little of each designers background, and decided to repeat my thoughts here for this blog. Mostly my educated guess about each person, with some anecdotal evidence. I also know a little more than I am…
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Cyberuckus
Wired Magazine – CYBERTRUCK news article Now that the hype, the hoopla, the circus, etc has died down… (do you see why Tesla did it?) what do you all think of the Tesla Cybertruck? WIRED Magazine called me on the day of the reveal, hours after seeing it- I had to give some kind of…
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2019 BMW 1-Series
The New BMW 1 series is Front Wheel Drive. Why does this matter? It does not. Potential purchasers of this car do not know that the current 1er is RWD. They have requested more luggage space. BMW has responded. BMW is working in user-centric design methodology. This is correct practice for any profit chasing business,…
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#DesignTop5 4-door saloons
Thanks to a car designer named Matteo Licata I wanted to expand on another Twitter discussion. At this link Matteo complied a nice write up of his Top 5 saloon cars (with 4 doors). Since the first day I saw the Rover SD1 that my father bought from our neighbour (in 1987?) I have always preferred…
thoughts on automotive design 