Auto design must tell a story
J Mays, Chief Creative Officer of FoMoCo, says designers must consider 5 must-jave elements when planning a new vehicle. The design should be a story of the brand and the customer.
His 5 points are:
1. The challenge starts with the customer. Ford Motor’s eight brands capture a broad range of car buyers, Mays said, from a pickup-driving Marlboro Man to James Bond in an Aston Martin.
"If you don’t know who your customer is, there isn’t much point in picking up a pencil or going on the computer to design," Mays said.
2. Next, figure out the meaning of the brand. "Every brand needs to have a promise," he said. For example, the Jaguar brand is simply about fast, beautiful cars, he said.
3. Tell a story with the car. Every story has a hero, Mays said, flashing a picture of the iconic Ford Mustang. And stories also have villains, he said, having some fun as he flashed a picture of the Chevrolet Camaro concept.
4. Choose the right platform for the vehicle. The platform determines the proper proportions for the vehicle exterior, said Mays. Both front- and rear-wheel-drive can work, he said. But he singled out rwd platforms as providing the right foundation for a vehicle with an aggressive stance.
Ford Motor is clearly exploring its RWD options with the Ford Interceptor and Lincoln MKR concepts from the Detroit auto show. But Mays was careful to note that he’s not signaling a decision to turn them into production vehicles.
5. Top off the vehicle with "that thing," which Mays also described as the secret sauce that surprises and delights customers. In the Ford Airstream concept from this year’s Detroit auto show, that was the lava lamp fireplace. The dashboard bud vase did the trick in the New Beetle, he said.
"It’s pretty straightforward: You’ve got to do all five," Mays said. "You’ve got to know who your customer is, you’ve got to know what the brand promise is, you’ve certainly got to know the story and the various ways to tell it.
"Put it all on a proper platform, shake that up with a little bit of ‘that thing,’ and I think you’re going to have, more times than not, a successful vehicle."
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