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| Jaguar F-type |
The visit by Ian was part of a series of talks by some of the world’s
leading designers held in the run up to the V&A at Dundee opening
in 2017. Not something I would normally be particularly interest in, but linked with a petrol head, this was a no brainer. I had never heard of Ian or his brother, but they are a very big deal in the car design world, albeit with different manufacturers.
His talk took us through his career from designing mirrors and switches at Ford to modernising the design of Jaguar, whilst respecting its history.
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| Ford Puma |
Ian was an entertaining and informative speaker -
knowledgeable not just about design but about the business
of communication. He is someone who cares about design, not in an
elitist way, but believes things; cars, buildings, bathrooms, should be
both functional and beautiful. Of course, working
for Jaguar his customers aren't looking at price, whilst those of us
further down the price line have poor design foisted on us, and are told
it's because we want cheapness above everything else. Do we?
Somehow, I
doubt Ian would agree that it has to
be one or the other. In a crowded marketplace, good design is
a differentiator not a sunk cost; something that producers have to wake
up to - especially as we begin to move away from a throw away society.
The fun takeaways from his talk:
- black is the cheapest car paint colour to produce and red the most expensive;
- never say something's "intuitive" to your CEO unless you want fired, and
- even if you've designed Aston Martins, it appears you still can't afford to own one.
Photos from Flickr:
Jaguar: usf1fan2
Puma - http://www.flickr.com/photos/lutzifer/4442026174
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