50 posts tagged “design”

I enjoy these behind-the-scenes design stories a lot, and check out the video of the designer drawing the new BMW 7-series (F01). From Lucire.

Not the best shots since they are off a cell but the better ones are on my 35 mm.

Audi A5 grille

2 comments

Audi A5 rear

For some reason, I found the Buick Park Avenues of interest on Autocade today.

Buick Park Avenue (C-body). 1991–6 (prod. unknown). F/F, 3791 cm³ (V6 OHV). Attractive, roomy Park Avenue (the Electra tag disappeared), allegedly inspired by Park Avenue Essence show car of 1989. Characterized by darkened A-pillar. Supercharged Ultra model from 1992, but even base models had good performance. Thirsty, with sub-par steering and handling on base model. Not quite the top model, as Buick Roadmaster held that title for the early 1990s.

Buick Park Avenue (C-body). 1997–2005 (prod. unknown). 4-door sedan. F/F, 3791 cm³ (V6 OHV). Revised Park Avenue, roughly the same size as Buick LeSabre; now Buick’s range-topper in US. Sold on quality image and above-average ride; not a particularly inspired handler. Ultra models had thirsty supercharged V6. Portholes (Ventiports) returned for Ultra for 2003 model year. Final 3,000 called Special Edition.

Buick Park Avenue (WM). 2007 to date (prod. unknown). 4-door sedan. F/R, 2792, 3564 cm³ (V6 DOHC). Chinese-assembled version of Holden Statesman (WM), but with visual differences such as visually large grille, different bumpers, and no indicators and vents in wings aft of the front wheels. Smaller Australian-built 2·8-litre unit related to one from Cadillac CTS available on Chinese edition, along with 3·6 from Holden Commodore (VE). Otherwise mechanically similar to Statesman.

I am a sucker for the “could have been” car stories, so stumbling across American designer Herb Grasse’s site was a real bonus today.
   Grasse was associate designer on the original Adam West Batmobile but he worked on many production cars, too, including the original Dodge Challenger, the XD Ford Falcon, the original Ford Laser of 1980, and the second-generation Ford Telstar. He was chief designer at Nissan Australia before its demise.
   Start on Herb’s production cars’ page and link from there—a very fascinating portfolio. It shows the XD Falcon was far more Granada-like at drawing stage, and that the Mazda Familia origins of the Ford Laser were far more obvious in earlier sketches. The first Telstar had shades of the Ford Taurus years before that model’s launch, while a clay for the second Telstar showed strong EA26 Falcon influences.

I think I am doing this right, courtesy of the lovely Pam (thank you!) and her wonderful blog (check out her photography).

 
   I woke up a bit ’fluey today (again) so rather than spend too much time in front of the screen, I am going to be lazy and paste the explanation from Pam’s blog:

For those unaware this is the Arte y pico award and here are the rules:
   1. Pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also for contributing to the blogging community, no matter what language.
   2. Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog.
   3. Each award winner (upon acceptance) should show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award.
   4. Link to the Arte y pico blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award.
   5. Show these rules.

   I nominate the following:

• Nick Tomlinson at Mr Resourceful;
• Catherine Morley at Designers Who Blog;
• Khoi Vin at Subtraction—I don’t know Khoi at all but I love his design;
• Stefan Engeseth at Detective Marketing;
• various authors of Janus Thinking.

   Most of these blogs come from my workspace, the exception being Nick’s (unless he offers me a job as the head of SHADO). 

Show us your favourite font.
Submitted by [this is connie].

You mean favourite typeface. There is a difference (font implies type style and point size).
   Believe it or not, it’s not one from my own company’s range. I have always liked Helvetica and the Swiss school of design, and decided to improve on the design for Lucire. The typeface is called, predictably, Lucire. A 2006 advertisement follows (it’s the headline typeface).

The above was a re-type again. Why is Vox shutting down when I click ‘Save’?

A few new entries on Autocade reminded me of just how fashionable this Paolo Martin–Pininfarina style was 30-plus years ago.

Fiat 130. 1969–77 (prod. 15,093 saloon, 4,294 coupé). 2-door coupé, 4-door saloon. F/R, 2866, 3235 cm³ (V6 OHV). Biggest modern Fiat, in a market sector the marque has not contested since. Saloon launched 1969 with four-wheel independent suspension and all-round disc brakes, modern for its time. V6 designed by ex-Ferrari Aurelio Lampredi. Engine enlarged 1971, the same year Pininfarina-designed and built Coupé announced. Rust problems, thanks to Russian steel used on doors. Three Maremma estate prototypes built, one used by Fiat boss Gianni Agnelli; one Opera saloon and one Familiare estate also built. Never directly replaced: the smaller 132 became Fiat’s flagship after demise of the 130 berline; Coupé built till 1977. Effectively replaced by Lancia Gamma in Fiat’s premium-brand range.
   Manufacturing locations: Grugliasco, Italy; Rivalta, Italy.

Rolls-Royce Camargue. 1975–86 (prod. 534). 2-door coupé. F/R, 6750 cm³ (V8 OHV). Called Project Delta internally. Top-of-the-line Rolls-Royce, with Pininfarina styling by Paolo Martin and Silver Shadow platform. Launch delayed due to financial difficulties at Rolls-Royce, sharing a look with Fiat 130 Coupé from the same styling house that had launched some years before. Ostentatious and most expensive production car at the time, considered stylish during its run. First post-war Rolls-Royce to be designed out-of-house. Designed to metric dimensions with a slight seven-degree slant to the grille. First car to offer split-level climate control.
   Manufacturing location: Crewe, Cheshire, England.

Peugeot 604. 1975–85 (prod. 153,252 sold). 4-door saloon. F/R, 2304, 2498 cm³ diesel (4 cyl. OHV), 2664, 2849 cm³ petrol (V6 OHC). Squared-off flagship for Peugeot, with 1970s Pininfarina styling similar to that of Fiat 130 Coupé and Rolls-Royce Camargue (the 604 is usually credited to Paolo Martin, but is more likely the work of Aldo Brovarone). Launched in the wake of 1973 fuel crisis, so not very successful. Favoured for official usage in France, but not popular in export markets with quality concerns. First mass-produced turbodiesel car with 2304 cm³ engine. Forgettable Talbot Tagora spun off from 604 parts in 1980. Stretched landaulet model by Henri Chapron among the carrossier’s last cars.

[Cross-posted] This has been official for a while (or so I think—not that I ever heard what the Electoral Commission thought, but I did see it on its website). However, I wanted the party to approve the news first before sharing it with you all. The following is the overseas release which was rewritten from the one sent to domestic newsmedia. One that includes a mention of the Bush–Cheney campaign of 2004 was sent to US media.

JY&A Consulting revamps logo for New Zealand’s Alliance Party

Wellington, May 9 (JY&A Media) New Zealand political party, the Alliance, is looking more modern and relevant, thanks to its new logo by JY&A Consulting (http://jya.net/consulting).
   Devised by JY&A Consulting’s Jack Yan, the new logo signifies a new beginning for the democratic socialist political party.
   Mr Yan says that he has been a keen observer of general elections in the UK, US and New Zealand since the 1980s and that played a part in his team’s design.
   He says the Conservatives in 1983, Labour in the UK in 1997 and 2002 and Labour in New Zealand in 1999 and 2003 had certain commonalties in their campaigns, centring around typography.
   He also said that in those years, the party’s name was important, not the symbol—hence the traditional Labour rose was not present on that party’s election materials in 1997 and 2002.
   By abandoning the old A symbol of the Alliance and concentrating on the word, Mr Yan says that the party looks more professional and ready.
   The Alliance has contested every General Election in New Zealand since 1993. However, due to party changes it is trying to rebuild itself for the country’s General Election later this year.
   ‘We have two major parties in New Zealand that vote pretty much the same on all issues,’ says Mr Yan, ‘and minor parties that get ignored because of a lack of visibility. I wanted to change that. Why should minor parties be laboured with second-rate brands?’
   The logo is based around the Frutiger typeface and its lettering is predominantly in red, with a red dot over the i in Alliance to signify its environmental awareness.
   He says the letter i also shows the humanizing aspect of the party.
   ‘As a piece of design I think it looks more cohesive than the committee-led logos of National and Labour,’ he says, criticizing the major two parties in New Zealand.
   ‘I was given a lot of freedom, which is a good sign of how the party leadership handles matters. It clearly believes in trusting the right people.’
   As well as heading JY&A Consulting’s parent, Jack Yan & Associates, Mr Yan co-wrote Beyond Branding in 2003 and is a director of the Medinge Group, a branding think-tank based in Sweden.
   In October 2007 he was a keynote speaker for the Alliance Party at its annual conference.

[Cross-posted] The Office of Government Commerce, part of HM Treasury in the UK, unveiled its new logo, which cost British taxpayers £14,000.

And it didn’t take long after the unveiling for employees to see the problem:

   I am sure it is possible for all of us to be caught out from time to time, because we didn’t study all the angles (ahem) to a problem.
   But one principle I do abide by in logo development is internal review—not just to see if the client can identify problems, but to cover our own rear ends.
   The Daily Telegraph reports that staff have removed items with the logo and expects a rush on to Ebay.
   It states, ‘The logo … was intended to signify a bold commitment to the body’s aim of “improving value for money by driving up standards and capability in procurement”.’
   That sounds like a bunch of wank, even if I didn’t see the logo—though one branding professional thinks, as quoted in the Telegraph, ‘They’re going to get more column inches than they could ever have expected before. If I were them, I would be pretty pleased.’
   Please, let’s not bring inches into this.