034 HowIt Works http://www.howitworksdaily.com
TECHNOLOGY
Whatstepsdocardesignersfollowto
transforma 2Dsketchintoa 3Dmodel?Q& A
We caught up with Ford Europe’s head of
design at its centre in Cologne to find out how
technology is shaping design processesAmko Leenarts
What research is
involved before
designing a car?
We have t wo t y pes
of research that we
do. One focuses on
what a customer
does on an everyday
basis. We send
designers out to live
with the customer
for a week to see how they live. Secondly, we
explore the fears and the dreams of the
customer. What do they love? Or what is it that
they would ever want to do, or become? Our
cognitive psychologist conducts a lot of this
research for us. A nd then from this we create a
design we think is appropriate.How is modern technology
transforming cars?
It all comes down to how technolog y interacts
with you, to enhance human experience. It's a
series of emotions that I always like to refer to
as a mov ie or a game.
It brings this idea of a car as a friend, a butler
or a working partner; that’s what is making it
so interesting. If you walk up to a car, some
technology allows it to recognise you. It starts
to communicate with you and then you feel
like it’s a relationship somehow.In what ways is future car design evolving?
I think the biggest change is humanisation of
technolog y – and that’s not just ‘A lexa’ being
nice. That's how objects are connected in a
way that you trust them. Driverless cars w ill
take a while because people don’t trust robots
yet. The moment that technolog y humanises
the relationship bet ween cars and humans, I
think we win. Today people are looking to the
future more than ever. That means the gap
bet ween customer expectation and what
we’re actually doing has never been bigger
than right now. While technolog y is evolv ing
quickly, the cars still take a couple of years to
make. This discrepanc y bet ween customer
expectation and what we can deliver puts us
on a continuous edge.1
Initialsketching
Forearlydesignideas,interior
designersusetheutensilstheyare
mostfamiliarwith:penandpaper.3
Finerdetail
Changinginkcolourandpen
thickness,thedesignerisabletouse
theinitialdesignasa stencilwhile
addingfurtherfeatures.4
Addingcolourandshadows
Blockcolourcanbeaddedwithinthe
linesdrawn.Addingshadowscreatesa sense
ofrealisminordertov isualisetheinterior.2
Sketchingonthetablet
Movingtotabletenableslayering,unlimited
editingandtheabilit ytoexperimentmore.HOW TO DESIGN
CARS IN VR