Have a great Holiday everybody!!! Keep an eye out for Santa’s new sleigh….
Category : Concept Car, Fetishing, Sketch P*rn
Reminder: There’s still time to order your 2011 Rendered Hope charity car design calendar before it is no longer available. Order now, and help make this a great holiday season for some great kids who deserve it!
If you, like me, always get asked how to draw a car, bike, horse, dinosaur, elderly war veteran, or anything else then you’ll appreciate the above image.
Two brilliant steps.
[Thanks, JP!]
Category : Big 3, Business, Fetishing, Production Car
Getting a name right for a product is a crucial detail for effective marketing. At least I think so, but maybe it isn’t. Chevrolet just announced that the next Aveo will be called Sonic. Maybe I am wrong but that doesn’t seem to be a move in the right direction. I agree the Aveo name was non-repairable but c’mon, Sonic?
Small cars are trying to make a come back by creating a perception that they are not cheap little econo boxes. When you hear the word Sonic you immediately think of two things…look above. Cheap fast food and a game character targeted to six year olds does not paint a good image for someone coming out of college and ready to build their life up. Maybe high schoolers will like it since they work there, but Sonic does not pay enough for them to actually buy the car.
I guess if the price is right and the fuel economy is there people will still buy it regardless. But I don’t see many buyers aspiring to say Hey, Check out my Sonic…..
Category : Concept Car, Crit, Design, Fetishing, Holiday Gift Guide, Sketch P*rn, Student Work
So we are little late this year but the calendar is ready to go. The Rendered Hope Charity Calendar has the usual mix of concept car, hot rod, motorcycle, race car and fine art all wrapped up into 12 months of eye candy. Just like the past 2 years all the profits will go toward buying toys for the boys and girls at the Detroit Children’s Hospital. This will be a limited sale so act fast to make sure you get one (or many) in time. Take a look through the samples below and continue to the CDf store to buy. A huge thanks goes out to all the designers and artist who contributed this year.
Category : Big 3, Crit, Fetishing, Production Car
Polishing a Turd is a common expression in design school. This happens when you try and do a hot rendering over a horrible drawing. You can’t cover up a bad structure with a pretty covering. I think everyone will agree the Jeep Compass is a turd of a design. Well Jeep has been doing some polishing. This new refresh is a much needed improvment, but there is still a ways to go…
As if they weren’t already blinded by our previous incompetent ramblings, the team behind the RoundAbout Show somehow decided to have us on their program… again!
This week, we spoke Dali joined the fray, speaking to the design of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s Peugeot, Gran Turismo 5, and naked men having intercourse with vehicles.
Yup, grab a bottle for this one.
Featuring: Dalibor Dimovski, Steven Ewing, Jeffrey Ross, Michelle Naranjo, Eric Trytko, Craig Cole and Ben Sanders
(Thanks for having us on, guys!)
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Link: RoAb Episode 61
Category : Business, Concept Car, Design, Fetishing, Sketch P*rn, Websites
Well this will brighten your Monday. Four car designers have opened up their own studio called Hydra Design Labs, a design consultancy. The designers have contributed to more than 25 show cars and over 20 production vehicles. Their work varies greatly in the transportation sector showing concept cars, hot rods, motorcycles and video game autos. Hydra Design Labs is a full service consultancy providing everything you would need to create a product.
If you don’t need any work done then still be sure to check out their website to view the amazing amount of Sketch P*rn loaded on the site. If you need any rendering reference they have it all. Skills cover everything from pencil sketches to highly polished renderings. Click after the jump to see an assortment of images and the formal press release.
Category : Design, Fetishing, Holiday Gift Guide, Product Design
MB&F creates some amazing timepieces. Designer’s are always known to have some interesting hardware on their wrist, but I have never seen anything this awesome. The inspiration behind this piece is from the designer Maximilian Büsser’s childhood passion for assembling model plane kits. This sculpture would look right at home with your arm hanging out the window of a mid 50′s Chevy or even next to the huge center vents of a Jaguar XJ. This is truly a product that is sure to inspire and make its way onto a few designers image boards. And you may ask, what is a horological machine?
Horological Machines are as much, if not more, art and sculpture as they are micro-engineering: they are machines which tell the time rather than machines to tell the time.
By designing and constructing three-dimensional machines rather than wristwatches, MB&F are able to break free of the constraints imposed by traditional horology and create kinetic art.
Check out the MB&F site for other works of art and hit the jump for more images.
Developing a vehicle is no easy task. Anyone who has been a part of the development cycle and they are amazed that all the pieces and parts actually fit together and are reliable for 10+ years. It truly is an incredible undertaking. As for the creative process the easiest part is sometimes nailing the sketch to develop a new car. The more difficult and longer process is developing that sketch into a feasible and working automobile. A designer will sketch the concept and it is then the job of the design manager to execute the theme. It goes up from there with the design director keeping tabs on the manager and the VP looking after the director. You can see how the differing aesthetic taste can derail the theme direction. Case in point, the Chrysler Sebring (do you think a designer actually wanted the car to look like that?). Management also has input flanking from every side. Product planning, marketing, engineering, etc. all have their own agendas that often do not align with design.
Luciano Bove is a design manager a Renault in France. His blog Car Design Education Tips posted some tips and info on design management. He speaks of some key attributes which are relevant to any designer in the corporate world. Check it out below,
The automotive design process is something complicated believe me. From sketches to production there are almost 4 years of activities, brainstorming – ideas selections – sketching evolutions – early presentations to select ideas -product planning meetings – marketing – first architecture product plans – virtual reality step – model making – master models – technical meetings – suppliers meetings – follow up parts – prototyping – modifications and up dates follow up – at so on until production!