We spent a fine afternoon at the Angel pub in Rotherhithe, London on Friday, talking with one of our favourite design commentators - Drew Smith, aka @drewpasmith on Twitter, who edits the DownsideUpDesign blog. The conversation was, in several ways, atomic.
While in the 1950s and 60s cars stayed in tune with their age - the space rocket you could afford to buy - Drew argues that the auto industry has failed to connect with the digital age.
We talk too about the role that notions of ownership play, and how, as a result of social networking, they are perhaps starting to dissolve. Will digital networks and services fundamentally change how a new generation views cars? Can anyone harness this?
Mark Charmer talks with Drew Smith and Joseph Simpson. Angel at Rotherhithe, London, 29 May 2009.
The film Objectified takes a behind-the-scenes looks at the everyday objects that dominate our lives – providing rarely seen insight and interviews with the people who brought them in to the world. The film is a primer. It’s the sort of thing that every would-be designer and student should watch before embarking on a career in the profession – because although it’s wrapped in a rich layer of cinematic lovely-ness, it also hints at the sheer blood, sweat and compromise that sits behind every industrially designed product that surrounds us today.
Sitting and listening to relatively secretive people – like Jonathan Ive at Apple, talk about their products, and their own design philosophy is enjoyable whether you’re in the profession, or simply an interested observer – the products provide a lynch pin around which everyone can engage.
Objectified didn’t start life as a book, but one suspects that from the research and interviews conducted here, and on the video cutting-room floor, lies a much more interesting, in depth piece that would make a cracking book. Indeed, anyone already working in the profession may find a good book on design (I recommend Bill Moggridge’s Designing Interactions) a more insightful way to spend time and learn new things. This isn’t to say that the film is without merits, merely that the viewer is left wanting to find out more.
The first half of the film is largely concerned with the way things come into being, and what actually represents good design. It’s the sort of information that most are probably already aware of – designer’s sketching, thinking, prototyping, the mass production process. It’s quite compelling to watch – because it’s filmed in a sweet way and the designers provide good sound bites – but doesn’t really tell us anything new.
Above: a trailer for Objectified
Where the film gets both more interesting, but also more frustrating, is in its second half. Here it moves away from the basic building blocks of design, and on to some of the issues facing the world today. As one might expect, sustainability is brought up – and one gets a profound sense from guys like the founders of IDEO of how the issue has come from nowhere, to be top priority, within just a few decades. The most pertinent comment that stemmed from this was a question about how designers might challenge an oft-unmentioned fundamental behind design, which involves building obsolescence into products in order to create more and more crap, which the ten percent of the world’s population who already have way too much crap already, will go out and buy. It was pleasing that this led into a discussion about designing things that improve with age, and discussion of cradle-to-cradle design processes.
Yet I say the film frustrates, because points like this aren’t explored in enough depth. Perhaps this is the design nerd talking, but if we’re considering the future of the design of things, then the critical issues were only scratched at, without ever penetrating below the surface.
The perspective on how digital interaction and the microchip has the power to change the form of products – but how it doesn’t appear to be doing so in many cases (cameras as the example) – was thought provoking. Chris Bangle once again talked about the importance of the product as a personal avatar – asking the question of what the generation growing up today truly wants from its products. He wondered out loud as to whether it would be a service-based function, or a form-based desire.
I kept trying to work out who the film was aimed at. Its makers appear to be trying to walk a fine line between appealing to a mass, non-designer audience, and providing brain food for those already in the profession. By a hair’s width they get away with it, because overall it’s an appealing watch, and to a designer, much of what goes unsaid here is the interesting, thought-provoking part.
The burning issue is not simply how designers use their skills to make the world a better place (which is what everyone sets out to do, right?). But how they actually break out from within the secretive walls of the studio, to go and really see and understand what’s happening in real people’s lives in the real world, involving them in the design process along the way. At present, certain design disciplines (I’m looking especially at you, automotive world) do this extremely badly. As one of the designers in the film suggested, sometimes the most innovative, clever designs, aren’t designed at all. They’re just elegant, impromptu solutions that someone with no formal training has created to solve a specific problem. Objectified reminds us that we would all do well to remember that.
Joseph Simpson watched Objectifed at The Barbican Cinema in London on 26th May 2009 - you can find out where more showings will be taking place, around the World, at the Objectified website, here.
Bill Ford with his great grandfather's most famous creation
Bill Ford is a man on a mission. He’s currently championing the idea of raising gas taxes, something that just a few years ago would have been unthinkable for a car company boss to say. But we live in changed times. Chrysler is in bankruptcy protection, with GM perhaps shortly to follow, but Ford's balance sheet isn’t entirely rosy either with a net loss of $1.4Bn in the last quarter, and sales off 30 percent. Scarier still, Porsche (most profitable car company in the world by reputation, trying to swallow – now merge with, VW) reportedly came close to bankruptcy for three days in March (schadenfreude anyone?).
So why does Bill Ford think these are exciting times to be in the auto industry? Because what he has talked about for years – big and scary stuff, namely change – is now happening. Bill (Ford) is the guy who set Ford (Motor Company) on the path towards a more sustainable future. Doing things like hiring 'eco architect' William McDonough to rebuild the Rouge site was the start. He oversaw the hiring of Alan Mulally as CEO – a man from outside the auto industry, who had overseen the most radical restructuring of an industry’s development process (Boeing) that had been seen for 50 years. And now, the assembled team at Ford are bringing you the all-conquering Fiesta, a Fusion hybrid which out hybrids the Japanese, a real Taurus and the next euro-Focus, which you just know is going to be top of its class. Ford has a line of products people want. What it’s done, doing and thinking about is strong enough to get hard-bitten journalists like Jean Jennings – editor-in-chief of Automobile Magazine – talking about the firm like this:
But more than that – signs are even there that Ford’s daring to stick its head up above the gun turret and have a think about scary future concepts like car sharing, high-speed rail and mega cities. To which we say: get on with it guys!
The mood of optimism in Dearborn is palpable, but Ford must be careful not to appear smug. It is likely to benefit from the current difficulties its neighbours from across town are experiencing. Spend some time online and you might have noticed the brand throwing its weight around too. Ford recently ranked first among automotive brands in terms of Internet buzz. That’s thanks to campaigns like Fiesta Movement; and people like Scott Monty – who you’ll find here, there and everywhere in the world of automotive social media; not to mention them letting some weird guys from the UK in to interview top Sustainability and Design brass.
Ford's innovative 'Smartgauge' display screen debuted in the Fusion Hybrid - which Jean Jennings talks about in the video above
The path ahead is fraught with pitfalls. Having supported auto bailouts until now, John Fleming – Ford of Europe’s chairman – became a dissenting voice last week, suggesting that nationalistic bailouts to Europe’s other car makers (think French) were putting the company’s European arm at a competitive disadvantage. What’s more, few are convinced Americans want small cars, and building hybrid and electric vehicles is hellishly expensive. Compounding this is that if gas stays sub $2/gallon, no one’s buying small, and no one’s buying eco – which could prove problematic. No wonder Bill wants increased gas taxes. And while Ford and Toyota pursue ‘top-up’ plug in hybrids and pure electric vehicles, the Chevy Volt might still prove to be the ideal third way. Ford has a five-powertrain future strategy, covering petrol, diesel, hybrid, plug-in and pure EV - which tries to cover all possible bases - but it’s going to be hugely expensive to develop all of them well, especially considering uber-stringent diesel emission regulations, and the fact that you need different cell chemistries for hybrids, plug-ins and pure ev batteries.
One ace up Ford’s sleeve? Electric delivery. We launched our project on this last week, because we think it’s one of the biggest ‘win’ areas in transportation today. While everyone gets hung up on moving people around, it’s goodslogistics and delivery which presents arguably a bigger problem – and a greater opportunity - right now. Clearly someone at Ford has realised this, and the electric version of the Transit Connect delivery truck will be arriving shortly, and we’ll be following it every step of the way to launch and beyond.
Risky Ford’s path may be, but the auto industry’s going to hell in a hand-cart right now, so someone has to stick their neck out. Bill Ford appears to have got a taste for doing that, which is why he’s enjoying the ride. He clearly recognises the need for industry and regulators to work together, and understands the benefit in Ford sharing some of what it’s learnt so far (green roofed factories) and sharing risk in tomorrow's future strategies (city and electric power company partnerships). So 101 years after his great grandfather pretty much invented the auto industry, could Bill Ford re-emerge as ambassador and mouth piece for not only Ford - but the wider industry's future? Stranger things have happened.
Posted by Joseph Simpson on 26th May 2009
Images: Bill Ford: Ford media Others: Movement Design Bureau
Disclosure: Ford is sponsoring The Movement Design Bureau's design research work in 2009
The E-class. It symbolises everything at the core of the Mercedes brand. The latest model, 'soft launched' at the Detroit Auto Show earlier this year, then properly unveiled together with its coupe twin in Geneva, is hugely important for the three-pointed star, and is it's most technologically advanced iteration ever. Its design, however, has been something of a moot point up until now. But having spent some time with the car recently, DownsideupDesigner - Drew Smith, gave the car a thorough once over from a design perspective. His thoughts are well worth reading... over to Drew...
News broke over the weekend that London Mayor (and big cycling advocate) Boris Johnson, was almost killed in a bizarre cycling incident while out 'recceing' cycle routes. Watch the video for what is quite simply a freakish chain of events. While what Boris endured could hardly be described as an every day occurrence, London cyclists will be familiar with the dangers the Mayor was in.
The video is proof, it it was needed, that London still has some way to go before it meets his desire to be a truly great 'cycling city'. You'll notice that, along with the parked cars narrowing the flow, the truck itself hits a speed cushion, which actually triggers its rear door to swing open. London has for some years been taking the obstacle-course approach to pathway design - speed cushions, width restrictors, bollards and more. It's debatable whether these make things safer for cyclists, when really the issue is combining bikes with much larger vehicles.
Perhaps the silver lining is that this incident will be permanently imprinted in Boris's head now. Despite his claims that "London's a great cycling city" it's not. Spend ten minutes in a Dutch city and the reality dawns. Cyclists here must share lanes with London's huge buses and the cycle route network is largely an apologetic, indirect, network of side roads and badly laid out pavement alterations. In the Netherlands, the cyclist rules above all others - pedestrians, cars and trucks all cede to the bicycle. In the UK we pretend that the pedestrian has priority, but the reality is, it's always the car - or truck. If there's a spark that will mean London gets real green pathways - clear streets that are only for use by bikes and perhaps the odd other vehicle, this might be the moment that triggered it...
Fleet vehicle buyers can spend the time to understand the bottom line benefits - environmental and financial - for making the electric vehicle switch in a way that ordinary car buyers cannot always do, making fleet buyers able to switch to new electric vehicle options more easily than ordinary car drivers.
Our new project - Electric Delivery - seeks to understand the commercial electric vehicle market in real detail: over the next six months we will talk to vehicle manufacturers, fleet managers, drivers, customers, and everybody else involved in making real electric vehicles work.
That's for tomorrow. Electric Deliveryis about documenting the progress of the working electric vehicle today. White vans first.
See more of The Movement Design Bureau's coverage of future transport, strategy and vehicles - including several in depth interviews and analysis with Ford's top sustainability and design people, here.
Eric Britton has a plan. The man behind worldstreets.org, thinks a lot about the future of transport, and its connection to the overheating nature of the planet. His 'Plan B' vision is a radical twelve point blueprint that he thinks needs to be gone through to stop us cooking the planet - and is an interesting read.
In the green transport field right now, alongside electric cars, high-speed rail, and all the usual stuff that gets tossed around, perhaps the most intriguing idea concerns not the development of new products, but the networking together, and sharing of existing ones. Our cars, bicylces, space - how do we 'use' them more effectively? Take cars. Right now, we're fast-forwarding to a world of hybrids and EVs - but what's the point when we've still got single vehicle occupancy, one-person-to-one-car ownership, and one hour in every 24 utilisation rates?
The problem is that at the very heart of the notion of today's car is a concept built around ownership, freedom and the ability to cut yourself off in a little glass and steel box. Your car is a space that, right now, you probably only choose to 'share' with your friends and family. Sharing a car with a complete stranger (even if you're not both in it at the same time) is a relatively big leap to make, but it's something worth thinking about.
That's what Eric wants to look into in more depth. So in the video chat (above) we had with him a few weeks back, he described the idea of a conference - for want of a better word - to draw people together to talk about sharing within the bounds of future transportation. On the first day, Eric suggests transportation-related talk should be banned. Instead, the attendees - linked together with experts and interested parties across the world via video and internet, would seek to understand the human psychology behind sharing things. Then on the next days, this would be developed into the field of transportation applications. The big news? Eric doesn't think it will work without a woman at the helm...
Right now there's a lot of confusion about the kinds of activities that various future grid-powered vehicles will support. Today, everybody is used to the idea that you can drive as far as there are gas stations, and that there are gas stations all the way to the ends of the earth. Which isn't quite true, but close enough!
Electric vehicle manufacturers argue that the vast majority of travel isn't multi-day drives through the tundra, but within twenty or thirty miles of home. So plug-in-hybrid manufacturers hope you will make most of those trips mainly running off stored grid power. The fully electric vehicle manufacturers hope that by extending range further, to one or two hundred miles, you can make all your trips fully electric. It’s worth looking at this landscape in more detail. Shopping trips are short, local round trips of less than about 20 miles. Both plug in hybrids and full EVs have no problem with battery capacity for these short hops. Even unconventional options like compressed air cars can also handle these frequent, short trips with no problems. Commuting trips are longer, regular trips. A typical round trip is 40 to 60 miles, but could be up to 100 to 120 miles per day. A plug-in hybrid would probably switch to gasoline power for a part of many of these trips. A full EV might have enough battery capacity for the regular commute, depending on its length, but perhaps not enough for a side trip on top of a long commute. This is the territory where another thirty miles on the round trip can make a substantial difference. Buyers of first generation EVs, in a time when charging infrastructure away from home may be spotty, will have to count their miles carefully.
Traveling trips are weekend journeys, road trips, and the three-hour drive to your aunt. Right now, hybrids will make these trips on gasoline to all intents and purposes. A plug-in hybrid battery will help for the first fifty miles, but after that it will be operating primarily on gasoline. Electric vehicles have real problems at this distance, and there are several opinions about what to do at this range. For the moment it may be as simple as "rent a gas car for the weekend."
On stage at Daimler's museum, right now, Daimler and Tesla are
announcing a strategic alliance. Daimler plans to invest in Tesla -
quoting it paid "a double digit million-dollar sum for around a ten percent stake" in the silicon valley company. The two will go forward to co-operate, perhaps - we speculate - even on future models.
Talking
about how the two combine the best of 'future' and 'historical' auto
industry, what we found most interesting about what is being said, is
that Daimler - one of the most vehement pushers of Hydrogen technology
to date - has suddenly decided it needs to get on board the EV train.
Secondly,
that Daimler says an alliance with Tesla allows an electric-mobility
future to be got to market much faster, because of the small, flexible,
quick-responding nature of a small company like Tesla. Daimler further
announced that by 2012 it would begin mass production of Smart EVs -
and make them available to regular customers (at present, Daimler and
Tesla are co-operating on a limited test fleet of Smarts). Mercedes
will also help Tesla with future vehicle development, and even supply
components in the future, the company said. More soon...
[This piece first appeared on BritsOnGreen - The Movement Design Bureau's new dedicated strand for green news and insight]
Honda's Insight left the official Movement Design Bureau parking space (alright, the road outside the office) just over a week ago now, so having produced this light-hearted video review towards the end of its time with us, we've now had the chance to think about the car a little longer. Our lasting impression? A total bag of contradictions.
The Insight is at once both deeply impressive and yet slightly disappointing. Why? In short, because Honda has managed to wrap apparently smart, up-to-the-minute technology in a package that's both easy to live with, fine to drive and affordable for the average c-segment (think Golf, Focus) car buyer. Yet at the same time, that technology failed to deliver real world results in our hands, and out of a town environment, the Insight feels out of its depth - leaving us questioning the point of that slippery, low-drag 'kamm-tail' shape and the packaging compromises it has created elsewhere in the car.
We're going to explore some of the innovative thinking behind the Insight, and Honda's overall future strategy in a forthcoming blog, which will feature the interview we did with Honda UK's head of environment and government affairs - John Kingston - while we had the Insight.
But for now, we felt it worth delving a little bit more into the design and detail of the Insight - because this is an area which has raised much interest among others. Or to put it more bluntly, the fact that people think it looks like a Prius has raised plenty of eyebrows. So here are some key thoughts, details and features of the Insight in full on, close up technicolour...
Pretty? Not really, but hardly repulsive either. That high, chopped-off tail, and steeply sloping rear roofline combine to create what's known as a 'kamm-tail'. Invented (discovered?) by German design-engineer, Wunibald Kamm, it reduces the air turbulence thrown off the back of the car at speeds - which in turn reduces aerodynamic drag.
The key contributing factor to people saying that the Insight looks like a Prius is the silhouette and side profile of the glass house. This becomes particularly evident when you see the upper part of the car in isolation, as in the picture above, but some of the detail resolution...
