Chris Bangle On Current Car Design: “Real Need For A Change”
Click here to view the embedded video. Designer Chris Bangle, who was strongly identified with BMW’s brand image and some controversial styling decisions before leaving the company four years ago to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Vellum Venom: 1966 Datsun Sports 1600 (Fairlady)
Can you remember when sports cars were a staple of design studios? When these wee-beasties were vellum fodder like today’s CUVs? Me neither. But Europe once made these in spades, and–much like...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Vellum Venom: 1970 Dodge Charger RT-SE
My departure from the cloistered world of automotive design was anything but pleasant: leaving the College for Creative Studies scarred changed me, possibly ensuring the inability to conform to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Vellum Venom Vignette: Art and Design at The 24 Hours of LeMons 2013
My worst moment at the College for Creative Studies was during Portfolio Review: a presentation of one’s body of work since the beginning of the semester. So it comes as no surprise that my favorite...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Ford Fusion Rides Coastal Wave To Sales Success
From the neon-drenched beaches of Miami and the hipster enclaves in New York, to the high-tech castles in San Francisco and the studio lots of Hollywood, the Ford Fusion is experiencing a coastal...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Vellum Venom: 2013 Dodge Charger SRT
@willstpierre tweets: @SajeevMehta Art history teacher talked about using vellum today. Nobody else knew what it was #bringbackvellumvenom While Ford and GM pissed away decades of heritage for...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Vellum Venom: MINI Cooper Hardtop (2012)
The end of the year, the end of an era for a famous British Marque. Let’s get crackin’ before the ink on the vellum dries for the (all new) 2014 model. Everyone knows this face, it’s Brand...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Vellum Venom Vignette: 2015 Camry Regression Analysis
As expected, TTAC’s Best and Brightest called it: the 2015 Camry has Chernobyl-grade DLO FAIL. Or maybe that’s heavily tinted glass? I consider myself lucky I’m not attending the NYIAS, this would...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Eyes On Design Announces Aliterative Show: Mustangs, Maseratis, Mass Market,...
The Eyes On Design car show, held every Father’s Day on the grounds of the Eleanor and Edsel Ford estate in Grosse Pointe Shores, just north of Detroit, is a unique event. While many, perhaps most, of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Vellum Venom: 2013 Lincoln MKZ
Car Design college was a wake-up call for this auto-obsessed kid: it festered with two-faced people. There are bastard-coated souls smiling to your face, stabbing you in the back during Portfolio...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Vellum Venom: Honda N600
What’s the difference between car design and styling? My stint at CCS in Detroit makes me think styling is the shallow, frilly, cosmetic side of car design. Freshman designers are (were?) trained to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Vellum Venom Vignette: Cadillac’s SEAT In Ibiza
One interesting thing about living on-campus at CCS was the precious little available to purchase within walking distance. Such is the life of a car-less design student in Metro Detroit. That’s until...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Vellum Venom: 2014 Mitsubishi Mirage ES
Design School forces considerations outside of a student’s artistic comfort zone: a unique price, demographic, or geography for starters. Just don’t present a pragmatic design based in sociocultural...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Vellum Venom Vignette: My Brother’s Keeper
Reader Request: discuss the Lincoln Mark VIII, preferably the second generation’s modest restyle. He likely didn’t care for my reply, as it follows my disapproval of the Original Testarossa versus...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Vellum Venom Vignette: 2015 Camry Regression Analysis (Part II)
I was wrong about the 2015 Camry: it’s a handsome family sedan. But not for us, for the Russians. This. This is how you mildly refresh an existing model. Yes, Toyota made a uniquely ugly 2015...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Vellum Venom Vignette: Less Is More with In Car Entertainment
p0wnage. (photo courtesy: Facebook.com) I’ve been accused of Automotive Hipsterism for bragging about my bare bones Ford truck instead of aspiring to expensive vehicles. It used to be different, back...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Vellum Venom Vignette: The Brazil Vacation, Part I
This was my first vacation in, like, ever. And it was supposed to be a break from cars. No driving, wrenching, writing, photographing! Stop looking at that Ford Versailles, don’t take a photo of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Vellum Venom Vignette: The Brazil Vacation, Part III
A Fashionable Savior for the Budget Minded? Rio is full of beauty: beaches, gorgeous people on said beaches, delicious caipirinhas served beachside and…wait for it…a healthy alternative to DLO FAIL....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Vellum Venom Vignette: Peak Emblem
This just happened. (photo courtesy: Ram) Most design students don’t consider Peak Oil in their studies, but The Reckoning was on my reading list back then. While Peak Oil is tangentially connected...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Volkswagen Bringing Aggressive Crossover Styling To USDM Market
Feeling its style isn’t metal as it could be, Volkswagen is unleashing a more aggressive language for its upcoming compact and midsize crossovers. Automotive News reports the crossovers’ styling will...
View Article