Car design is dead
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- Опубликовано: 18 фев 2023
- Car design is dead
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They took minimalism the wrong way and now it's blanknism.
Minimalism has always been the wrong way
Subjective.
Tesla, yes... that's why the feel like empty plastic boxes on the inside I think.
I think simplicity can definitely be beautiful, but I don't want to live in a world where there is no art to anything.
Depends on what kind of simplicity it is.
Most cars nowadays are overdesigned…
Not the best approach to be honest!
Indeed
@@Kev27RS I'd rather have an "overdesigned" car than one that had zero thought put into it.
@@dilfonicz Overdesigned mainly means “ugly“!
So, no thank you!
The best looking cars ever have a clean, simple design!
@@Kev27RSI disagree. The best car design is to be balance than being overdesigned that ended up ugly & being simplistic that also ended up emotionless, copycat, and bland.
Concept car in 2023:
- A total of two materials on the dashboard
- No door handles
- The steering wheel is a weird shape for some reason
- No glovebox, handles, switches
- Everything is a soft touch button
- Probably just 4 seats even though the car is extra bulky
-no soul put into desing
-no mirrors
Isn't this just the Cybertruck?
It's insane to me that as computer graphics have become more and more capable of mimicking real life; real life has instead moved towards looking like it was designed for 90's computer graphics.
100% stuff shouldn't be 90's 3d models,its minimalism taken too far,cars shouldn't be car models from the 90's with almost no texture
When Cyberpunk 2077 has better car designs than modern car brands. Seriously the cars in that look so interesting.
Project 401
I'm a 19 year old industrial design student and always wanted to be a car designer when I grew up. Seeing where the industry is headed, I'm not sure if I still want it.
That’s an even better reason to get into it. Be the change you want to see. Right now design departments are on a corporate leash, too scared to do anything provocative or maverick. Don’t let that be the way it stays forever!
@@TomYourmombadil That's the reason why I want to create my own car brand as well, because the market is heading to a direction that I don't like, and I want to change that, and if we want to change, we need to do this change! So that's why I want to create my own cars...
Got accepted to Art Center College of Design 👨🏻🎨. But I never thought the automotive companies would ever want make anything cool 😎. The suits 👔 always make poor decisions!
Go watch 🍿 Ford 🛻 vs Ferrari 🏎️. It’s pretty much like that. Corporate BS!
I'm a Autofan since I was a Kid! Cars allways amazed me, and I drew a lot of Cars on Paper and PC! There are still amazing Cars but the direction the Car Industry is heading is totally wrong! E Mobility is not the solution or the future! E-Fuels should be the solution! Since there ARE a lot of cars driving around and to propel them! As an Oldschool Car Fan I'm sad and disappointed about development in the Car Industry... I never wanted Fake Exhausts, Fake Air Cooling Intakes, Lane assist or other stupid driving assists, huge hilarious looking Screens on the dashboard, autonomous driving cars, Zombie EV cars totally without soul... Yes, I'm about to turn away from Cars too...😝
@@grayknight836 i dont think ford vs ferrari is a good example tho
We are being pushed into a gray and depressed world. Some of these things look nice at first, but when you get used to them, it's just gray squares and rectangles... And you don't feel good when only these are around you.
The also age poorly, grey becomes even more drab and lifeless and white doesn't stay clean. It looks very ugly after just a few years.
Yes this minimalist and grey/white style that’s showing up everywhere is annoying
I just returned from Portugal. Every building in Lisbon is unique, hand-carved rock, amazing detail. When my plane departed, I legit cried to be leaving such a beautiful city. Heading back to a faceless modern metropolis with flat walls and no character. Living in a city without art is a form of spiritual deprevation.
Beautifully put ❤ We can all do something to put that ethos into practice for ourselves and communities
Crazy the difference in architecture when you go from cities built off the back of Christianity and when you go back to a place like here in America, the lack of spiritual connection to god results in the box offices in the massive box skyscrapers next to the box stores and box apartments. And it’s depressing
Move to Florence 😂
I was in Portugal Lisbon last week, there are lots of new construction sides building the same soulless concrete slaps as everywhere else. But the old buildings are beautiful your right
@@milesmcmullin2053read a book ffs, sky daddy has nothing to do with why buildings in the USA are so bland
This is the same that happened when touchscreen technology entered into the mobile phone industry. Remember the 2000 - 2010 era when every phone was so different one to the other? We could actually compare the aesthetics and the creative aproach that give birth to the device. It was so cool.
That never last most people end up agreeing on a standard also a lot of those car systems were total junk
Basically, everything will become boring.
It has to be ultra aerodynamic for those EVs to make any sense. It’s a miracle humans have existed on this planet for all these years. Terrible decisions are being made that will cause more pollution than ever before.
@@markm0000 "it's a miracle". I really don't believe in the climate catastrophe that the alarmist media seem to portray. I am not really into politics all that much but this is what Donald Trump had to say about that and the leftist extremists who can't sleep at night because all they can think about is the environment. "They predicted an overpopulation crisis in the 60s, mass starvation in the 70s and an end of oil in the 90s". Anyways solid-state batteries will be available soon that will drastically improve range and reduce charging times so no compromises will be necessary. BMW says 2026 will be the year of the solid-state batteries.
@@markm0000 I don't understand why they have to be aerodynamic.. an aerodynamic design could also make an internal combustion car more efficient but they were not bothered to design them like that.
There is far more corruption than meets the eye.
@@bahaaebesati dont think EVs have the luxury of being inefficient in their design right now with the current cost and technology of batteries. You could stuff it full of batteries but then you end up with nearly a six figure car. You could just make it less aerodynamic but you might cut your range from by 50 miles. And people are already hesitant on paying $50k for a 250 mile car.
Manufacturers are gonna have to tow the line right now until battery technology improves or it becomes cheaper to produce.
Art and beauty is always a mirror of the mental state of society. After every rainy period, there comes sunshine....
Well said indeed. The problem is that this storm is picking up and quickly.
Did we have a rainy period in art like this before?! 🤔
I am sure, there will be sunshine, because real art is always inspired from a never drying dwell. Just my humble opinion. Humanity had other crises before...
@@staLkerhu we've had periods of dark, gloomy art. Never periods of BAD art, though.
@@staLkerhu It's been raining hard last decades in this world.
Every day, we get closer to making the low-res car an actual product.
Im from the future
The cyber truck is released
@@superior7387 lol, it's a disgrace
I was brought up on cars, am a designer and am in my 60s. Today we don't have car designers, we have car copiers dictated to by marketing departments under the control of car companies that clearly have no passion for cars. The industry seems to be infected by profiteers with no interest in cars. engineering or design. It's just depressing!
This is why as someone who’s 24 has a strong hatred for anything modern, it’s been the same crap since the 1990’s that’s just being rehashed over and over again. Harley Earl would probably give today’s car designers and stylists an absolute scolding if he saw how today’s cars looked, same with Virgil Exner, Elwood Engle, or Bill Mitchell.
This mirrors modern music. Copy and paste.
every car produced after 2000 is just the same 'crossover' garbage
Seeing where the car industry is headed I can’t wait until I can get my hands on a proper oldschool sports car to just drive around and enjoy the feeling
The only car I want is a hand built Caterham with that new 4 cyl LS engine.
This but with a Jaguar.
This but up to 997.2 for me
Saaame, 997.2 or 964 if I had the money
@@pjetrs I wouldn’t like maintaining a Porsche but I always loved the look of a 996 GT2 in speed yellow.
The more I see people make videos like this and explaining the human touch, the more I disconnect from minimalism and understand the art of life. Thank you for being part of a movement that appreciates a design that can be challenged
Well said. You eloquently put into words what many of us are feeling.
You pretty much said it perfectly. I've been feeling this way too, but I couldn't quite put into words why I feel so apathetic towards a lot of modern designs, from furniture to electronics.
fr
I think it's going to get worse before it gets better.
There will come a point where we're surrounded by giant box buildings and emotionless, single cut slabs of vehicles where people wake up and return to meaningful taste and style.
I think the problem with today's design choices is that they strive for efficiency. When you need to build millions of cars nowadays cost efficiency is key for companies, thus cheaper, faster manufacturable parts, simpler designs, also, less work to manufacture = less labor costs. Companies often forget the end customer when prioritizing profits.
I think people are attracted to things that are out of the norm. The minimalist design trend is on the rise because it stands out. However, as it grows in popularity it will eventually become normalized. People will then start looking for more personality in their products and the cycle will repeat.
i agree. similar how the jeans or idk track suit designs change ,from plain to riped and back. btw i like the video, but in many cases he choice bad examples. Cathedral and Office building, Mercedes 300 sl and tesla, he couldve chose a modern mercedes , and i can go on.
Its a cope, however designs that are just objectively attractive will be timeless
I never like the minimal shit to begin with tbh. Just comes off as a bunch of Phase 1 designs, then stopped there to me
Exactly my thoughts. It's a neverending cycle. It's just unfortunate our generation is part of it. Unlucky for us, I guess. But there's also another subject of cutting costs, which will always be a pursue for corporate suits. Removing as much as you can and blaming it on design trends is one good way of cutting costs. And it might actually have lasting negative effects on this cycle.
Even minimalism can be done wronf
I’m 20 years old and studying Industrial Design to get a job in the automotive design field. I refuse to accept this trend and hope to bring back character and feeling to my designs!
Hope you make it then I'm gonna buy a car from you
Sounds like a BMW marketing pitch for all their new cars. I sincerely hope you succeed, but the wording you used is nearly identical to the way BMW shoo'd off the haters of the hideous new models that only non-BMW fans want to buy.
@@Caffeinated-DaVinci That's the thing though: he didn't say anything that differs from EITHER the complaints in this video or marketing spiel. In other words, it's almost like everyone claims to want the same thing, but can't put their fingers on what. Design really is that subjective. I see people going gaga for the new M3 competition and saying the design grown on them and looks aggressive now, and I doubt it's soccor moms saying that.
Please do, good luck!
Good! I really hope there is a backlash against the current trend for hideously ugly cars.
I love looking at the front of my e39 M5 because it has this expression that says “cmon mate, let’s go for a drive, you know you want to. Come on, let all 400 horses run wild”. It’s like that friend we all have who’s so much fun but is a really bad influence, it’s that sly grin it has. Absolutely love that car.
Feel the same about my e46. Same generation bmw as your e39. I always look back at it when I walk away, and smile that it's mine. I then see new bmws, and think if I owned it would I look back and have that same feeling? And the answer is almost always no
@@Razmatazuke46 is the last good looking bmw in my opinion, and arguably one of the last good looking cars ever produced. Basically hate every car design since the late 2000s
9:37- 1958 Edsel interior spotted. The Edsel, along with a few other cars, had a speedometer that rotated a circular piece labeled with its respective speeds- while the marker was a separate, static piece in the middle.
I feel like the 50’s and the early 60’s had some of the coolest designs. Not only for cars, but for pretty much everything. The space-age designs with clean lines, lots of chrome, cool gauge clusters, and huge tail fins made those cars some of the coolest designs ever.
Heck, even refrigerators looked cool back then.
Ngl it still seems ridiculous to me that people by the end of the 50s were getting sick of space age design
Totally agree
@@creditcrazy597 nowadays we’re all sick of new designs and wish we could go back. 😂
Times change I guess.
@@creditcrazy597 In the 80s, my grandpa bought an old motorboat from 1959 that had some awesome tailfins on it. He sawed off the fins to "modernize" it. Back then, everyone thought the 50s look meant "junk". What a shame.
For me the late 60s were the best years of car deisgn. Especially in USA, Ford Mustang, Dodge Charger & Challenger, Chevy Camaro, etc. They're all so well known because of their performance which was impressive for the time, but most importantly for their iconic style. I honestly think no cars nowadays will be as memorable as the old timers.
As a kid in the 80's, I drew cars incessantly. My school teachers kept telling me to "stop drawing, and pay attention". I had hundreds of different car designs I had drawn by the time I was 18. I always wanted to be a car designer growing up. I dreamed of going to Art Center College in Pasadena California and working for Pininfarina, Bertone, or Ital Design. After graduating high school, I never had the chance to peruse this dream. Unfortunately too many car companies just don't seem to care about design as much. GM is a perfect example. I found out that it's easier to get into the NBA than it is to become a car designer. Unfortunately I didn't come from a family with lots of money or the right connections. After many years, I just gave up. Thank you.
Same here. Me and my friends would create fictional brands, all with their unique design characteristics and language. It's a long lost dream, but it was a good time we had back then.
I’m glad I wasn’t the only kid who did this in the 80s! I eventually went on to study industrial design, and wound up designing consumer electronics, before moving across to architecture, but I’m glad I studied at art college and a polytechnic in the era before CAD replaced drawing and making models.
I tried but had to give up as I wasn't smart enough. I'm over 50 now and stil think of designing and building my own car one day. Just never give up dreaming!
I relate to this deeply but with music.
@@pinkchckn wow same here! Me and my friend used to draw cars everyday in school.
We created fictional car brands with signature design language. We used to collect different car logos, draw them, and talk about their design language everyday.
I think I still have that book with our designs somewhere in the attic
I wanted to pursue automobile design or at least automobile engineering but ended up in tech :)
Great time it was
The issue is these manufacturers think we (the customers) want a super high-tech car with the most features and "innovations" possible, like a waffle maker you can control with your phone. Why are people trying to force modernize everything these days?
Money
We are never going back and this is one of the gripes I have with current cars.
The basis for these new designs is to make cars cheaper to produce, cheaper to maintain, cheaper to replace parts, however this is done only to keep production costs low, while keeping the same price tag.
There's also a psychological component to remove personality from a car, if you're detached to it, it will be easier to replace or belong to anyone else easily, this goes around to lending your car to anybody or even subscribing to the use of the car. With the manufacturers having lots of enphasis on softwarization the more control the companies can push onto the consumer without even them noticing or having a choice, they are working on it and strategizing on it, the lack of lines, curves and personality is the first step. I think we are in the soft spot now where cars still have some personality because they are still ICE but it's fading with the transition to electric, somewhere in 20 years the transition will be completely done, cars will be refurbished, be discarded like laptops and phones. BMW tried the subscription, Mercedes too, but it's too soon and it doesn't work for now, but it will work.
The irony is while the auto companies are penny pinching their cars just get more expensive anyways
Brainlifts = subscription services.
The main reason car design won't return from the consumer electronic trend is that we're on the cusp of seeing the personal car ownership fade away into a service. Over the next few decades, passionate design and craftsmanship will be reserved to a niche market for those who want to purchase and own a new personal vehicle. Those who won't be able to afford it will have to buy a used vehicle.
"you'll own nothing and be happy" - the people pointing out this shift in reality were labelled 'conspiracy theorists' but with every passing day and policy change, it seems they were right.
Automation and UBI sounds like a compelling future as long as that income is increased following productivity in research, arts or just doing good deeds. You could be lazy and still live somewhat comfortably or you could live much more comfortably contributing to society, making your life fulfilling.
UBI is just slavery for the state, literal fascist feudalism. Stop believing what is cooked up at Langley.
@@the80386 I still laugh at people who say "the WEF has no power" when they have had numerous Political leaders in it e.g Jacinda ardern and Justin Trudeau
@@gobomanaga5615
UBI only works in a society with an abundance of energy, labor and manufacturing. Hopefully, we're heading towards that.
8:28 "the new concept cars is like sitting in a bathub with a ipad" Fantastic metaphor. Greetings from Italy!
This is one of those subjects in which I have strong opinions on, because it reminds me of just the kind of cars that I grew up with that i loved, like for example the Buick Century (up to 1995) which compared to a lot new cars that are coming out of these years, it has a sense of understated elegance. It didn't try to wow you, it wasn't made to do so, but at least the 1989-1995 model kept a sense of perseverance amidst curved lines and already the start of homologation in design.
It was square, long, boxy. It looked aged already. And yet ... A well taken care of Century from that era would just exude an air of... Comfort and elegance despite it being made as a car for the middle-to-lowish class.
A car that was stuck in already an old, bygone style. Yet it didn't hide that fact. It had its pride in being the odd boxy car out of the other rounder shapes. Interior that mirrored cars from the 60s with it's gauges, the chrome bits on door handles and switches, wood patterns on top of the simple yet functional dashboard.
And the taillight. How to forget it. A long unobstructed pair of lines as wide as the car, unmistakable on its shape, simple, but oh so beautiful.
It is sometime after that car that I started to fear how everything moved in a single direction. Rounded curved lines, deleting more and more details on the exterior for the sake of cleanliness, of minimalism. The removal of chrome accents, of pinstripes that decorated the car's sides to show the gentlest almost-straight line that traveled from the front all the way to the back.
That's not to say there were cars that exuded this understated elegance, of course. The BMW E46 and similar cars of the era. The 2001 Honda Accord, Isuzu VehiCROSS, sports cars like the C6 Corvette (which already dipped into its lack of detail and love, but it paid off in an unmistakable shape, aggressive at that), hell - the Lexus LFA, the original design for the Audi R8...
I'm often looked at weird for preferring those older cars
But looking at everything around...? It's one of the few things that I can think of that brings me some joy for the older love and art design of vehicles.
I've always thought about this, but applied to cellphones. Around 2005-10 every brand had kind of an identity, and I remember loving Nokia. Most of them were really beautiful (6131 was my absolute favorite), especially its OS and the font used in its buttons, but other brands had nice looking phones too. Nowadays every phone is just a big screen, but I understand it's neccessary because of its functions...
Yeah I remember how much more colour Windows xp and Windows 7 had compared to the dull and lifeless Windows 10 we have at the minute. However, one piece of modern technology that does look sexy (you can disagree but you can definetley say it is not different and left field) is the Sony Playstation 5. It is what I imagined the 2020s would look like growing up in the 2010s.
Holy crap, I thought I had gone crazy, I'm so happy to see someone else that also feels like this.
@@potatogirlcultist19 I really like the design of the PS5!
@@toshineon Hahaha, we're not alone! 😅
This is why I am attracted to Nothing Phones, they have personality
I'm 24 year old. I was always amazed with old 80/90s cars. I never looked at any new car design, but when I see the car from the old era i always point a finger and I'm fascinated and want to see it all. I myself own a classic car and I tried to put as much details as possible, I'm also about to buy a nissan 300zx z31 from 1986. I don't like the new 300ZX, but the old one fascinates me every time. As long as old car exists, I'll drive them and have fun with them. I don't think that car meets will exists in next 20-30years, because there's nobody that would want to stay on a parking lot and admire an old kia. If somehow the cars from the 60-90 (maybe some examples from 2000) won't exist anymore I'll just stop driving the car and my pleasure will be gone.
I don't know if you've noticed, but all these new cars looks basically the same, when I was a kid, I looked at the street and I was guessing with my friends what car is passing by, now, it's almost impossible, you don't know what brand it is until you'll se the logo...
Especially with kia and their logo change every time a new kia drives by I always spend a solid minute trying to figure out what make it even is until I remember oh yeah that's what their logo looks like now so it's not a off brand ion
Time flies; at a car meet last year I noticed a 1980s Fiat Uno. WTF is that doing there? And then I realised that it was some 40 years old. There will be the odd Kia in the future. Grab a cheap one and hide it in a barn!
Grills the size of a semi, Pedestrian laws making every front end of a car in the same shape. The stupid angry headlights and fish face.
Why are so many comments here starting with a person’s age?
@@SMD1999 maybe to announce that it doesn't matters if you're old or young, the lack of design hurts all of us.
I graduated from art history, and as someone who's seen the world, arts, and design evolve, I can confidently say we're going to move back to more or less the same kind of design choices as time passes. There were always phases with humanity, sometimes the people are more into minimalist pieces, sometimes they enjoy stuff with more personality.
I really hope the pendulum swings back soon, like within the next 10-20 years. I dont really understand what drives the demand for these designs, mabye it’s just comsumers and companies being focused on saving money? If so i hope people start spending on designs with more soul.
I agree that present-day cosmetic design has lost nearly all aesthetic appeal. It is as if generic utilitarianism with cheap design and minimal materials is the goal. No aspirations of beauty or pride or maintaining respected traditions.
I'm afraid that cars have become just another electronic product. Not a designer here, just an enthusiast, but I can tell you what the giveaway is for me - reviews. Almost any review for any car done I've seen in the past 5 years or so, the reviewer is going to spend a good amount of time talking about the infotainment system. I think so much time is spent covering these because it's become a key part of how people are interacting with their cars, and I think it shows with even major youtube technology personalities dipping their toes into car reviews. Not that I have anything against those people covering cars, I just think it's a sign of the times that when people who normally review phones and computers feel they can put a competent car review together, the car must be an awful lot like a phone or a computer in use.
Well that's because cars these days have a lot more technology then they used to.
Back in the day a car was just for getting you from A to B but nowadays you have all this technology that is still doing the same thing, getting you from A to B, it just has so many more features. If that's a good or bad thing is up for debate.
I think the reason why so many car reviews are focusing more and more on the technology side is because that is what people want to know about. You can see how the car looks on some pictures which is enough for most people but you can't see what kind of technology the car holds.
I think Doug DeMuro actually does quite a nice job of also going over the styling of the car whenever he reviews one aswell as the technological aspect of it.
I stare at a screen all day at work, and I stare at a screen all night at home. The last thing I want in my car is another screen.
One of the reasons minimalism is trending is because software is the real muscle people look for in many of the products being sold, so an over complicated outer shell design and hard hitting bold looking shapes, trying to have an aerodynamic but super utilitarian feel, means nothing, because where the value really resides is in the software of the product. Cars are obviously going down this path as all of them do basically the same thing, but for the first time they have started to really shine, and not only in terms of the software features but in the hardware features such as 110-220v plugs like the Lucid trucks, satellite internet, self-driving, Apple Carplay, parking assistance or autonomous parking, security and safety, IoT connectivity and abilities, updating and upgrading, etc.
The more minimalist a car looks, the more it is expected to deliver in these areas.
I like to think of this from a functionality standpoint. For a subway entrance, clearly conveying which line it is, being ADA compliant, etc. is more important than having all the details. A beautiful architectural design is definitely welcome, but functionality comes first. My problem with car design, though, is that the "minimalistic" design IS NOT FUNCTIONAL. A pop-out door handle is harder to use than a conventional door handle. A flat screen is harder to use than nobs and buttons. I actually like the minimalistic design when it is functional.
Hard agree. I think people often conflate minimalism with functionalism, but they are different. My 95 Chevy K2500 is functional, but not minimal. It has a design to it that serves no purpose but for appearance's sake. The slightly peaked hood, the ever so slightly arrow shaped front end. The pin striping, the chrome wheel rings and matching center caps. None of these serve a minimalist purpose but perform the function they need to, while having a style.
finally someone that isn’t just screaming “in the past everything was better” thats what this comment section and the video feels like anyway.
@@etienneheinrich7958 I highly doubt you understood a single point presented in the video to comment something like this, let alone even see other's POV from outside a city wall.
@@redline1916 in all my live i never lived in a city, until 7 months ago. The village before that wasn’t even close to one. In my mind this video was just complaining about newer designs, because they loose “authenticity and beauty”, which is also subjective. As stated in my first comment, maybe written a little bit harsh, everybody just wants the “old” and “better” designs back or something similar, which is not necessarily “better”, because like i said, its subjective. Oh and I agree with the first comment pointing also advantages of the other side out and not just making this comment section one whole giant one sided opinion.
@@redline1916 in all my live i never lived in a city, until 7 months ago. The village before that wasn’t even close to one. In my mind this video was just complaining about newer designs, because they loose “authenticity and beauty”, which is also subjective. As stated in my first comment, maybe written a little bit harsh, everybody just wants the “old” and “better” designs back or something similar, which is not necessarily “better”, because like i said, its subjective. Oh and I agree with the first comment pointing also advantages of the other side out and not just making this comment section one whole giant one sided opinion.
Everything is being hypersimplified. The windows logo used to be unique and cool, now it's just four blue squares. The hp logo has become four slightly diagonal lines. The Honda Pilot, Ridgeline, and Passport look almost identical from the front.
I completely agree, I felt like Modern cars look had something missing for me, I guess this is why I love American 1970s and Japanse 1990s cars. Because they have so much personality in their internal and external designs on certain models
Bro the lemans car in the 1960's looked so cool and timeless
I think the new concepts are usually way more extreme than what will be manufactured. Eventually and naturally the end products will be on the middle ground.
And will look like 100 000 of any other modern family minivans with big wheels called SUVs.
Minimalism is cost effective, you dont need to work on the surfaces of your product, is easy to model, easy to produce, easy to pass inspections. The truth is that minimalism is not becoming popular due to genuine demand, but rather a forced trend of simplifying everything to speed up development and production. Then its sold as art for young designers who fully embrace the trend and are unaware of how much they are being manipulated. Oversimplification exists only as a cost cutting measure and nothing more, and any designer who defends it is part of the problem.
Respectfully disagree. Read how much work and refining and money went into the most elegant and minimalistic products we know: Apple stuff. Doing it right for premium products is extremely hard, because minimalism can look cheap or uninspired very easily when not given proper care.
I saw a video once about redesigning of logos and consumer products, which came to the conclusion that design nowadays is more driven by its usability as “thumbnail” and to slam it on any kind of internet media content. So 2D logos without colour, products with a very recognisable gimmick, less text.
To clarify: I mean Apple products during Steve jobs’ time, and as far as most ordinary consumer products go I agree with you. But there is really beautiful minimalistic premium design out there that has as much impact as these super detailed oldschool designs we saw at the beginning of this video
@@pjetrs Thats just pr talk, dont believe anything coming these tech corporations, specially tesla and apple, they are notorious for riping people off, offering an inferior product at a higher price.
They create this bluff about equilibrium between simplicity and sofistication, but the fact that it had to be simplistic was wrong in the first place. The premise is already mistaken, so no matter how good is the execution, the results will converge.
@@pjetrs Yes there is beauty in well executed minimalism, however you need to know the time to stop before becoming bland. I would say the lucid air interior is a good example of minimalism, while volvo, mercedes and tesla are too far in the wrong direction.
Well said. I like how we had the same opinion and stated it it in different ways, your comment was more concise.
This just solidifies my unparalleled obsession with classic cars. Back when cars actually looked good, you know? Of course, many modern cars look too, but you get the idea
Car design in terms of beauty took a big hit around 2005 when the belt-line had to have a mandatory minimum height for side impact safety, as well as as the hood having to be bulky for pedestrian safety. Compare the BMW Z3 to the Z4 and you will instantly see the difference.
Funny, thats when i was born@@MrD3000
Same
I want to start my own car company when I grow up. I'm 15 years old. I noticed the sleekness and blankness in car design 3 years ago and it also saddens me. Cars are no longer beautiful and it hurts me. No lines, no emotions. I would definitely make a change.
We're basically going full dystopian
I completely agree with the video's point that modern car design has become boring and uninspired. It's unfortunate that profit margins have become the top priority, leading to a lack of passion and creativity from designers and engineers.
While I understand that marketability is important in today's fast-paced corporate world, it's disappointing that we're missing out on the chance to own truly unique and artistic cars. As car enthusiasts, let's hope that the industry can shift its focus away from just profit and toward valuing creativity and individuality. Thanks for sharing this interesting and thought-provoking video
you said everything friend!
I think this is one of the most important videos you’ve made. Cars (and buildings) are not mere functional objects. They have a higher purpose of reaching into human soul. That is why the detailing, the shapes, the tactile feeling of objects are important. We communicate with our surroundings using these methods.
i work in the architecture field in Washington DC for 11 years now. I feel the same about what you say about the "modern" is just sleek bland and lacking detail and character, there has been alot of redevelopment in DC's poorer neighborhoods in the last decade, and quite a few beautiful brick townhomes with intricate motifs has been vandalized with galvanized panels, sidings, or totally knocked down and replaced with soulless multifamily. I think it has alot to do with the generation of designers that grow up in the ultra consumerism era (1970-1980) that are now getting into decisions level positions (50 year old). and they dont feel connected to the 1900 masonry detail adored skyscrapers, the 1920's art deco, the 1940's national zeal, the 1960's art deco revival, they are fully immersed in the 1980's post modernism soul sucking void. and this is what they know, sleek, less detail, cheap, quick to make, mass produced consumption.
I keep telling people I don't like the new Mustang's design (especially the front)... _"but why not?"_
I completely agree with you ! I’m an interior designer ( high end homes ) there was a phase where minimum was extremely popular but most people like details in architecture and interior decor ! I hope the automobile industry hears you !!
As an architecture student, well designed buildings in the past were just covered in details that make the whole thing beautiful, and even in classical architecture, greeks and romans, everything was decorated to make their barebones structures much more human, losing that because of rationality confort is literally exactly opposite how the great thinkers would've done
No its not. Look at The Chinese car brands their design are amazing and fresh, like MG7, Avata 11, GAC GS3 EMZOOM, Lynk & Co 03+ and the Hongqi cars. See the BYD Yangwang U8 and its interior.
His using that boring dull plastic cheap Tesla as an example...
9:54 compare that crap to the BYD ATTO3 interior and see the HUGE difference. There are still nice car designs in the car industry but you need to look further than the dull western cars of
I like how the 60's and 50's contained the most extravagant cars, with decked out chrome and flares everywhere, where everything was so opulent and maximalised to the point that people started making fun of them calling them chromemobiles. I miss those cars. Now every car looks alike on the road, I used to be able to distinguish cars in the night easily but now I have to look really hard before identifying it sometimes. I liked certain design trends over others, but this minimalist design trend is really killing me, especially on cars.
I have to agree especially on the bimmers. I detail at a bmw dealership and it's like the newer cars we get the uglier they look.
Anytime I see one of them old models though I can't help but admire
I agree - the "Tablet-interior design" is something I never understood. It just looks clumsy and loveless. And in my opinion that is also true for exterior design. Most modern cars are lacking some kind of "soul".
14:12 the flattening of car logos isn’t all bad, tbh. It’s better for some than others, but in some cases, it allows for more depth and creativity in the logo. Kia’s new logo, for instance, is a massive step up from their previous one, as it brings a new dynamic movement to the logo as opposed to just being a round oval with some text like it used to be. Peugeot is another prime example, using the 2D shift to create a new logo that brings back the detail of the lion’s face that wasn’t present or possible in the old logo. Renault is yet another manufacturer to get creative, bringing back an old logo that uses a set of 3 stripes in each line of the diamond. So flat design isn’t all bad. However, for some manufacturers like BMW, it is
Kia logo is terrible. It looks like K backwards N. It took me awhile to even realize it was Kia when I first seen it
@@BabyJesus66 it took me a while to get used to, I’ll admit, but it really grew on me over time
@@BabyJesus66 literally had to google it to figure out it was Kia. The logo also has an odd chinese car feel to it (though that might just be me).
@@Adriethylikr I thought I was looking at Chinese brand. With that brand new front facia and headlights they look so foreign to me.
@@Adriethyl @Adriel Oliveras agreed. I also thought that exact same thing, is this some new Chinese car?
What browser extension or system app you use for this nice popup on text selection? (02:20)
I've wanted to be many things throughout my childhood, including a car designer and even an architect. I've always wanted to bring beauty to life and create things that people loved to look at. But every industry is stripping itself of artistic style and individuality now... Buildings are big glass boxes, cars are becoming more and more egg shaped and minimalist, even modern decor and furniture lacks character. And while some people may find stuff like that "beautiful", I feel it's only because we are in the transitionary period. It's still relatively new to us and we still have other styles of art to compare it to. But wait until it becomes the only thing we see. You won't find it as beautiful anymore. Wait until the last car drawn by real people is off the road, wait until the last piece of classical architecture crumbles away, and every hand carved piece of wooden furniture gets thrown in the dump, then you'll have the sterile and lifeless society you've been wishing for all this time, and you'll hate it.
I think design in general should keep this in mind: you can go simple and minimalistic where people look at it once, but keep it interesting where people look arround a lot. example car interior: you look arround and want to see more than a dashboard that is just a courved plane, you want to see details in the buttons and gauges, lines that make abrupt tourns and make you think about them maybe.
I believe that car design, both exterior and interior, will hit boiling point to where it will become soo lifeless and dystopian, that even the general public will demand more organic and detailed designs. Even for non-car enthusiasts, having a car be soo boring and lifeless absolutely has to get tasking at some point, especially considering a car is something that you use alot, if not daily. Of course not every car needs to be a Porsche, Bentley or whatever, but giving your car just ALITTLE bit of life and personality goes a long way.
Giant Grilles and Excessive Angles. Or the opposite, it’s so minimal that it’s blank.
You said it very well, the reason for the extreme minimalism and aggressive lack of personality both in product and automotive design specifically is the aim to be as neutral as possible, being strictly politically correct, to not offend nobody and so on, this trend (I hope) just destroyed everything beautiful.
There are ways to preserve art into car design. The presence of lots of detail can be perceived as noise nowadays, but I think you can have detail which don't feel like noise in modern design. Polestar is doing it, Alfa-Romeo is doing it, also Porsche in my opinion. The way I see it is that some of the design traits of the 60s are making a come back. Nature inspired, organic, flowing lines are coming also for efficiency reasons. Small details, that in the 60s where made of shiny metals are comin back as lights. People are becoming aware of the extreme minimalism, and are getting bored of it. The Alfa-Romeo Disco Volante is one of my favorite designs ever, and I feel it could be a pretty efficient ev design😂
Just gave a look at it on google,and that car is gorgeous,the body shape is completely based off the new model
To be honest, volvo / polestar has added greatly to the cold 'minimalism over everything' trend, thereby viewing cars as disposable lease-only gadgets. I don't see the point of polestar being a dedicated brand anyway since volvo will go full electric eventually. they should keep polestar as a sport trim level like quadrifoglio for alfa romeo.
@@the80386 I don't find polestar minimalism to be soulless at all. Anyway I agree that it weird seeing volvo making EVs that look so close to polestar cars. I much prefer the look of the polestar brand for EVs, but that's just my preference.
In music history we've seen these cycles repeat themselves-simplicity to ornament and complexity to the point where it's over the top, then back to simplicity. Complexity in Renaissance vocal music, where you couldn't understand the text, led to early Baroque vocal music, where the music was simpler and text focused. Then the Baroque got complicated and ornamented, and led to the Classical period. Minimalism in music was a response to expressionist tendencies in early 20th century music, but that was followed by the "New Complexity." It goes on and on. Eventually people will tire of minimalism and will either add their own personality or will buy cars with more character.
As long as people don't buy new Cars they'll be forced to go back, I own a 2001 e46 coupe and I'll fix It till I die rather than accept this fate.
I think Tesla showed that you can market a car as a "luxury" car by making a minimal interior with a big iPad stuck to the dash. Enormous cost savings for the manufacturer who can still make big margins. All the other automakers saw this and followed suit. IMO.
Honestly I would change the title of this video to something without having "automotive" in the title. I think everyone needs to watch this video as it is a comprehensive quick overview of the whole design industry and its trends. As an architect and someone who has always been into cars, this video is a great showcase of the design trends in all industries and how our evolution as a society is impacting the fundamentals of design. Great video!
See, this should have been the angle of the video. A compare and contrast of past and modern design trends as a touchpoint on where we are going with design. Instead we got a lot of comparisons with little context that said "Minimalism is killing the "art" in design." I guess Apple has been doing it wrong for twenty years. Examining the designs in a vacuum is extremely short-sighted, and frankly, disingenuous as a designer. A designer (should) know EVERYTHING is designed, but not all of it has to be artistic in nature. First and foremost a design has to be functional, serve a purpose. I don't need an emotional reaction to a subway entrance, for example.
Just remember: Every arquitect's dream is an engeneer's nightmare. That goes same for designers and programers, respectively.
A large part of the degeneration of modern car design stems from ever increasing interior and exterior safety standards, like airbags in the A pillars leading to thick, unwieldy bars instead of thin frames and soft, bubbly fronts for aerodynamics and pedestrian rollover safety.
I feel like the same thing happened to our language. Hudreads of years ago, we expressed ourselves through poetry and in a much more complex and artistic way. Nowadays it's much more simpler, less words, straight to the point. Everything is sped up for functionality, cost and things are made for brake and be replaced. I'm vertain that in future, cars will only exist as robots that get you from point A to point B where a person just clicks on the location.
I think hip hop / rap music did a major disservice to the standard of language used by the young generation. The sharp drop in the quality of lyrics in pop music is also quite apparent.
@@the80386 not all hip hop. There are many amazing lyricists in hip hop. De La Soul. Pete Rock and CL Smooth to name a couple. There's tons
@@Razmatazuk yes there are great lyricists but they're usually rather niche. most regular young people listen to the billboard toppers backed by millions $$ of promotion to be suggested in spotify, youtube etc. and those ones really went downhill regarding the examples they set for the young generation in terms of language, promotion of violence, materialism, hedonism, substance use etc.
i would hate having to talk like i’m speaking in riddles
@@capitcha It's not about speaking in riddles, but speaking an actual language instead of random words with no grammatic coherence.
English is probably the easiest language on earth, and yet the vast majority of young Americans can't speak or write it properly, same thing goes in Europe, France and French speaking Belgium are a prime example, French is a difficult language with loads of rules and exceptions to those rules, and most people my age are incapable of writing a single sentence without making glaring errors.
Welcome Wartburg design, welcome GDR sovet design
The tragic reality is passion isn't profitable.....
I heard as a child how hard it was to become an automotive designer so i became an automotive design engineer, which is more about the technologies involved, and I still sketch and model cars as a hobbie but man, seeing ehre the industry is heading I think a part of my soul just died. I do hope someone somewhere would have the resources necessary to say "hey mate, we're doing something erong, let's go back and leave the greedyness behind a bit"
mass production/efficiency is the reason. Things change when you have to make 100 pieces rather than 10
car design is not dead, there's still plenty of good looking new cars out there. The problem with the car industry for quite some time now is the consumers, and their obsession with the branding and badge. Premium brands can get away with controversial design decisions as they know it wont stop consumers from buying their cars, because they have the brand power to do so
The problem is people think simplicity is same as being sterile. Most new car designs are sterile. For example the new Volvo you showed, no matter how well proportioned that car is it’s a sterile and cold looking thing. It actually looks like it has no face.
I hate the simplification of every design. If we are headed to permanent consumer electronic designs for cars then that is an extremely sad future. I hope we go back to how it used to be.
Minimalism is not so wrong. But when it gets to sterilism, this is when things go in the wrong direction and you have to slow down. Yes, I think designers just ran out of ideas or they are just lazy. I really hope we overcome this sterile environment and thinking, and we start enjoying once more beautiful craftsmanship.
One example- the Gina concept from BMW. This I think is a beautiful example of minimalism, the 3er concept colorshift from your video is just a sterile bathtub.
Hey Marouane,
what you observe is essentially true.
The biggest part of developing new vehicles, is what new argument do we have/get to sell a car that our customers already has? Current tech product have figured out how to attract a customer to a product. Hightech is the current trend for almost 30 years plus. That is what the average Joe is willing to spend on it. Looks are "secandary". Sad.
I work as automotive designer here in Japan as well. Our research and developer team discusses those exact themes.
I do my very best to keep the passion and art within our industry. We always argue with the tech engineers, buts thats life ;)
Keep it up. Art is not dead yet!
As someone who also laments how even so-called luxury cars come with stuck-on iPads from wish instead of a gauge cluster as a blatant and insulting cost-cutting measure, I genuinely think this is just a phase. As soon as someone puts out a nice, detailed, well designed car and it's sales eclipse everything else manufacturers will snap out of this stupor they're in.
That boring old phone booth's style is overdone now but probably seemed real slick when it first came out. And still there is an artistic quality to it. It's tall, proportional...and built like a government supplied infrastructure amenity should be! Despite that it was likely designed within some well defined parameters, such as cost to build and durability, from out of someone it was conceived. I think design can only be as stylistic as it's parameters allow. Yet within those parameters, art still occurs. Even with computer designed cars
I think (and hope) people overtime will get annoyed by the lack of any detail, that it will come back and we'll start to see the art slowly getting back
first of all props to tesla at least when you see one of their interiors you can without hesitation tell that it's a Tesla
but i think automotive design will come back to attention to detail like luxuary pret à porter brand like burberry did they had their phase where on their logo for exemple they went full plain and simple and now 4 years after their last rebranding went back to a detailled logo
If I got ran over by a car, I would accept my death and die, if I get ran over by a t*sla, I would wake back up from the dead, shit on it while parked, then die again. I refuse to die to something so fkn ugly without a fight.
One of the most beatifull car designs ever created is the Buick Rivierra 1972.
They will not design cars anymore like back in the day.
Why?
For multiple reasons.
1. It is a lot cheaper, so they have bigger profits.
2. Also the ammount of time to build cars like the old days takes much more time.
And most important, they want to build cars with the intention to sell as much of them as possible.
So they try to make the cars more or less acceptable for people to buy, so they can sell ,more of them.
What happened to the saying: "Form follows function"?
You nail it man...I hate this new design trends...everything seems to be so sterile now.
my take is that large companies are run by 50 yo's and thus will reflect that in their design language, IE, philosophically at least 15 years behind the design world. Give it a couple more years and cycles of minimalism will heave and give way once again.
Commercial design as a whole including car design is dead the moment artist pen gave way to computer mouse, period. So I lost my appetite for commercial design forever. Good luck to those who remain there.
Damn that e39 in the thumbnail is gorgeous… the e30, 34, 36, 36/7, 38, 39 are some of the prettiest cars ever; especially the M line (for those that apply)
Everything in design is a phase. For hundreds of years we've seen art "eras" defined by their trends. Product design, consumer electronics and automotive design are all going to pass through their current trends and onto something else. It's not a matter of if, but when.
I think you put a word on every feeling I had about design. I agree on every thing. The 60's golden era, the wrong way we're going in. That's very sad. I'm a mathematician not a designer and I can't put into perspective what I really want to see (for the moment) but I really hope that some people like us will change this trend.
Moreover, I think that the 2008-2018 era let's say was pretty good. A lot of very emotional car like one of my favourite, the Aston Martin Vanquish 2.
If you're a mathematician you must be aware of the certain beauty in the mathematical proportions done right. Usually the golden ratio taken as a guiding template to achieve that. Artist usually do it subconsciously than making actual measurements by training the eyes to look for tiny imperfections in dimensions.
You can have a modern look and still have a cool design but companies just want to cut costs so that won't happen
Its not just car design people have lost touch with art overall.We have lost the ability to create art because we've become lazy.And the sad part is it will become even worse because we keep thinking of new ways to become even more and more lazy.
I don't want my car to be "intelligent" or what ever and drive it self. I just want it to be the ultimate driving machine to have fun with!
Me too, maybe most people want that, the thing is we are not the ones who decide in this world.
Sadly most people are non car guys. So most future cars will likely be selfdriving soulless electric containers with the only purpose of getting people as efficient and as comfortable as possible from point a to b.
@@v.s.727 Let's kick all the NPCs off Earth to Mars.
Agree with you Bembi. The future of design is going to be so boring.
I literally started getting chills as you cycled through images of the 33 stradale, the db5, the e type, and the 250 gto
Oversimlifying is not the best way to go. When it comes to exterior i like complex cars with a lot of details. When it comes to interior i care a lot more about practicality than design, thats why i absolutely hate that new cars dont have physical buttons. I dont want to have to look for everything on touchscreen while driving. If i want to turn on AC i want to simply press button and have it on. I dont want touchscreens/touchbuttons on steering wheel so i can press something without consent. And i dont know why car manufacturers have gone crazy with interior door handles, now every car is different and 90% of them its just not natural.
I think this change is inevitable for everything that is mechanical, much as the transformation of trains where they used to be an emotional experience.
Cars are definitely heading into the consumer electronics market, I agree. And I also agree that we’re gonna go through some tough, soulless times in design, especially considering everything going around with AI.
However, I’d like to highlight a few things:
- Trends are often cyclical. We see this very often with fashion, for example. I wouldn’t be surprised if in a couple of decades we saw a new renaissance of highly detailed and human “soul” -focused design.
- Minimalism isn’t necessarily a bad thing: today’s society is extremely different even from the 00’s, let alone the 60’s. Highly addictive social media and it’s easy access anywhere and anytime is ruining our abilities to focus. This is especially apparent when looking at schools: teachers are reporting more and more that younger kids have tons of difficulty concentrating, so much so that schools are making classes shorter or with more breaks to adapt to this. Minimalism is in a way a response to this: simplifying things, stripping everything to the bare essentials, to make things more easily recognisable, readable and easier to remember.
All types of design have their place in society: highly detailed and complex design fills our hearts/souls, but minimalist design is extremely important for our everyday living, where some things just need to work, be there and easy for everyone to use, regardless of age or mental/physical capacities or challenges.
The problem is, that nowadays, you can't differenciate most cars from eachother. I always mix Toyota Corollas with our Mazda 6. Most cars nowadays are "dead", without any facial impression, or any sense of speed or character. They look like bricks, that are normally stationary, trying to blend in. Some cars, like the A80 Supra's front expressed happyness at any speed, happyness, like the 1st gen Twingo, or curiosity, like the NA Miata. From the 80s to the late 90s, many designers tried to convey feelings into their design. In the 2010s, angry designs were the grift, but generally, expressions started to die.
@@mozeskertesz6398 Cars have become nothing more than a clump of sterile streamlined silver metal. One example is BMW. They have lost touch with their design language.
Some of them look super ugly with no “BMW” DNA in them. No consistency in design. It’s like several people designed each part separately. Very in-cohesive.
Good design won't return. Everything is made to improve the bottom line these days. Less detail, less cost. It's the same reason skyscrapers all look the same. Yeah, they could put bits and bobs on the top, like the empire state building, but why? They could spend that money on adding capacity, and make more money.
People are beginning to view cars like cell phones. Mere tools, rather than outlets for expression. If that attitude persists, then there's no incentive for cars to be anything but featureless blobs moving from point A to B as efficiently as possible. This is why the trend of simplification that started in the 2000s has yet to abate even 23 years down the line. We are moving on a linear path towards bland soulessness.
@@derrickmiles5240 Well put. I think the reason for looking at cars as mere tools is probably due to extreme rationalism - both from car manufacturers and consumers.
Modern car designs in general are grotesque, and all the parts are over the top. No subtlety in art/design/decor. This prevailing
"culture" reflects our current state of society in general.
Everything has to look big and in-your-face, eye catching, etc.
I agree that cars will be mere commodity tools like mobile phones. A lithium carrier cladded in metal junk. They will also be treated as such - materials that has to be shipped to junkyard every 5 years and replaced with another "latest and greatest" metal junk. Cars will not be a lifelong thingt, nor will they represent our taste in car designs.
I’m hoping that we’ll have a mixture of detailed designs and simplistic designs but I don’t want everything to be of a simplistic design.
Doesnt help the case when the 1st 2 examples are blatantly unfair, A church vs an office building and an indor phonebooth vs outdoor.
I totally agree when it comes to interiors.
For exteriors, I´m not so sure. Many cars have been over styled during the last decade, and i.e Genesis has some nice new exterior designs.
Great video! Being stuck in the 90s is bad but this doesnt look any better
The simplicity makes things way too futuristic even in my standards.
*No wonder Classic Cars are the best looking 1’s.*
Car design has been on steady decline since the end of the 90s. The suits have taken over
Great video! I think something bigger is what is going on these days, not just car industry, but all the world is going in a direction some people want. Time to let ourselves question things.
Thank you!
Exactly
What's happening is that culture is being taken out back and shot.
@@Robert-un3cf I'm not sure if culture is the word I'd pick, I think freedom, or power of the people fits more