a small conflict

Some people may not be aware that my design career started in a passion for car design and this is what I studied at university before losing the passion for it and realising that gaining a job in car design was beyond difficult. So I turned my passion towards furniture design but I wanted to touch on a small conflict that I have noticed within transport design that has got me thinking and I suppose I am just thinking out loud with this.

  I have noticed that on Britain’s road there is a wide range on different aged cars. Their not all new and not all old, a very diverse mix. But what does this produce? Are current car designers aware of what’s happening? Mixing old with new, does this create a divide between consumers and also what relationship is created between the different aged cars in terms of safety and legacy? This may all sound a mash up of my thoughts and in a way it is but I think that what is currently on the roads today is so diverse and do the designs relate, understand, complement each other? Should they? Are current car designers superseding current designs too quickly and not thinking abut sustainability and making the cars last longer in the current climate?

  Basically I suppose I am saying that the car industry is not doing enough to sustain the cars already on the roads and celebrating some truly amazing cars that I currently see driving about (Mercedes CLS anyone?) and what does this industrial system do to social behaviour? (sociology time) I mean I get jealous when I see a new car and automatically think I should trade in. the power of design! Also in terms of safety are consumers being bullied into buying a new car because they are perceived as being safer and should we worry that the some old cars are not as big or secure than new cars. And what does the barrage of new cars every year against old cars create on our roads? More danger?

 Just by seeing an old morris minor against a mazda 3 in a car park the other day has sparked this idea in my head and opened up another area that design creates. competition, emotion, reaction the list is endless. So when someone asks you what is design and its just drawing pretty pictures, they are so wrong, what we designers have to think about before drawing anything is long!

Ramble over