A particular characteristic of the way that automotive design operates is the complete integration of the design team in the business process. The design team is involved from the inception of the product right through to its launch and is an essential part of the automotive manufacturing business
The design team will have specific influence on the following areas of the automotive manufacturing process:
- Marketing – the design team holds the key to the power of the brand and can help visualise it
- Finance – the design team determines how to share the money between aesthetics, engineering, ergonomics, marketing and the other disciplines involved
- Engineering – the design and engineering teams have to work alongside one another to achieve a balance between form and function
Automotive design is important because it:
- Influences - the look of a vehicle has the power to define, modify, or change a brand in the eyes of the customer
- Communicates - the appearance of the vehicle is the first thing that the customer sees and on that basis they make the decision to investigate further or to walk away
- Changes - a design can be evolutionary, trendsetting, revolutionary, shocking or a mixture of these things
- Deceives - a vehicle’s appearance can communicate a massive step forward that isn’t matched by its technical content
Automotive design is directly relevant to automotive manufacturers and related industries, but the nature of the discipline may also be of interest to business decision makers in other areas of design.