BMW has design
studios scattered across the globe. And one of its studios is located in
the hills north of Los Angeles. Founded in 1972 by the renowned designer, Chuck
Pelly, the studio received an investment from BMW in 1991 and was eventually
purchased outright by BMW in 1995. Under the DesignworksUSA banner are studios
in Newbury Park, Munich, and Shanghai.
These studios are separate from BMW Forschungs und Innovations Zentrum (FIZ), where BMW’s dedicated
automotive designers reside. The DesignworksUSA studios have a bit more
latitude (and an expanded design brief). DesignworksUSA does about half of its
work for BMW with the other half being performed for external customers.
The beauty of being a designer at DesignworksUSA is the
opportunity to work on more than just cars. Almost any product, including
virtual products (computer applications for example), is within the
competencies of the deign staff. And it requires special people to accomplish
the work undertaken by DesignworksUSA.
A group of journalists were treated to reviews of several
products that ranged from a two man bobsled to oral hygiene products. It’s the
diversity of subjects that can keep a designer happy. And good design accounts
for how a product functions, how it appears to the senses, and how it projects
the values of the customer.
As an example, the oral hygiene products that DesignworksUSA
worked on are from a company known as Hello decided that oral care products
shouldn’t necessarily be marketed as fighting germs (though important, it may
be missing a market by emphasizing what’s wrong with your mouth).
Hello wanted to change the message with which oral hygiene
products were sold. And to do this they needed world class design that matched
the message. And one of the design keys is the design of the font for the name
itself. The lower half of the e in hello, displayed on the products, forms a
smile. A subtle and effective touch – a hallmark of good design.
Industrial Design
Another project presented was the work done for the first
class cabin on Singapore Airlines’ Boeing 777-300 ER aircraft. The first class
cabin on the 777-300 ER Singapore Airlines flies is restricted to eight seats.
The cabin had to be an inviting yet private space and it had to reflect the
values of Singapore Airlines.
Subsequently the design is fairly conservative with a color
palette that is somewhat darker than one would immediately think of using. And
it works, the color, materials, textures, as well as carefully placed lighting,
provide a sumptuous inviting first class experience for the passenger. And it
perfectly reflects the values of Singapore Airlines.
DesignworksUSA was also commissioned to design the two man
bobsled for the US Olympic team. The design had to fit within the tight
restrictions of the rule book, but had to take advantage of every opportunity
to enhance the performance of the sled. Performance enhancements to a two man
bobsled are measured in hundredths of seconds and the design had to eek out as
many hundredths of second as possible.
The work with the bobsled team revealed that aerodynamically
the sled spends so much time on track in different positions that the key to
the sled would be to eliminate drag rather than focus on drag and downforce
together. In addition, the center of gravity needed to be optimized and to
accomplish that weight had to be shifted through some clever material
processes. The wall thickness of the sled’s body differs from point to point in
order to optimize the CG.
The sled went through multiple iterations and the designers
were involved in the testing of those iterations. One takeaway from working
with the bobsled team is how sensitive the team members are to subtle and small
changes. The designer presenting the sled mentioned that minute changes to the
steering mechanism were requested and the driver could immediately determine
the effectiveness of the change. The designer had a background in automotive
racing and mentioned that the sled drivers were even more sensitive than most
racing drivers. This was a learning process for the design team.
Car Design - BMW Z8
designed at BMW DesignworksUSA
Of course, DesignworksUSA is involved in automotive design.
They participate in the design competitions BMW internally holds for new
products. Design starts by sketching then rendering in software the initial
drawings. DesignworksUSA using three products including a mathematical tool
known as Alias and two polygon tools, Maya and Cinema 4D. They are migrating to
the polygon tools for their ease of use. But no modeling software will produce
a finished product. It has to be transformed into a three dimensional model
that can be viewed and touched.
In order to create those models, the facility at Newbury
Park houses a five axis milling machine that can carve a full size SUV out of a
material as hard as aluminum (though foam is used for the clay model shells). They
have the ability to carve a product with a two mil tolerance thanks to the CNC
machine in use. It is another example of BMW’s attention to detail and it helps
separate them from their competition.
The model used to apply clay to is built up around a metal
frame (with wheels in their final position – though without any suspension) and
the carved foam blocks. Clay is applied to the surface of the model and is
worked by hand until the surfaces are perfect. BMW likes to play with light and
shadow but does not like busy surfaces. Therefore, the smallest change in a
surface – visible only when sculpted – can make the difference between a winner
and a loser in the competition.
Once the surfaces have been finalized the vehicle will be
scanned to preserve the final shape in software. The shape will undergo further
refinement if selected as a competition winner and the designers will migrate
to Munich with it. And of course, the design is for a model that may be years
from reaching production.
What Is Design?
So what was learned from a brief visit at DesignworksUSA?
Designers have to be optimists at heart, they have to have an unbounded
curiosity about the world around them, they have to see and perceive what is
important to their customer and their customer’s customers, and they must live
in the future.
Design is more than drawing, it’s surfaces, materials,
ideas, light, shadow and the ability to manipulate them in a manner that will
transform a good product into an exceptional one. DesignworksUSA’s portfolio of
award winning designs suggest that BMW is at the forefront of current design.
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