DISCOVERING THE MEANING OF FORM BY EXPLODED SKETCHING

DS 83: Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education (E&PDE16), Design Education: Collaboration and Cross-Disciplinarity, Aalborg, Denmark, 8th-9th September 2016

Year: 2016
Editor: Erik Bohemia, Ahmed Kovacevic, Lyndon Buck, Christian Tollestrup, Kaare Eriksen, Nis Ovesen
Author: Van Grondelle, Elmer; Brand de Groot, Susie
Series: E&PDE
Institution: 1Delft University of Technology, Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, Design Aesthetics, 2Delft University of Technology, Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, Human Information Communication Design
Section: Form and Image
Page(s): 374-379
ISBN: 978-1-904670-62-9

Abstract

The means of the automotive stylist to express a unique brand identity through automotive form, the
main objective of automotive styling, have diminished. Platforms and technologies, formerly brand
owned and specific to a brand’s identity and styling, have to be shared among the many, as do market
segments and geographical domains. This increases the responsibility of, and the pressure on, styling
to perform on a strategic level. In order to allow automotive stylists to negotiate form with other disciplines on that strategic level, the
dialogue on form must extend beyond the mere tacit knowledge vocabulary. In our automotive styling
research, embedded in our education program, management models and methods are being developed
to frame and facilitate tacit knowledge and achieve the aforementioned objective. These management tools must contain familiar elements for both disciplines that are involved in
negotiations, i.e. styling and engineering. The ‘styling’-side of these management tools assesses
automotive form through a form hierarchy. The application thereof requires a methodical way of
explorative sketching. This explorative sketching, with the aim to detect a leitmotif in automotive form that represents brand
identity, has been developed over two years in an education environment. Results suggest that specific
sketching methods are appropriate for each level of the form hierarchy, a combination of views that
develop into explorative sketching, and a connotation dialogue to be combined with sketches.

Keywords: Design education, strategic design, tacit knowledge, automotive styling, sketching.

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