Understanding the impact of design on marketing, brand and user experience

Vehicle design is undergoing an unprecedented transformation. Megatrends such as autonomy, digitalization and electrification as well as socio-cultural factors such as sustainability are forcing design leaders to think far beyond the car’s shape, comfort and colors.

Vehicle design -- better defined as “mobility design” today -- now requires an understanding of how to craft the overall user experience, which demands input from internal experts with new skillsets as well as external partners.

As we delve deeper into this subject, we need to define the difference between styling and design. Styling is very closely related to aesthetics. Most of us use the phrase “this is well designed” when speaking about the styling of an object that is aesthetically pleasing to our eye.

Design is the entire process of a creative product development. It not only includes styling but also functionality and user and customer experience to name a few of the elements. Dieter Rams has summarized is better than most in his 10 principles of design.

The internal potential of an automaker’s creative department is incredible. During my career as a consultant to the vehicle design industry, I have rarely encountered a design department that was not creative enough to development new ideas outside of their bubble of styling a car. However, there are two major challenges that car companies need to tackle.

1. Most top-level executives struggle to understand the difference between styling and design. Members of the creative department and still often seen as “artists” working for the manufacturer. When a product is created, questions about experiences, culture, society, infrastructure and sustainability are often undermined by factors such as marketing, sales and engineering. The creative team certainly also has the capability to design services and experiences. But for that to happen the design department needs to be elevated to the C-level of the business and allowed it to closely collaborate with the other top-level departments.
2. Vacant design management positions have often been filled by the person who was thought have the best creative mind rather than the person with best combination of a business/management savvy and design creativity. For a long time, this was simply not required because the focus was just on selling cars. In today’s world, one does not need to be a manufacturer to build a brand. Business models change and these changes have a profound impact on the creative departments. To lead these departments, the person in charge must be an outstanding manager as well as a great creative mind. This person also must be capable of creating strong bonds with other departments while still maintaining independence.

Change is never easy but the companies that decide to trust and empower the talented people working within the automotive world by re-organizing structures to tap into their full creative potential will reap huge dividends.