However, there is so much more to design than just making things look good. And thankfully, the market is warming up to this fact. When a product is introduced in the market today, it needs to be designed in such a way that it balances performance, aesthetics, and value. And this is applies to every thing from art frames to electronics. But cars? Honestly, I never gave them a thought. I love bikes more than I love cars but love them nonetheless. Yes, I have appreciated the way a model looks, even drooled over some but have never digged in more about their designs like I do with electronics. And I can safely say (without exaggerating) that I was blown away by the extent of thought that goes into designing a car when I had a chat with the Chief Designer - Sandeep Karyakarte & Chief Engineer - Anand Kulkarni. 

So what goes into designing a car? Apart from the basics that include sketching the customer, studying their preferences, listening to their conservations, keeping a tab on the competition, the designers have a free reign to go wild and let their minds wander  to come up with their expression of the car. And don't we designers love a brief with no restrictions! 

Sketch, re-sketch, sketch, re-sketch keeping the product team's brief in mind leads to 50-100 sketches for a single model. Phew, extensive. And just the start. Enter the engineers, car experts, management, product team, and more, who together make zillion changes based on the ergonomics, expected performance, and aesthetics, to make their life difficult and customer's live easier. From 100 to cut down to 'One go to model beats any amount of forth and back that I do in advertising! That's my cue to shut my mouth forever and never crib again. 

Enter scale modelers, clay modelers, graphic designers, 3D artists along with zillion times forth and back with the engineering team. The design finally sees shape in a one third scale model. Which is then remodeled while world wars are fought between design and engineering to reduce milometers from the design. Finally, it is time for the actual scale model to be transformed into the final product. 

The design of this car is motion even when it is stationary. It makes a lot of difference to see the final product after you have heard its complete design process. The cuts, lines, curves, and feel makes so much more sense. The ergonomics, interiors, and build speak to you and make you realize there is much more to car designing than sketching a simple model and fitting an engine into it. And this is just about the design, add interiors, engineering, features, technology, a class engine, and more and you have a huge task on hand. But the design team definitely has given me enough insight into their design process and I no longer feel I have the toughest job in the world. 

Some thanks are due...

Special thanks to the Blogadda team who made this interaction happen. :) Cheers to you and keep up the amazing work. 

~Sneha