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It was definitely a stretched association. I'm still surprised how far the author ran this article off the rails though: > Perhaps now, a window is opening to

It was definitely a stretched association. I'm still surprised how far the author ran this article off the rails though: > Perhaps now, a window is opening to add more women like Christensen to design teams, and to infuse more femininity, or even androgyny, into car design. > Perhaps, though, it may not always feel that the end result of designing for women resonates with men and women alike, much less the LGBTQIA+ community. What if I'm just, a normal person? What if I don't want to give you the marketing details of my gender or my sexuality or personal insecurity, and just want a normal car? I get the feeling that tuning current designs towards "androgynous" market demand would just put us back where we are today. The engineering part of me is so frustrated and sad after reading this. I don't understand where the author is coming from and it feels like an in-joke gone too far.

JohnFen 3y ago
Yes. I don't think of more refined/friendly aesthetics as "feminine", either. Maybe I just don't tend to automatically assign gender to design aesthetics. The author clearly views the world through a different lens than I do. That's actually fair and fine. We all view the world through our own lenses, and each of our lenses distort our view in their own unique ways.
vba616 3y ago
I swear I remember that a woman succeeded Chris Bangle at BMW and the subsequent designs were a lot better looking. However, when I google it I see that Adrian van Hooydonk came after him. >an in-joke gone too far "Donny, these men are nihilists, there's nothing to be afraid of"
- vba616 3y ago
  Here's an interesting link: http://www.bmwism.com/bmws_designers.htm http://www.bmwism.com/bmws_designers.htm Juliane Blasi, a "German designer educated at Pforzheim University of Applied Sciences in Design, Technology and Business" says: “If you look at the car you should not be able to see whether it was designed by a woman or a man” Nadya Arnaout, a "German automotive interior designer educated at Hochschule für Gestaltung (HfG – Academy of Art and Design) in Offenbach am Main, Hesse and at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA" designed interiors for BMWs until 2010 when she left to become the "lead interior designer at Tesla Motors". I can't find anyone on the page who seems to be the design chief whose name I've forgotten. Wikipedia claims the F10 5-series was designed (exterior) by Jacek Fröhlich.

JohnFen 3y ago

Yes. I don't think of more refined/friendly aesthetics as "feminine", either. Maybe I just don't tend to automatically assign gender to design aesthetics. The author clearly views the world through a different lens than I do. That's actually fair and fine. We all view the world through our own lenses, and each of our lenses distort our view in their own unique ways.

vba616 3y ago

I swear I remember that a woman succeeded Chris Bangle at BMW and the subsequent designs were a lot better looking. However, when I google it I see that Adrian van Hooydonk came after him. >an in-joke gone too far "Donny, these men are nihilists, there's nothing to be afraid of"

vba616 3y ago
Here's an interesting link: http://www.bmwism.com/bmws_designers.htm http://www.bmwism.com/bmws_designers.htm Juliane Blasi, a "German designer educated at Pforzheim University of Applied Sciences in Design, Technology and Business" says: “If you look at the car you should not be able to see whether it was designed by a woman or a man” Nadya Arnaout, a "German automotive interior designer educated at Hochschule für Gestaltung (HfG – Academy of Art and Design) in Offenbach am Main, Hesse and at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA" designed interiors for BMWs until 2010 when she left to become the "lead interior designer at Tesla Motors". I can't find anyone on the page who seems to be the design chief whose name I've forgotten. Wikipedia claims the F10 5-series was designed (exterior) by Jacek Fröhlich.