I’ve known Sam Livingstone for a number of years — 15 to be exact. Over that time span, I’ve been continually impressed by his perspectives on automotive design and his ability to dissect products and strategies. This is a skill set he’s procured over his many years as director of Car Design Research, a UK-based consultancy that works with many of the world’s largest car companies.
For this episode of FORMCAST I decided to record our conversation — which touches on a number of trends, from design in global markets, divergence and convergence — timecodes below if you want to skip around — to provide listeners with unparalleled insight into the current state and the future of mobility design.
We covered a lot of ground in this one and, thanks to Sam’s fascinating insight into the world of car design, our conversation turned into an erudite discussion on:
- 3:15 – What is Car Design Research?
- 6:20 – Clients programs and influence
- 8:40 – The drawbacks of consultancy
- 13:00 – The blurring of car design typologies
- 16:00 – International cultural consumption; regional infrastructures
- 18:50 – Chinese market informing others and missed opportunities
- 20:55 – Breaking from western-centric ideas to reinvent the car in China
- 26:30 – Designing for a usage scenario, not just the man
- 28:00 – New possibilities afforded by thinking of mobility as secondary
- 36:00 – The falsehood of brands reaching too far – unless it’s a Porsche pipe!
- 42:20 – Fractionally-owned cars enables more spending and new opportunities
- 46:30 – Personalization will be less individual and more about the fleet
- 50:40 – 19 years at the Royal College of Art. What’s changed?
- 55:10 – Getting comfortable with the uncomfortable in the car design process
- 57:20 – Why taking risks in design is not always good…
