Trans RINA, Vol 153, Part C1, Intl J Marine Design, Jul - Dec 2011 4.
AUTOMOTIVE DESIGN LANGUAGE USING SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS
Ferdinard de Saussure (1857-1913) devised a system of signs in his analysis of language and linguistics. A ‘sign’ is the complete communication of an idea; it can be broken into two parts: The idea itself, (the ‘signified’) and the method of communication, (the ‘signifier’)
This has been applied to design theory: A signifier is the physical form which a sign takes and the signified is the concept that the sign represents5
Cassab and Se, state that
“In the context of design studies, the deconstruction of sign into signifier and the signified is a useful technique that can be used to identify the meanings that a particular design of a product may communicate to consumers.”6
Automotive design is full of ‘signifieds’ and ‘signifiers’
4.1 WHAT ‘SIGNS’ ARE USERS/CUSTOMERS THINKING OF?
The “signified” message can change depending upon the cultural context in which the automobile, the signifier, is seen.
Users interpret a product individual
based thoughts, beliefs, on values,
their and
attitudes, and their emotional associations with the product;
In turn, products may help users communicate their personal ideas, beliefs, and aspirations to others.
Users find products satisfying when they are useful, (e.g. enabling products) pleasurable to use (e.g., sensory, fun, easy to use) or associated with desired values (e.g., thoughtful design, quality materials, efficiency) or emotions (e.g., happiness, love).
4.2 WHAT ‘SIGNS’ ARE DESIGNERS THINKING OF?
The automotive design language used by automotive designers uses many ‘signifiers’ to communicate with the customers.
5.
AUTOMOTIVE DESIGN LANGUAGE:
Surfaces are created around tight engineering packaging respecting multiple constraints Appeals directly to the emotions Uses complex surfaces
Uses positional tangent and curvature transitions between these complex surfaces.
Figure 3 Highlights in automotive design
Uses the inherent dynamics of the vehicle to create dynamic sculpture
Plays with the balance of mass and volume Uses conscious and
language to imply functionality
Uses various signifiers to promote the positive signifieds and disguise the negative ones
Some of the signifiers may be a physical object, the shape of an air vent for example, but often the signifiers and non-separable:
physical entities which can be held apart from the object. 5.1
HIGHLIGHTS Highlights are reflections across the bodywork/surfaces
Highlights accentuate the dynamic of the automobile in two ways –
When the automobile is in motion, they are not necessarily separate subconscious semantic
the
highlights are moving as the car passes through the environment.
Where the Automobile is stationary and the observer is moving past or changing their viewpoint, the highlights move
In Figure 3 below we can see the shape of the highlight on this Porsche is a dynamic ‘S’ shape, which when viewed with a moving eye point
bodywork. The Porsche 911 (993) model has many such highlights
“A genuinely good design succeeds in achieving not just an aesthetic harmony in its visual presentation but also a harmony
between the less easily visible aspect
engineering and economics, proving to be practical to use and profitable to manufacture”7
Highlights are created by the surface continuity. travels across the
©2011: The Royal Institution of Naval Architects
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