Soundbites:: Ford Motor Company Designer Anthony Prozzi
While a new study, conducted by the RDA group, says fuel economy is foremost in the minds of customers these days, design and appearance is not far behind. Ford Motor Company Designer Anthony Prozzi, formerly a fashion designer for Donna Karen, says regardless of whether you're designing an article of clothing, a piece of furniture or something that has four wheels, the principles are all the same.
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"We always look to the silhouette, the shape, the proportion, how it fits, does it transmit the right message, does it communicate the emotions you're looking for….those are the sort of things, especially with fashion that we really we're very sensitive towards." :16 sec |
So that's why a Mustang, looks like a Mustang, according to Prozzi, or a truck has to say "tough". Cars like the Fiesta, or Fusion transmit other statements. Fiesta says, smart, urban, really cool and hip, while Fusion says the same, but in a more upscale sort of way. |
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"I think what fusion has done, it broke a lot of boundaries where you don't need to spend a million dollars to get something that is well crafted and well designed." :08 sec. |
In order to sense what the trends are among the buying public, Prozzi works with focus groups and his design team simultaneously, always reaching for those intangibles. |
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"How does this translate to the values that these people are adapting and how do you take all that information and then transform it into a three-dimensional object that the can drive, sense, touch, feel, smell." :14 sec. |
Prozzi says that much of what we can expect in future vehicle design will come from what is happening globally. |
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"It's no mystery that people are moving back into urban cities, I think there are something like 3-billion people living now in urban cities and these people are being exposed to so many different cultures, so many diverse viewpoints, that they become very sensitive to all the fine details." :17 sec. |
Growing up in New York, Prozzi 's exposure to other cultures was plentiful, exposing him to a mixture of backgrounds that influences his design of vehicles and the texture used inside them. As he says, he knows what customers want even before they do. |
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"So when you get into a vehicle like the Focus and you look at all the surfaces, all the nuances and textures and the mix of materials that that's what makes design so exciting right now, we're taking it to a whole new level, that we're really getting inside people's thought's and even when they can't say what they want, we know what they want and we can give it to them." :25 sec. |
According to Prozzi, the power of design is that first impression when you look at something. There is an emotional connection. |
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"That's what's going to drive the want to buy this thing or to aspire to have it." :08 sec. |
The future also brings new questions to designers about sustainability and environmental responsibility. |
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"Things need to be made from materials that are sustainable, that are not just eco, but what I'm terming Eco Superior. That we can take all these ideas and produce a product that's even better because it's electric, or because it's Hybrid and because it's made out of recycled materials and materials that don't pollute." :23 sec |
Prozzi contends that he cannot stand by a company that does not abide by those rules, and as a designer he must abide by those rules. |
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"That's what's going to drive the want to buy this thing or to aspire to have it." :08 sec. |
The future also brings new questions to designers about sustainability and environmental responsibility. |
