I drive for a living (delivering auto parts) so I'm on the road all day looking at other cars. And one thing I've noticed are the front grilles of various vehicles. And the fact that they seem to resemble other things. Maybe I'm just imagining all this. Or maybe I'm right and the inspiration for their design has come from something. Car design I'd guess is either inspired by something or perhaps just thrown together with no thought whatsoever. The latter I would think to be more dangerous for a designer considering that their job depends on their designs being accepted by management. So what pretell could the designers be getting inspiration from?
I'd imagine that the automobile manufacturers put a lot of thought into what their cars look like since they want to sell them to the public and make lots of money. So it stands to reason that, they want their product to stand out from the crowd, be attention getting, be edgy even.
I heard recently that we see things even if there is really nothing to be seen. Simple, random patterns can be thought of as faces, objects, etc. when they were never intended to be. That is surely possible. On the other hand. Perhaps what we see was intended and things were designed to look like something that we do recognize. I would propose this to be true, especially when dealing with something man-made, like car grilles.
There are many examples of this that come to mind--you might have some of your own as well--but the one I bring up today are those of Kia Motors. They have produced cars since 1986 and for a long time I saw very little of note in their front grilles. But, since around 2008 or so this changed. In that year I think their vehicles began to incorporate a similar design element into their front grilles, and today they still have it. And I believe that it was inspired by samurai warrior masks. And in particular the angry mouth that you can see in many of them.
Below I've added a good example drawing of a samurai mask next to a couple of their cars, the 2014 K900 & a 2011 Kia Sorento. I swear to me it looks like the cars are angry at us and about to attack!
I'd imagine that the automobile manufacturers put a lot of thought into what their cars look like since they want to sell them to the public and make lots of money. So it stands to reason that, they want their product to stand out from the crowd, be attention getting, be edgy even.
I heard recently that we see things even if there is really nothing to be seen. Simple, random patterns can be thought of as faces, objects, etc. when they were never intended to be. That is surely possible. On the other hand. Perhaps what we see was intended and things were designed to look like something that we do recognize. I would propose this to be true, especially when dealing with something man-made, like car grilles.
There are many examples of this that come to mind--you might have some of your own as well--but the one I bring up today are those of Kia Motors. They have produced cars since 1986 and for a long time I saw very little of note in their front grilles. But, since around 2008 or so this changed. In that year I think their vehicles began to incorporate a similar design element into their front grilles, and today they still have it. And I believe that it was inspired by samurai warrior masks. And in particular the angry mouth that you can see in many of them.
Below I've added a good example drawing of a samurai mask next to a couple of their cars, the 2014 K900 & a 2011 Kia Sorento. I swear to me it looks like the cars are angry at us and about to attack!
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