Automotive design analytics
Automobile design analysis is a method for identifying the symbolic effect of automobile designs on the viewer. It is based on the findings of scientific design research. The method enables a differentiated determination of the individually effective external attractiveness of an automobile beyond the subjective taste perception.
As part of the analysis, formal attractiveness factors of an automobile are assessed with regard to the following requirement parameters:
- Correspondence to globally valid physiognomic beauty ideals.
- The strengths of the brand, the vehicle market segment and the country of origin are reflected in facial expressions and body language.
- Anticipation of future attractiveness preferences, for example those that arise from a change in the values of the automobile.
method
As part of the automotive design analysis, the design and market success quality of a vehicle is determined using the following evaluation criteria:
- Physiognomic and aesthetic quality
- Iconic quality
- Brand and product appeal
- Gestalt-formal value
- Perspective attractiveness
result
The result of the investigation based on the above-mentioned evaluation criteria of the automotive shape is the individual measure of the worldwide design-market success quality of a vehicle.
Scientific derivation
Perception of the automotive design
The central questions are: How does the common observer perceive an automobile and its design? What associations does the perception of an automobile evoke? What does the respective form and its symbolism express? Here anthropomorphism plays a central role.
anthropomorphism
According to the Austrian psychologist and writer Werner Stangl , anthropomorphism describes the attribution of human characteristics to animals, gods, forces of nature and the like. This is a form of humanization that can relate to both shape and behavior.
Due to the multiple analogies in form and behavior, a high degree of humanization and / or rendering it more humane can be observed in the automobile in particular. Vehicles are often assigned human as well as animal shape attributes or behavior. A prime example of this is the successful film A great Beetle , in which a VW Beetle assumes human characteristics as the focus of the action. The television series Knight Rider followed later . Here, too, a humanized, “quasi-living” automobile is the protagonist.
According to automobile design researcher Peter Rosenthal, automobile design has a different effect than product design: “Is there a stereo system, lamp or wall unit, for example, that one ascribes a smile to or that is said to have strong shoulders or a crisp buttocks? The fact is: In the hands of the designer, a car takes on essential features and is equipped with similarities to animals and humans. ”According to Thomas Krämer-Badoni, the car has a quasi-organism character - like humans and animals, the car needs liquid fuel as“ food ". It also "exhales" exhaust gases and is able to sing or roar.
Furthermore, the line of development from horse to automobile presumably contributed to its pronounced humanization. At the beginning of automobilization, the horse was viewed as a “quasi-machine”, which means a reversal of the principle of humanization. Louis Baudry de Saunier wrote in 1902: “It can be said with certainty that the horse - a weak, fragile, unrepairable, dangerous, costly and dirty engine - is destined to disappear. … His bones cannot be soldered, and when the heads of his front piston rods, his knees, are open, they cannot be repaired even superficially with any enamel. ... In terms of the attractiveness of a vehicle, the front of a vehicle has to appear as a beautiful face, which also corresponds to the character and image of the vehicle whose correlations make a vehicle appear attractive or repulsive. An unsuitable childlike expression on the face of a stately, serious vehicle does not fail to act as a pronounced anti-attractiveness factor.
Automobile physiognomy
Translated from the Greek, physiognomy means the assessment of the human face and body - that is, of non-verbal communication. In the case of the automotive physiognomy, it is analogous to the analysis of the symbolic language of the automotive face and body. Martin Gründl - attractiveness researcher in the human area - and Peter Rosenthal have dealt in a joint research study with the transferability of knowledge from humans to automobiles. The result is a large number of aspects of attractiveness of the human face and body that can be transferred directly and indirectly to the shape of the automobile. Since these are basic aesthetic, anthropologically sound aspects of attractiveness, they are valid worldwide.
Automobile facial expressions and posture
In addition to physiognomy, which examines human design features in a neutral, emotion-free resting position, research on facial expressions deals with the emotional, non-verbal expressive behavior of the human face. The same applies to posture. Human as well as animal facial expressions show the other person's inner mood - such as joy, fear, anger, sadness, surprise etc. The human posture, on the other hand, symbolizes relaxation / tension or a claim to power / submission. The Facial Action Coding System (FACS), published by Paul Ekman and Wallace Friesen in 1978, represents a significant leap in facial expression research. This reliable, objective set of instruments enables the differentiated classification of human facial expressions for the first time. Since these are also anthropologically based and therefore globally identical aspects of attractiveness, this system can largely be transferred to the automotive symbolic language and, according to Cardesign Analytics, is a central component for the objective assessment of automotive design.
Iconic quality, brand and product appeal
Further aspects of the attractiveness of automotive design that are currently gaining in importance are a distinctive iconic quality and the visualization of the brand or model character of a vehicle. The background is the increasing number of models. According to a dpa report from 2015, there were around 100 different vehicle variants in 1990. In 2014 there were already over 400 vehicle model variants. With this still growing diversity, the ability to differentiate between individual models and their assignment within the framework of a structure that appears logical to the observer is becoming increasingly important. Because according to the philosopher, anthropologist and sociologist Arnold Gehlen "human culture essentially consists in creating order and stabilizing". A comprehensive perception of an object - in the sense of its registration in a highly complex environment - therefore requires specific, order-relevant properties of this object or its environment. Correspondingly, according to Peter Rosenthal, the iconicity of a vehicle design in the sense of a distinctive, unmistakable design that corresponds to the brand character is becoming increasingly important in a growing mass market. Corresponding vehicles are becoming much more attractive. Examples are the Porsche 911 , the Mini and the Fiat 500 .
Automotive value
The growing attractiveness of a high-quality automotive design is causally related to the rather low quality of today's vehicles, which customers feel. Whether it is the still common use of inferior visible or palpable plastic components, sometimes chrome-coated, or the common parts strategy of the automotive industry, in which central elements such as the engine are used in different brands - this gives the impression of a currently lower overall value or arbitrariness of the Automobiles compared to models that were produced before the “plastic age”. An indication of this is the increasing demand for high-quality vehicles such as classic cars.
literature
- Peter Rosenthal: Automobildesign und Gesellschaft - On aspects of attractiveness of the automotive design symbolism as media of social structuring. Dissertation, Darmstadt 2000
Individual evidence
- ↑ Werner Stangl: Anthropomorphism. Online Lexicon for Psychology and Education 2018 , accessed January 8, 2019
- ↑ Peter Rosenthal: The grid of success. in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. April 20, 2010
- ↑ Thomas Krämer-Badoni et al: On the socio-economic significance of the automobile. Frankfurt a. M. 1971
- ↑ Louis Baudry de Saunier: Basic concepts of automobilism. Vienna, Leipzig 1902
- ^ Paul Ekman, Wallace V. Friesen: Facial Action Coding System: A Technique for the Measurement of Facial Movement. Consulting Psychologists Press, Palo Alto , Calif. 1978, OCLC 605256401
- ^ Arnold Gehlen: Anthropological research. Reinbek 1961