From comics to car design
20. There are many new types of art that have appeared in the XVII century. I think there are very big similarities between two of them: Comics and car dec. I think that this similarity arises from the relationship between dec and movement. This similarity and relationship can teach us amazing things.
How about moving with the line? In fact, we encounter examples of this almost every day. I can start a movement in your brain right now by drawing two dots and a line on a piece of paper 🙂 I can change the direction of movement in your brain by inverting only one of the lines 🙁 Neuroscientists explain how we can go from three lines to happy or sad feeling states as follows:
Emotions have the power to act, to execute in the brain. Our emotions affect our decisions, thought processes, memories and that moment, that is, our past and current experiences. Controlling happiness depends on our ability to understand, cope with and effectively use our emotional energy.
Dec Dec English versions of these words, the relationship between emotion and movement becomes much clearer: it is no coincidence that the difference between the words Emotion and Motion consists of a single letter. The Latin origin of the word emotion is “emotion”, which means energy in motion.
Let me show you the energy in motion now: Superman. When we look at this illustration, we see much more than a two-point line that I just made. These, in turn, lead to a movement in our brain, but trigger more complex emotions and ideas: strength, courage, freedom. Comic book designers use certain techniques to stimulate us with such feelings: symbols, perspective, lighting, colors, shapes and sounds.
The interesting thing is that car designers also use the same techniques. For example, Kai Langer, one of the most important designers in the world, says:
“When you want to create emotion in comics, you work with contrasts of light and dark, sunlight and shadow; this creates a feeling of tension. The same applies to cars, you can use the mystery to attract the viewer's attention by adding shadows to the volume.”
Kai Langer, the head of the BMW i design team, was formerly a musician and comic book writer. After studying transportation design, he started to apply what he learned from the characters he added mystery to with the light shadow games to cars. To make the matter more concrete, he gave some special design features of the BMW i4 as an example.
Shapes
Looking at the body of Superman, the first thing that catches our attention in terms of shape is a triangular body and muscular rounded lines. According to David Colman, an Emmy Award-winning character designer, when we look at a character, the first thing that attracts attention is his face shape, posture, and body language.
Communicating a personality through body language and silhouette is much more powerful than showing emotions only through facial expressions. Therefore, comics artists first design the head and body of the characters with the primary shapes: triangle, circle, rectangle or square. He then goes into details. Colors can be interpreted in different ways from culture to culture, but shapes have a more universal meaning throughout the world.
Those who designed the car body think in a similar way. Anders Thøgersen says exactly this: "Before your first pencil strokes, think about the shape and perspective of the car. But also leave a space for improvisation – the perfect idea will gradually appear.”
There is a difficulty that needs to be overcome when it comes to the shape of cars. It should not only be beautiful, mysterious and attractive. It should also have a streamlined shape. Especially if an electric car is to be designed, the shape of the body directly affects the efficiency.
Colors
In comics, you can find a character that corresponds to almost any part of the color spectrum. There are black characters, blue characters, green characters.yesil There are also whites, oranges, reds, pinks, yellows and purples. We can try to explain them with color symbolism, but as I just said, this can vary from culture to culture.
Aware of this fact, car designers prefer to choose colors from a more specialized palette. Colors, just like shapes, give the car a feeling and make the materials reflect. Designers know that the car will always interact with its surroundings.
For example, a silver-colored car in sunlight looks almost blue, as it reflects the sky. On the other hand, in shaded areas, such as the floor of the car, silver can get a very warm shade.
To reflect these variations, BMW introduced a very interesting innovation at CES 2022 last month. A car that changes color. A technology similar to the electronic ink used in book readers allows the entire body of the car to change color in a matter of seconds. Why do you think they developed this idea, which is still at the concept stage?
For the same reasons as the idea of coloring comic book characters. Personalization. Reflecting identity in colors. In addition, information communication with colors can also be provided in the future. For example, it may be possible to transfer the battery status of the car to its outer surface. And, of course, it can also have a functional purpose. It may be possible to change the color according to the condition of the air and make the most effective use of sunlight or to control the heat inside by reflecting it. When it comes to car design, colors such as shapes also affect efficiency.
Illumination
Even if you don't do coloring in the comic book world, you have to do shading. Light and shadow games add dimension to the characters. It changes their facial expression. You can see it even just in the eyes. When you put two small luminous dots inside two circular shadows, you get a curious look. Different shading or light carving reveals different eyes.
The eyes of a car can be considered the same way. The art of expressing with light. From whatever perspective you look at it, it should have an expression. The entire design should continue to reflect its identity in different lighting situations and not compromise its strong stance.
When designers do shading, they initially leave all the up-facing surfaces blank. Because these are the areas where the light falls. Then they reveal a form by gradually scanning all other areas in gray. In daylight, the upward-facing surfaces of vehicles reflect the sky and, accordingly, are brighter than the areas facing the ground. Automotive design is strengthened precisely by these values of lightness and darkness created by the contrast of lighter and darker areas, that is, by lighting and shading features.
Voices
Is there a voice in a comic book? Of course. We read what the characters are saying from the speech bubbles coming out of their mouths. We learn how they feel from thought balloons. It is the sounds that make this new branch of art, which emerged from the combination of literature and painting, stand out from them. If there was only writing in this narrative genre, we would call it a novel, if there were only cartoons, wouldn't we? Here, thanks to the sounds, the lines are almost moving. It's starting to come alive. Drawings are becoming more and more human.
The situation is also very similar in the automobile world. Since its early days, the visual characteristics of a vehicle, as well as its auditory characteristics, have been being designed. Those who are curious about this topic can listen to the first episode on my podcast. I explained in detail in that section how the sounds made by internal combustion engines in particular can be designed.
But now we are transitioning to the era of electric cars. Electric motors are much quieter. For some, this situation is like a comic book with speech bubbles or sound effects disappearing. However, the power of sound on our emotions is incredible! We all know that music can make us happy or sad, and a really annoying noise can drive us crazy in half a second.
Now let me give you an example of the relationship we have established between comics and dec design related to sounds. Hans Zimmer, the Oscar-winning German-born composer who composed the soundtrack for ”Man of Steel", has again done the sound design of BMW's electric cars, a German brand. The purpose is again to reflect the identity of the vehicle.
Depending on the “My Mode” selected in the sound design, the model-specific defined sound spectrum changes. “My Mode” in electric BMW cars creates a holistic user experience in the interior, which is adjusted to the personal preferences of the driver.
For example, when ”Personal“ or ”Comfort mode" is selected, the type of sound you hear indoors is also the basis for the driving sound heard outside by the acoustic pedestrian warning system.
“You feel connected if you have the right voices. What we're trying to do in the car is humanize the technology, humanize the experience, humanize the journey.” - Hans Zimmer
So the design of sound is also related to the design of emotion. On the one hand, there is also a functional side. It provides the driver with error-free acoustic feedback on the power distribution of the engine and the current driving situation.
"Cars carry people from point A to point B. But we also believe that cars can also move people emotionally.” - Renzo Vitale
Before moving on to another striking feature between comics and car design, I would like to mention the New BMW i4, the first all-electric Gran Coupé dec (collaboration).
The new BMW i4 core stands out with its first all-electric car in the segment, the BMW i4 edrive 40, and the first electric M version, the BMW i4 M50. The BMW i4 eDrive40 model has a range of 590 km. The BMW i4 M50 model shows excellent performance, reaching a speed of 0-100 km/h in 3.9 seconds with a power of 544 horsepower.
