Stories on Styling: An in-depth analysis in the argumentation of designers on automotive styling within the Volkswagen Group

Stories on Styling: An in-depth analysis in the argumentation of designers on automotive styling within the Volkswagen Group

Vroom, P.C.T.

Van Grondelle, E.D. (mentor)
Person, F.E.O.K. (mentor)

Industrial Design Engineering

Industrial Design

Master specialisation Automotive

2011-08-19

This graduation report is an in-depth analysis in the argumentation of automotive designers. The goal of the study was to understand how designers cope with the complexity in automotive styling. After a literature review and study in the automotive form buildup, by studying the Automotive Form Hierarchy model, a case study was initiated. Here styling arguments in car styling reviews and car designer interviews were analyzed to elicit the factors involved in automotive styling. The results were coded and an argumentational framework, the Car Styling Mission Framework, was created. This framework encompasses a structure of 4 different mission frames, the corporate, the brand, the model and the designer mission frame. Collectively they elucidate the styling mission of a car in a multi- brand portfolio. Herein each individual mission frame explains the factors involved in the styling of a car, by describing specific styling roles. Further study reveiled how the different mission frames, and especially the designers influence varies between different styling projects. In the discussion on the results of this study it becomes evident that designers cope with the complexity in styling by following a systematic styling approach. Moreover the study concludes that the form heritage of both the brand and model play a important role in this..

styling
automotive
automotive styling
Volkswagen
designers

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:2242b933-8eb4-48e8-a226-fd198dd6cb36

Campus only

Student theses

master thesis

(c) 2011 Vroom, P.C.T.