Today’s Cars are Too Busy

What is it about car design these days? Everything is busy. Lines here, lines there, voids and scoops, splitters and diffusers, funky lights, crazy big touchscreens. I mean, I sort of get it. All this new tech is exciting and fun. But, come on, really? All that exterior decoration is just too much. Half of it has no function, and a good portion of the functional features really offer no appreciable benefit to mileage or performance. So, what gives? Is this change just to change, or is this symptomatic of something deeper?

I ask because these cars not only look really busy, a lot of them also look angry, aggressive, mean. Is this a reflection on how we are as a society these days? Styles, art and architecture do tend to reflect the society from which they emerge. To my mind, this current trend is not a good thing. I look at some of the trucks and SUVs coming out now, and they in particular have this over-the-top look of macho, in-your-face aggressiveness.

We buy cars at least partly because we like their look – they reflect our mood, our outlook, our tastes. Rarely today do I see a car whose design reflects a cohesive and resolved visual that promotes a classical, harmonious aesthetic. All I see are needlessly complex features disrupting the visual flow, creating dissonance and an unsettled feeling of inappropriate aggression that screams, “Get out of my way! I’m coming through! I’m bigger, badder, and more important than you!”

I do not want to be surrounded by such overt aggression. I don’t want to see it while I’m on the sidewalk, I don’t want to see it in my rearview mirror, I certainly don’t care for it at a car show. These assaults on the eyes are the antithesis of what I look for in art, in nature, in a search of a peaceful island in the business of daily life. Don’t need it, don’t want it, don’t care to see any of it.

It would be okay if someone came out with an aggressive looking car and that was the end of it. But that’s not how it works in commercial art design or the car industry. No one wants to miss out, so they copy each other endlessly, trying to one-up each other and say, “Look at me! Look at me!”

What happened to, yes I’m going to say it, “the good old days?” Car design was simple, elegant, organic, resolved. Yes, there were the cars of the late fifties and sixties where the Jet Age took over with rockets and jet intakes and fins. But that was decorative stuff trying to evoke an excitement for travel and speed. It was more innocent fun than the sinister stuff we see on cars today. Cars today are trying to make you feel nasty and badass so no one else will mess with you. Is it fear of the bad behavior of others we are trying to negate, to stave off? I’m mean, too, so don’t mess with me. It’s like we’re trying to out-intimidate each other. Yeah, that will go over really well. That’s a positive start to everything, isn’t it?

I don’t know, I just don’t like where all this is headed. And, fundamentally, it’s not good design. Good design is supposed to be functional and promote a sense of utility, be consistent with the purpose of the tool’s use and evoke a pleasing, resolved aesthetic encouraging the want to use it. I don’t see that in much of today’s car design. I see angry looking cars driven by grumpy looking people. Not a good sign.

Lastly, where did the law of good design go? When referring to design, Leonardo da Vinci once wrote, “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” Good design encourages as little complexity as possible to achieve its functional goal. Reliability and ease of use are king. Just because we can do something complicated doesn’t mean we should. I don’t want an Apple watch (with an instruction manual) to tell time when a simple, traditional watch will do the same. I don’t need more. I just need to know the time.

I may be old fashioned and showing my age. Some of that’s probably true. Still, there’s nothing like good design to change people’s moods, and we could sure use more smiles and fewer frowns these days.

Let’s get back to designs like the 1960 Ferrari 250 SWB, or the 2008 Aston Martin Vantage, or the 2013 Tesla Model S. Now that’s the kind of good stuff I can’t wait to see more of because it brings a smile to lots of faces, including mine.