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Designworks LA CEO Julia de Bono on The Evolving "Face" of Auto Design, plus a BMW Grille Timeline

Insight from BMW's design innovation studio

By Julia de Bono - June 27

in Cars

Every face tells a unique, personal story, serving as a central connector between human beings. Our ability to read faces unlocks relationships from the moment we are born. Research shows that newborns have an innate preference for face-like patterns. They are drawn to faces with open eyes and expressions of interest, indicating they are attuned to social engagement and building emotional bonds.

When designing objects like cars, which have deeply rooted cultural meaning, we often sketch face-like compositions. They have evolved from purely functional arrangements like on the BMW 328 from 1936, to iconic brand features of headlights, kidney grille, and the BMW roundel with the introduction of the BMW 1500, the Original Neue Klasse in 1961.

Cars can be designed to look friendly, determined, or majestic, intuitively telling the story of potential, trust, and identity. Personally, I would like to believe that as car designers, we give cars a face so we can see their soul. Through design, we tap into the emotional side of a vehicle and form a bond between car and driver, driving us to create meaningful products.

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Visualized: A Timeline of BMW Grilles across 19 Models and Concepts

BMW 303 (1933)

BMW 503 (1956)

BMW 507 (1956)

BMW 1500 (1961)

BMW M1 (1978)

BMW 3 Series (1990)

BMW 3 Series (2011)

BMW i3 (2013)

BMW 8 Series, BMW Z4 (2018)

BMW 3 Series Sedan (2018)

BMW Vision iNEXT (2018), M NEXT (2019)

BMW X7, BMW 7 Series (2019)

BMW 4 Series Coupe (2020)

BMW i5 (2023)

BMW i7 (2022)

BMW iX2 (2024)

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It starts with a face, but doesn't end there

Humans connect through listening and empathizing. While modern technology often seems to separate us from these human traits, as designers, we must focus on crafting experiences that integrate technology to enhance the driver's relationship with their car. We must aim to transcend mere function and create deeper, more nuanced human connections in every product interaction.

Since the BMW 1500, cars have become more intelligent and intuitive through technological advances like head-up displays, gesture and voice control, and customizable driving modes. They function as multi-sensory systems with multi-modal abilities, much like humans do.

The car's face is also evolving. Recent vision vehicles transform the vehicle's front-end into a single interaction area. A lighting effect with precise three-dimensional animation initiates intuitive interaction between the human and their vehicle as soon as they approach the car. It's not just the outer aesthetics that form the face, but how the car interacts with people. These "faces" elevate humanized experiences and interactions, making drivers feel seen and understood like never before. Future cars will respond in ways true to their character - caring, perceptive, enthusiastic, introspective, adventurous, silly, creative.

In-car intelligence is growing exponentially, becoming increasingly precise in sensing passengers' needs and wants. For example, it can sense when a person is tired, stressed or happy. This sensitivity has the potential to enhance everyday wellbeing experiences, responding to mood through facial recognition and other technologies to enhance the journey.

As a designer, I'm excited about how this emotional connection will deepen, allowing technology to reconnect not just with the car itself, but also with the world around us and with nature for a more symbiotic relationship.

Humanized Experiences

Immersing oneself into a world is a powerful means of connection. Today's drive modes, like sport or comfort, offer shortcuts to pre-set configurations that personalize and enhance the driving experience. Through perfect orchestration of sensual elements such as sound, light, textures, animated artwork, temperature, etc., designers are creating even more immersive environments within the car. Future car interiors will allow drivers to explore digital worlds from within, transforming the car into a portal to entirely different realms of entertainment, gaming or wellbeing.

As we re-evaluate the soul of the car, opportunities for experiential automotive design multiply. Embracing intelligent systems, like AI, allows us to enhance what we love about cars: going beyond a commodity to get from A to B towards a fully humanized experience with a trusted, soulful companion.

Photography and Renderings Courtesy of BMW

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Lucas Gruner

4 months ago

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I'm concerned that this seems to be a prevailing attitude in car design: immersing the driver into the car, with less focus on their awareness of other people outside the car (or those peoples' safety). We're dealing with increasing amounts road rage, distracted driving, and car crashes: will all of this technology help fix these problems? Why does a car need to be a gaming platform, or a wellness experience, or an AI companion? I'd rather less people were dying on the road, and designers could play a large role in making that happen.
People are struggling to afford cars right now anyway, car manufacturers should be focusing on simple, practical vehicles that provide a lot of utility at low cost. There are plenty of opportunities to create expressive, interesting cars without resorting to all of this expensive, distracting claptrap. Lots of people just want to get from A to B without breaking the bank.

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- Alan Nomoto
  
  Lucas Gruner
  
  4 months ago
  
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  Absolutely agree & could not have said it better. It:s ironic with gargantuan infotainment systems in today’s age of “connectivity” we’re are woefully disconnected from each other.
  
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Carmen Roberts

4 months ago

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I think this is a really interesting thought piece on how technology can actually deepen our relationships to these objects. Cars are so emotional to us - a lot of us even name them like they are a trusted friend. I think when thinking about industrial design, this direction can be super useful from a creative and emotional standpoint, really making us think about how we are designing objects to be more meaningful. I think the point here is actually how tech can bring us closer to these important companion objects. This takes into account human emotion and how we connect with our surroundings. Super cool.

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Cass Britten

4 months ago

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Regardless of how a person might feel about BMW’s design direction, I think the point here is focusing on the unique relationship we have with our cars, in-part because they have faces, as our emotional journey often does begin with a face. It’s interesting to think about how technology could augment that relationship, making the car as a companion product even more meaningful to us. I think this is something we should all be thinking about when designing anything, from object to experience. This is showing us there’s a positive path forward amidst rapid tech development. Personally, I’m here for it. I don’t think this is meant to solve every practical concern we have about safety etc. This is discussing a different kind of connectivity.

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Graeme Babbs

4 months ago

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I find this an interesting time in car design. For such a long time the radiator grille has been the public expression of the car (in terms of brand recognition). Think Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Alfa Romeo and, perhaps more than anyone else, BMW. So what do you do when cars no longer need a radiator grille? I haven't seen too many examples of car manufacturers solving this problem yet - many seem to be going for the fake (or in BMW's case, enormous) radiator look. I'm looking forward to more example of manufacturers taking the issue on.

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Richard Kuchinsky

4 months ago

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1000 words and nothing of substance to address the truth beholden to every designer and person with eyes. The current BMW design language is awful and all heritage and sense of taste is gone. This is nonsense.

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