One of the most powerful tools in the automotive styling studio is an ordinary roll of tape. This short video from Ford shows how tape is used as a visual language. Fascinating stuff, check it out.
The artists and designers in the Motor City’s styling studios have a host of sophisticated resources at their disposal, from clay models to advanced CAD systems. However, one of the most useful tools is a simple roll of tape.
Tape has multiple uses in the studio, but two illustrated here include tape models—full-size elevations rendered on a wall in tape, where lines and features can be quickly lifted and altered at will. Once completed, these tape drawings are used as a dimensional reference in creating full-size, three-dimensional clay models.
In a similar way, tape (often, ordinary paper masking tape) is used on clay models as a language among designers and modelers, expressing complex visual ideas without words but with great speed and efficiency. “Tape gives us a defined line that is like a carpenter laying a level line on a building,” says Larry Pelowski, Ford master modeler, exterior design. “So when the designers put tape on the model, there is no question what their intent is.”
Thanks to Ford for this valuable glimpse inside the automotive design process. Video below.
I got a tour of Lincoln’s design studio about a month ago when I dropped off my Continental Mark II for designer inspiration. I got to see the tape in use and the models at work.
I don’t know if it’s true in other studios, but my observation was that the design team seemed rather young while the modelers appeared more mature. The modelers sure got the “craft” part of craftsman right.
What else struck me was that all of the designers were at giant monitors and all of the drafting tables were empty. Sign of the times, or a lost craft?
We have a number of stylists and modelers, including at Ford, who are readers here. Hope they will weigh in.
I work with stylists frequently in vehicle integration. Same as in engineering, paper drafting is obsolete there as well. The tube is far more powerful and useful. It’s drafting also, simply another medium.