Ferrari's Angelo Nivola on designing with emotion

In an insightful presentation given from the top of the Terrazza Martini tower in Milan, Ferrari's head of exterior and interior design Angelo Nivola broke down the approach and processes that define Ferrari's design language. Below is a lightly edited transcript of Nivola's address. 

"Designing emotion is a meaningful topic for us because we are deeply involved in it every day. I want to look at it from a different perspective, beyond the object itself, to understand where emotion actually comes from.

Let’s do a simple exercise. Imagine you are listening to a song. You hear the voice, the rhythm, the silence. It feels like one complete experience. But behind it are decisions, choices, emotions from the band during the process.

The same happens with cars. Each car starts to make you feel something immediately. Emotion begins to speak to you.

If you look closer, you realise the form alone is not enough. There is something behind it that allows the form to exist. 

Design works within a system. We start from intuition, but it must resolve complexity. There is constant tension between needs, feasibility, engineering, aerodynamics and user experience. This tension is where emotion begins.

We translate all these inputs into a single idea that becomes a product experience. Each stage carries its own emotion.

When I look at a finished car, I remember the people behind it. I remember the work on surface tension, highlights, and even the sound of the tyres during development. All of this becomes embedded in the object.

When the car enters the world, it communicates. It speaks to you. That is the secret.

I will summarise three layers: emotion in design, the process, and the system behind it. They are all connected through audacity, which allows us to push boundaries.

In our studio, we often refer to two ideas. One is from Erich Fromm: “Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties.” That is where everything starts, when you release what is familiar.

The other is: “Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire.” It is not about preserving form, but preserving meaning.

We work in that tension between letting go and preserving what matters.

Sixteen years ago, Ferrari brought design in-house and asked a fundamental question: what is Ferrari design?

It seems simple to design a low, fast car, but it is not. We studied our history and found that we do not have a fixed code. We have an evolving language made of proportions and forms.

Originally, Ferrari was not even a design-led organisation. Coachbuilders interpreted the brand in different ways. Later, collaboration with Pininfarina helped shape a more consistent language, influenced by industrialisation.

From that came what we call linee di forza, or master lines. These hidden lines give each car structure, balance and dynamism. Every Ferrari has its own.

The important thing is not to protect the form, but to protect what makes the form meaningful

We also follow core principles: volumes created through subtraction, controlled tension across surfaces, and a balance of convex and concave forms that also reflect manufacturing capability.

Even complex components like the Purosangue’s cofango show this thinking. It combines bonnet and bumper into a single sculpted element.

Everything is rooted in racing and technical beauty. You can recognise a Ferrari from a few key elements.

What has changed is not the principles, but how they are expressed.

We do not hide performance. We show it. We announce it. The body expresses flow and function.

Performance, emotion and engineering come together until we reach a balance between art and engineering. They are not separate, they are complementary.

Beauty becomes experience. The important thing is not to protect the form, but to protect what makes the form meaningful.

This is where audacity comes in. It has always been part of Ferrari.

Ultimately, what matters most is the team behind the product. It is the team that allows emotion to pass through the object

In recent years, the company has expanded into lifestyle, endurance racing, hypercars and experimental projects. All of these require boldness in technology and collaboration.

Bringing design in-house itself was an act of audacity. It changed mindset and culture, allowing us to work more freely across disciplines such as art, architecture and music.

At the same time, we respect tradition. But every car must maintain its own identity. That is difficult in a brand with such strong DNA.

We also move between vision and reality. Sometimes ideas go from road to race. Sometimes from vision to production. There is a continuous exchange between these worlds.

But with that comes expectation. People think they already know what a Ferrari should be. So you must both respect and exceed those expectations.

Every time the language evolves, there are reactions. That is part of the process. It is also part of how we move forward.

Ultimately, what matters most is the team behind the product. It is the team that allows emotion to pass through the object.

Designing emotion is not just about form. It is about meaning. It is about making the invisible process visible in the final product.

We have a living language that evolves over time, shaped by people, trust and shared understanding. When the car enters the world, it becomes a dialogue between creator and observer.

As Achille Castiglioni said, the object speaks to you. It is a conversation between those who create and those who experience it.

And the driving force behind all of this is audacity, combined with respect for what came before. That is our approach."