Why DCA refuses to fake it

In an automotive industry increasingly defined by software, artificial intelligence and digital experiences, it has never been easier to create something theoretical that looks convincing. At Warwick-based design consultancy DCA, however, there remains a deep-seated belief in making things real.

That philosophy runs through its studios, workshops and laboratories, where model makers work alongside designers and engineers, prototypes are built and rebuilt, and ideas subjected to rigorous testing. “If I wanted to pull something together quickly in the workshops, I can,” says Dominic Hargreaves. “I’m not limited to what I can do on my computer.”

That hands-on culture remains important despite the technology surrounding it. Where model makers once shaped objects from foam, they now fettle 3D-printed components, perfect finishes and make complex assemblies function.

“Handcraft is still very much here,” says Hargreaves. “There’s no other way to do it. So it’s really important to keep this craft alive.”

For Hargreaves, the ability to move between designing and making is fundamental to DCA. “If you’ve got an idea, we’re pretty good at making it,” he says.

Making something, however, is only the beginning. Throughout DCA there is an equally strong emphasis on finding out whether it actually works.

“Theory can only take you so far.  Some things have to be experienced,” says Hargreaves. “I think that’s a big part of what we are – try it for real; don’t fake it.  It allows us to be more adventurous with our ideas because we know that they will be thoroughly tested”

Prototypes can be subjected to controlled drop testing, while environmental chambers cycle products through different temperatures, pressures and humidity levels. Other equipment measures dimensions, forces and torque with extreme accuracy. That becomes particularly relevant when developing the small interactions that contribute to perceived quality inside a vehicle.

“If an interaction feels a little bit coarse, we can iterate the design and modify the rig until we get the exact feel we’re looking for,” explains Andrew Wallace.

Wallace points to DCA’s work developing an actuator for the Lynx deodorant as an example from outside the automotive world. The brief was for the cap mechanism to provide a “buttery feel”. Sensory rigs were used to quantify what that actually meant in measurable terms before designing the injection-moulded plastic parts. “It’s all down to the fact that we really care about the details,” adds Hargreaves.

DCA’s work with Bentley provides perhaps the clearest demonstration of how the consultancy uses working prototypes to explore complex ideas that would be difficult to evaluate on a screen alone. 

“They came to us and said, ‘Could we do magic?’”

One such project was AI Advanced Comfort, an experimental programme exploring how a vehicle occupant might interact with onboard artificial intelligence while it anticipates their needs and adjusts different comfort parameters around them.

The project became an intensive six-week exercise in making an abstract idea tangible. The demonstrator incorporated 500 metres of wiring, more than 1,000 connections, 244 addressable LEDs, four custom circuit boards, 78 moving components and more than 5,000 lines of code.

But building it was only part of the exercise. Once people began interacting with the prototype, DCA could alter parameters and observe their responses. “No one responded to it the way we thought they would,” recalls Hargreaves. “A lot of people felt it was alive.” For Hargreaves, that demonstrated why creating a genuinely functioning prototype mattered. “What was powerful about it was that it was real,” he says.

That exploration of how intelligence could be given a physical presence informed further work with Bentley, including Mechanical Marvel. Here the emphasis shifted towards creating an interface appropriate to the craftsmanship and character of the Bentley brand – something physical and watch-like rather than another graphic on a screen.

“They came to us and said, ‘Could we do magic?’” says Hargreaves. “Could we do something that’s more Bentley, more watch-like?” Wallace describes another aspect of the idea: creating something with a presence even when the vehicle’s displays were dormant.

“When all the screens are off, you don’t just have an array of black screens with fingerprints on them,” he says. “Instead there’s a piece of mechanical artwork showing behind them in the off state.”

A lot of what DCA produces goes to market because we ask the harder questions, we have a go and we’re honest. We test things. We get the hard facts pretty quick. If it’s bad, we want to know

“It was most amazing when you just saw a flicker of movement,” he says. “Just a tiny hint of its full functionality.”

DCA’s transportation experience has both breadth and depth. Its automotive portfolio includes a stowable luxury interior table developed with JLR, autonomous vehicle sensor systems for FiveAI and Arrival, and HMI development for the Bentley Bentayga. Beyond cars, the studio designed and built Rolls-Royce and Cranfield University’s configurable Future Flight Systems Simulator, while its extensive rail work ranges from the interior of Hitachi’s Class 800 high-speed train to LNER’s latest interiors and the original Le Shuttle vehicles. More experimental programmes include personal transport solutions like D-Fly’s Dragonfly Hyperscooter.

“A lot of what DCA produces goes to market because we ask the harder questions, we have a go and we’re honest,” says Hargreaves. “We test things. We get the hard facts quickly. If it’s not going to work, we want to know as soon as possible."

You can have an idea and we’ll make it real

For automotive companies, establishing feasibility early can be particularly valuable. A vehicle manufacturer’s design team may have compelling ideas but lack the time or specialist resources to develop a convincing prototype alongside production programmes. Wallace describes DCA as occupying the space “between the designer’s initial vision and their OEM suppliers”.

 “You’re using us to investigate the feasibility of innovative ideas early on, and to fail, learn and iterate really, really quickly,” he explains, “so that you don’t end up with a massive lumbering project that never gets to production.”

It is perhaps the best explanation of what lies behind the machinery, craftsmanship and passion at DCA. The purpose is to produce representative prototypes and, crucially, to make an idea sufficiently real that it can be experienced, challenged and ultimately judged. Hargreaves reduces that proposition to something much simpler. “You can have an idea and we’ll make it real.”