Everyone is a minimalist these days, but beyond being a handy catch-all for pared back aesthetics, what does the term mean for car design? Are designers sacrificing ornament at the altar of functionality as embodied by touchscreens?
Minimalism is everywhere. How can you tell? After all, this is a design language that, rather like Miles Davis’ calculated omissions, makes virtue of what you don’t see: pared-back interiors, lines so clean they are barely distinguishable, and touchscreens. Lots of touchscreens. The term has become a handy catchall for designers frame design as a reductive process, is readily deployed in all manner of communications – from press releases to promo videos. Ubiquity dilutes meaning, or at least diminishes its significance. But how should we interpret a term that is so readily used, and passed over without a moment’s thought.
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