The Designers Pt 15: Rob Melville, McLaren

“When people talk about Ferraris and Porsches, McLaren is right up there now…”

For the whole design team and company, the 570 really marks our move into higher volume, helping bring us to our maximum 4,000 a year. It lays the foundations for us to compete year-in, year-out with the big brands. Being busy is the ‘new normal’ with in 2015 the launches of the 675 LT, S and the Spider. It’s been a huge year. And for me personally, being involved in the 570 programme right from the sketch through to standing up and launching the car in New York was a special moment, being allowed to be have that opportunity to be involved all the way through. It’s a small team, there’s only seven of us plus two colour and materials designers, and that includes me. We are looking to stay around that number in 2016, but use interns and placements, and work with universities and colleges. Last year they included Coventry, Pforzheim and Art Center, and in 2016 we’ll maybe work with the RCA. We try to rotate it to keep the links with all the different colleges.

Car design has become ultra-corporate so everything has the same face. We’ve done that this time round too – a similar family look – as we’re new and need people to recognise us. The profiles and aerodynamics we use need to be consistent but as we move forward and people recognise what we stand for, we can start to really stretch the brand into new territory with the form language of certain models. Looking around at the rest of car design today I think we need to push things again. It’s really exciting as loads of technology is coming, and all the cars will have them, so the differentiator will still be the 3D geometry. We’re in a time where we have new processes like super-forming and 3D printing and as that filters down I hope to see more and more adventurous shapes.

We’ve got more specialists in areas where we need them, and that creates more mature products. It’s really about spending time with the car and competitors’ cars, and talking to customers to understand what they want. You have to challenge what they think they’re after too. You need to shock enough to get new people, and those designs will grow on you like a good song. The ones you like instantly are not always the ones that stick with you for a long time. You need great proportions and around that build great details, it’s the same with a song. One that has perfect rhythm, and then has nuances and details.

“I’ve wised up to the fact that to be creative and inspire people, to be fresh enough to make good decisions, you need to get the balance right, the ‘life pie’ if you like”

We expect young designers to be able to sketch, that’s a given. What we’re looking for is someone who can think through the problem, understand the engineering challenges but ultimately be a bit more creative and ‘blue sky’. We’re after new ways of looking and challenging the way we do things, by thinking about new processes which allow you to get more depth or a lighter panel. It’s all about understanding the materials, which is why I like going to see suppliers. If you open a portfolio at any point, there shouldn’t be a bad page in there. You should just take it out, every page should be consistent. It should visually explain the brief, show a technology you’ve researched and how that benefits the concept. Students need to be able to present the idea, communication is key. We’re not graphic designers but you need an element of graphic design skill to communicate what you’re doing. For instance we’ve got sketches of how the air flows around the car. We always show that.

Car designers have a reputation for working all night, because we’re so passionate and we’re doing our hobby. But I’ve wised up to the fact that to be creative and inspire people, to be fresh enough to make good decisions, you need to get the balance right, the ‘life pie’ if you like. It’s about how you look after your health, physically and mentally. If you spend all your time at work, you don’t get any downtime for your brain to relax and solve problems. We definitely work more intelligently now. We’re a small team so it would be easy to get burnt out, but we need to work smarter. You need to put in the effort when it’s required but when we’re not as busy, get home on time, see your family and enjoy life outside of work as well. Time not looking at design books and work. Walk the dog, throw a stick. You might just find an interesting form on it.

Rob Melville

Role Chief designer, McLaren Automotive
Age 38
Nationality British
Location Woking, UK
Education Huddersfield University & RCA, UK

Rob’s Cars of 2015

Concept
1 Porsche Mission E
2 Honda Project 2&4
3 Bentley EXP10 Speed 6

Production
1. Volvo S90
2. Ford GT
3. Jaguar F-Pace

Car Design Review 3

This interview is taken from the Car Design Review 3 yearbook. Published annually by the writers of Car Design News, the book rounds up all of the major car-design trends seen in the past 12 months, counts down the best production and concept car designs of the year and features interviews with 18 of the best car designers working today, plus an in-depth interview with Syd Mead, this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award winner.