Lincoln’s ArtCenter project goes beyond cars

The recent collaboration between Lincoln and ArtCenter College of Design isn’t your typical student project. When challenging four teams to come up with a vision for the Lincoln brand in the year 2040, the focus went beyond the car – and even car designers.

“We wanted to open up the course and solicit visual storytellers to see what these future vehicles would look like,” Jordan Meadows, global strategic design specialist for Lincoln, and assistant professor at ArtCenter, told Car Design News. “We had students from illustration, animation, as well as film to co-create and generate these future stories.”

The design brief, created by Meadows, focused on two main aspects: communicating the Lincoln brand pillars of “quiet flight” and “beautiful gliding human sanctuary,” and meeting the requirements of connected, autonomous, shared, and electric (CASE).

ArtCenter faculty included Marek Djordjevic and Allen Pinkerton from the Transportation Design program, as well as instructors from the film and illustration programs. But unlike most projects, the assignment focused more on the presentation than the product.

“The car is important, but just as important is the world that this car lives in, and that really made a lot of sense because not only is Art Center a fantastic school for vehicle design, but it’s in the home of the entertainment industry near L.A. and we have these storytellers, so we wanted to take advantage of those opportunities,” Meadows said. “It was about creating a narrative that was compelling and what those visuals would be.”

Projects were presented virtually because of Covid, which Meadows allowed top Ford executives to participate. “You had people like Jim Farley (Ford CEO), Joy Falotico (Lincoln president), Hau Thai-Tang (chief platform and operations officer), Moray Callum, and Kemal Curic all on one Zoom call,” Meadows explained. A Lincoln spokesperson added lightheartedly, “That would probably never happen in person.”

Meadows also stressed the importance of collaboration. “Anyone who knows about vehicle design knows it’s a team sport – it’s more like football than tennis or golf, and we’re looking for strong team players. We were blown away by how well they collaborated with each other and they showed great chemistry with the animators and illustrators and provided fantastic results.” He is also mindful when it comes to OEM-sponsored projects of the delicate balance between promoting a brand and allowing students to express their creativity. “We saw this as an opportunity to give back,” he said. “Yes, for brand exposure but also for students to develop a relationship with a manufacturer and to develop their careers. And if there’s someone really talented and passionate, we want to them to work for Ford.”