All articles by Aidan Walsh
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ArticlePost Opulence: A Softer Tomorrow?
A decade or more of adversarial design and in-your-face attitudes has left us in need of a breather. Might a new era of post-opulent aesthetics mellow us out? Aidan Walsh hopes so.
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ArticleConcept Cars: All Dressed Up With Nowhere to Show?
The star turns of the motor show, concept cars provoke, excite and inspire. But what happens to the special guests when the party is cancelled?
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ArticleDesign Essay: how adversity shapes cars
The changing face of car design through difficult times is in fact a prime example of humanity’s remarkable adaptability and resilience – not to mention our collective mood.
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ArticleDesign Essay: Surprise & delight, the importance of detail design
What makes people fall in love with cars? Aidan Walsh argues that small details in design cement long-term love affairs with vehicles
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ArticleDesign Essay: Big Screen, Big Problem?
Integrating screens in car interiors comes with a set of significant problems, from aesthetic decisions to considering the life-cycle of the vehicle. You could argue that how screens are handled within the instrument panel highlights many of the wider creative challenges of mobility design
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ArticleDesign Essay: Why is Car Design so Hooked on the Past?
Retro car designs have been appearing throughout the 21st century so far… but why are they so popular?
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ArticleDesign Essay: The Strange Allure of Ugliness
Are tastes changing, or is taste simply disappearing? We try not to cover our eyes…
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ArticleDesign Essay: What is a ‘luxury’ car?
With more and more brands going upmarket, it is worth examining this often-misused term…
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ArticleDesign Essay: Are ‘Responsible’ Cars the Future?
We took a look at why a holistic view of a vehicle’s environmental and social impact is needed when developing the cars of the future
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ArticleThe Winds of Time: What Makes a Design ‘Dated’?
“I used to like it, but it seems so dated now…”
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ArticleDesign Essay: Lighting – Car Design’s Latest Battleground
Whether they’re ‘eyes’ or ‘brand signatures’, they’re designed for more than just night vision…
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ArticleDesign Essay: Why don’t people like ‘clever’ cars?
Why is it that the most intelligently designed cars never seem to catch on?
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ArticleDesign Essay: What Can Car Designers Learn From Trainers?
The wide world of training shoes has pioneered ideas that might have legs in the automotive world…
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ArticleThe Older Market Part I: Cars for the Elderly – Where Are They?
The people with real buying power are generally over 50... so why do car brands keep targeting youth?
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ArticleOpinion: Why honest design matters
Mild misdirection or visual lying? Here’s a firm view on the trend of design fakery
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ArticlePickup Trucks: Where Next?
What does the expanding remit of the pickup mean for its designers?
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ArticleDesign Essay: The Sincerest Form of Flattery
We're always told not to copy... but is a certain amount acceptable, or even unavoidable?
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ArticleAre Beautiful Cars Really a Thing of the Past?
They just don’t make ’em like they used to! Or do they?
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ArticleAsymmetry: Car Design’s Great Taboo
It seems to be an unwritten rule that cars must look the same on both sides... but why?