Another classic turns 50 this year.
Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2011 8:17 am
The Jaguar XKE. I know this is a car, but I was looking at the design in a NYTs article and was struck by how it's era in design is so clear. A prominent element of the cars design to me is the window shape. And so I see that shape repeated in some boat port designs of the same era, like mine and others.
It's quite an amazing shape. To me, it looks as though the window shape is the heart and center of the cars "biological look"(per the article). The car itself, the lovely living shape, it's lines, begin from the window shape and follow gracefully.
Before(?) the XKE, a similar port design was used in some of Aldens designs and other boat designs. It percolated into many ports with various subtle changes for some time. The "poof", it was gone.
I don't know who drew that port. I doubt it could be traced to one pencil way back when. More a collaboration of designers over some years. But someone saw some magic in the shape and things developed from within. While you can't really pin point who started these individual elements of design, looking back from a 50 year perspective, you can't miss this wonderful era.
Any idea where this shape started in boat(car?) port(window) design?
It's quite an amazing shape. To me, it looks as though the window shape is the heart and center of the cars "biological look"(per the article). The car itself, the lovely living shape, it's lines, begin from the window shape and follow gracefully.
I don't know who drew that port. I doubt it could be traced to one pencil way back when. More a collaboration of designers over some years. But someone saw some magic in the shape and things developed from within. While you can't really pin point who started these individual elements of design, looking back from a 50 year perspective, you can't miss this wonderful era.
Any idea where this shape started in boat(car?) port(window) design?
