Tag Archives: frank stephenson

The Most Confusing Turn Signals In The Auto Industry Are Probably Here To Stay

When BMW brought Mini back in the early 2000s, the taillights on Frank Stephenson’s original design were triangular. They later filled out and got a bit more squarish, and have remained so for about a decade — but that looks to change starting next year. The upper and lower inner chunks of the clusters have been chipped away, making sideways trapezoids.

The entire unit has been subdivided into what I could only describe as pixels, but like pixels from an old-school LCD display. If I squint, it seems like the bars that would comprise the Union Jack are a bit lighter than the rest, and I bet those light up in similar fashion as the current Mini’s taillights.

G/O Media may get a commission

Pay-What-You-Want Personal Finance Course Bundle

Pay What You Want

Pay-What-You-Want Personal Finance Course Bundle

Control your finances
For two more days only, take advantage of this pay-what-you-want deal on personal finance courses at StackSocial. They’ll teach you to manage your cash flow, create a budget that works for you, and even invest! Beat the average price to unlock all 8 or just stick with 6 courses for your chosen price.

Image for article titled The Most Confusing Turn Signals In The Auto Industry Are Probably Here To Stay

This would be a very smart move for Mini, because it’s getting so much attention over the flag lights from nerds like us. I’m willing to bet every person that directly follows a new Mini has noticed the design, and so long as they’ve ever seen 15 seconds of Austin Powers, they probably get the joke.

Advertisement

I have less to say about the rest of the upcoming Mini’s look. I mean, I’m still reminded of goatees or that one episode of The Powerpuff Girls when I study the front, and the headlights have these crossbars on their upper and lower portions that almost look like eyelids on a Family Guy character. I’m overflowing with cartoon character references.

There’s more to say about the interior, where Mini designers have seemingly ditched the small pill-shaped digital instrument cluster behind the steering wheel in favor of a heads-up display. The dash is entirely clad in what looks to be canvas, with a big old circular panel affixed to the center dash. It’s like the essence of a Mini interior stripped down to its most iconographic parts, and it’s kind of soulless. I don’t love it coming from the current Mini’s fun and lighthearted cabin.

Advertisement

Supposedly this new Mini Cooper will be available in internal combustion and battery electric forms. If the manufacturer can squeeze roughly 50 more miles out of the SE while keeping the price around where it sits today — and the driving dynamics on point — it’ll be a pretty compelling bargain EV. 

Watch A Pro Car Designer Attempt To Rationalize The 2020 BMW 4 Series

Illustration for article titled Watch A Pro Car Designer Attempt To Rationalize The 2020 BMW 4 Series

Photo: BMW

Back in its day, the first-generation BMW X5 was a controversial new design direction for the German luxury brand. Today, the gaping maw of the 2020 BMW 4 Series is perhaps the most controversial new BMW design in decades.

Advertisement

Funnily enough, the guy behind the design team for the BMW X5 is Frank Stephenson, who now makes YouTube videos about car design. He’s taken some time to professionally critique the controversial new 4 Series:

What I like about Stephenson’s take here is that it’s not the typical reaction to the car, which seems to typically be violent, or shocked, or offended, or some combination. It’s the take of someone who knows how BMW operates, who knows the challenges of designing a new car for a storied automaker, and who—hopefully if he’s still any good—has a good grasp on what the future of car design looks like.

Advertisement

Stephenson finds the 4 Series design interesting because of how, he claims, it remains recognizable as a BMW product while eschewing with many of BMW’s traditional signature styling and design traits.

From the profile view, BMW has removed a strong, creased shoulder line that was a defining feature of the traditional BMW 3 Series and the later 4 Series legacy. He also highlights the disappearance of the signature Hofmeister kink shape of the rear window border.

G/O Media may get a commission

There’s also a strange lack of harmony with the cut line behind the front wheels, which doesn’t line up with any other drawn line on the car, making it (literally) stick out from the rest of the design. The back is very busy, especially around the exhausts in the lower corners of the bumper.

What’s fun, though, is the genuine pause and hesitation that fucking kidney grille gives the veteran Stephenson. The guy can barely find words careful enough to explain his issues (I think to make sure he wasn’t oversimplifying as we all are want to do), which is very relatable.

Advertisement

Regardless of whether you’re open to the idea of the BMW abandoning much of its styling legacy for something, perhaps, softer and more flowing, it’s definitely not immediately as recognizable as the cars that have come before. At least not yet. If anything, it’s just interesting to look at.