1946 Orwell Essay Finds The Road To Good Design

WHAT MAKES good design? It is a question often asked in interviews, and though answers vary widely, the shared view is that simplicity is central to a product's appeal. However designers exist in a business that needs to make money and design is necessarily complicated by demands of other departments. Marketing is one of them. To paraphrase George Orwell, design is often used ‘to make lies seem truthful… and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind’. So his six criteria for good writing from his essay Politics and the English Language might well apply to design. Let’s see how they can be translated.

1.       Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.

For designers, that could mean never using a theme from a model already in production, but it is also a warning against over-familiarity. 


2.       Never use a long word where a short one will do.

This is a matter of avoiding complication. Keep it simple, stupid.


3.       If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.

Lines on a design to are often added for drama. Get rid of as many as possible. In a recent interview with Car Design News, M-B Design Director Gorden Wagener said, “If you like a line, get rid of it. If you still like it, get rid of another one.” The Mercedes-AMG GT is a fine example of the application of this rule. 

4.       Never use the passive where you can use the active.

The message of the design needs to be visible at the first read. This is most effectively communicated by proportions. For example, the message of power and virility is immediately evident in the Dodge Viper, whereas a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, while having similar characteristics, relies on overblown details.

5.       Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.

Every brand has its own style that designers call a language. In consumer product design, Apple has long led the way with a minimalist aesthetic. Samsung inter alia was found guilty of copying it. Always speak the tongue of your brand.

6.       Break any of these rules sooner than say something outright barbarous.

Beauty, or attractiveness (not necessarily the same thing), is the ultimate objective. The R107 Mercedes SL has a Pagoda-inspired trunk deck (Rule #5 broken), and an abundance of horizontal lines (Rule #3 gone). Yet the message of glamour is strong enough (Rule #4) that those aggrievances become complicit to character, proving that while rules make useful guides, nothing beats judgment. Or, in the case of the SL, chrome.

These points do little to reflect the fact that Orwell wrote alone, whereas designers operate in a company of thousands. But nurturing a little independence even in such an organisation can help provide a sense of perspective, which allows us to question whether what we are doing is the Right Thing. Orwell goes on to comment that 'the enemy of clear writing is insincerity'. So what makes good design? Extrapolating his statement, I think the answer might be sincerity.

2014 Lamborghini Asterion LPI910-4 Concept Keeps Mum On Production

THAT'S MORE like it. No more spikey wedges aimed at nouveau riche with an Oedipus complex. Lamborghini is tapping into the Matt Monro-filled alpine hedonism of the Muira with the rather splendid and pleasingly counter-trend Asterion. Why counter-trend? Well look how high those headlamps are. A small detail perhaps, but read in line with the rest of the car one sees a more horizontal gesture, banishing (almost) the wedge to bedroom walls of 30 year olds living with their mothers. The car is still visually potent -this is a Lamborghini, after all -but there is now a gentlemanly gait to the Asterion; it is more laid back, more confident, and with 910PS one can understand why.

An electric motor in the Lamborghini Asterion is the main benefactor of this output, though the battery is not the only thing that makes it a hybrid. The name speaks of the unspeakable between an Astra and a Starion. Thankfully the nomenclature is as far as their genes spread (though it is conceivable that the Mitsubishi Starion, properly managed, could have been a contender in another life. Instead we got the Colt).

The Asterion marries a long wheelbase, big wheels, upright-ish screen and distinct bonnet.  I love those headlamps perched above the bonnet, and though the taillamps are a little tech-y for me, their broad badge-framing layout is certainly attractive.  I like the crest of the bodyside vent slightly over-reaching the core line, matching the cavity in the front fender, and the wheels are spectacular: just the right amount of detail to contrast the clean body. With such a simple design, it could have been easy to slip into banality, but these deft touches keep the car special.

Inside, things are simple-borderline-simplistic. A little too little. I get the suave businessman aesthetic with his select symbols of distinction, but looking at the interior I see the fuss-free Italian suit, not the nacre collar-bones (or should I say mother-of-pearl).

In the Asterion Lamborghini has produced their most believable and desirable concept yet. No word on when it might be made, but with body-side vents that large and such neatly integrated details it has clearly been created with production in mind.