sitetitle

“Change is our mantra”

Audi Group design chief Wolfgang Egger speaks with design legend Hartmut Esslinger about the genius of simplicity, the crisis as an opportunity, the role of prototypes as test objects, and the stroke of luck to design a piano.

INTERVIEW/SUSANNE HOFBAUER
PHOTOS/DOMINIK GIGLER

The importance of design as a factor for the market success of innovative technology has been no secret ever since the triumph of Apple. The Californian computer maker first caused a stir in the mid-1980s with its Snow White design language. This design strategy was the brainchild of Hartmut Esslinger, who established the “frog design” agency in Germany in 1969. At the time computers were unattractive professional devices, their use by the masses nothing more than a vision. Today Apple is considered an example of how revolutionary product concepts implemented with uncompromising style can lead to sustainable social change. The Audi brand has also used design expertise to channel its powers of technological innovation in new directions. Socially, driving an Audi has become a synonym for style-consciousness and an affinity for technology. Design prizes and awards further underscore this success. Wolfgang Egger has been responsible for design at the Audi Group since May 2007. Showcars such as the Audi A1 project quattro, the Audi Sportback Concept and the Audi e-tron electric car study were created under his supervision.

Wolfgang Egger: We follow two approaches with our design work: First, we strive for a logical continuation of the product portfolio. Second, we regard design as provocation and as a vision of how a team contemplates innovations and explores all aspects of the car that can suggest changing use or a changing environment. We want to provide answers to questions of mobility in the cities of the future, to questions of fuel consumption and potential drive systems. New drive systems, for example, lead to changes in vehicle architecture which we can explore in design experiments.

Hartmut Esslinger: The design processes differ relatively little from one area of technology to the next – leaving aside specific fields of expertise. Technology is often much more evolutionary than one thinks. Software systems, for example, are nearly eternal. The basic technology behind the Macintosh operating system has been continuously improved since 1984, but in principle has not changed fundamentally. It is therefore imperative that designers have the ability to imagine multiple options that could come to fruition in the future – more specifically, five to ten years ahead of their time – and nevertheless remain flexible in their creative strategies. Change is the mantra of the designer.

Egger: We Audi designers are also interested in creating dreams by making a car into an extremely emotional experience. In a sports car, it is the archaic experience of feeling speed and controlling lateral and linear acceleration. Because the engine makes this experience possible, we went to extreme detail with the engine of the R8, for example, to best maximize this potential for emotion. At the same time, we think about how we can also refine this deep emotionality for concepts to save fuel and, as in the case of the Audi e-tron, how we can represent this with electrical energy

Esslinger: The most important thing is to create something that people find to be fun. By the way, you can find out whether you have succeeded in doing so as early as the development phase by using children as test persons: Children are ruthlessly honest.

Hartmut Esslinger, 65, has shaped the modern world of consumer goods like no other. His more than 40 years of experience as a designer flowed into the 2009 book “A Fine Line: How Design Strategies Are Shaping the Future of Business.” The most important theses: To be successful as an innovative brand, design must be an integral component of corporate strategy. Creative strategies must be prepared thoroughly and well in advance. It is also necessary to form strategic reserves in case an idea doesn’t work out. Generally speaking, you should learn from setbacks, and adaptation can prove to be a clever move. In addition, only the best is good enough. Being content with mediocrity is the beginning of the end. Design has nothing to do with democracy, and everything to do with quality.

Esslinger: As a rule, every new company starts out innovative – for example with a new idea or a new business model. As the company becomes more successful, there is the danger that it will go on the defensive and try to preserve what it has achieved instead of continuing its pioneering work. The worst-case scenario is that the company ends up being all about figures and is run purely by controllers. As far as luxury is concerned, I also consider it an illusion that there can be luxury for everyone. In my opinion, something is not luxury unless the buyer has to make a certain sacrifice in order to afford the product – but can then take pleasure in an exclusive and exceptional object.

Egger: I feel that the premium concept is best embodied by plainness and simplicity. The authenticity of the materials also plays an important role. Customers are willing to spend money for natural leather tanned with rhubarb, for example, because it allows them to take a bit of their quality of life into the car with them.

Esslinger: Sometimes the return to absolute simplicity and logic is the right step. A keyboard on which you could type had long been considered essential for a telephone. Yet people are so much more skilled with their hands and are capable of playing the piano and creating sculptures. So we developed a telephone that reacts to gestures and specific hand and finger movements. At first our customer thought we were crazy, but in tests people thought it was great. If you are always making compromises, ultimately no one will believe you. And sometimes you just have to risk going for broke. To do this, you need courage and expertise.

Egger: The Audi A1 is a fantastic example of this. Looking back in time: Three years ago, we had a very advanced design study in the pipeline that we still didn’t find to be very emotionally satisfying, so we presented an entirely different concept car at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show: the “Audi A1 project quattro.” As we always do with showcars, we observed how people reacted to the model. This gave us feedback as to which design aspects we should continue to pursue in the future. In any case, the public’s reaction to the concept car was overwhelming. Immediately after returning from Tokyo, we held an emergency meeting at which we completely revised the project and converted it into the new model that is familiar today. This change in course enabled us to develop a sense of future requirements before there was any talk of a crisis, and today we are in a position to introduce a car to the market that is in step with the times.

Speaking of the crisis: Crisis is generally understood to mean a difficult and dangerous time. The Greek word krisis also means “decision or decisive turn.” In other words, you can look at a crisis as a turning point at which a new course is set and a new idea can be accepted that would otherwise not have had a chance. The Audi A2, for example, showed the way of the future with its economical and ecological radicality: technically sophisticated lightweight design, a true five-door car with fuel consumption of three liters per 100 kilometers and a coefficient of drag of only 0.28. The Audi A2 was far ahead of its time, and production was stopped in 2005 after 170,000 units had been sold.

Egger: For me the Audi A2 is a vision whose sustainability is only now becoming apparent. In this respect I consider the crisis to be an enrichment, because we are now again focusing more closely on the true values of life. It is important to use energy prudently. That applies equally to our daily lives and to the car. However, this doesn’t mean a change of direction at Audi. Lightweight design, driveability, authentic materials – these all belong to our brand values. The A8 allows us today to look back on decades of experience with all-aluminum Audi Space Frame bodies.

Esslinger: One unintended positive effect of the crisis is the interruption of several completely senseless consumption cycles. Instead of simply buying “something new,” people expect “something better and more sensible.” Many companies are finally seeing the opportunity of extensive innovation, for example making digital products more user-friendly. It is also important to redefine the emotional quality of the products. We have to change our thinking and identify usage patterns that may initially appear unorthodox. We have a great chance to generate enthusiasm among our customers with a better and more cultured design.

Egger: Precisely. We are therefore essentially open to anything and are full of ideas. We believe that urban mobility in particular, allied with the necessarily compact vehicle architectures, and also micromobility are the important topics of the future. We observe how our customers’ personal values and therefore their needs change. As part of the process of devising a concept for our vehicles, we conduct so-called “home stays” which enable us to get to know customers in their own surroundings. In this way we find out about their wishes, aesthetic preferences and – most importantly – their dreams. We then translate this knowledge into actual mobility concepts and draw conclusions for our premium brand. Audi maintains an “external” design studio in the Schwabing district of Munich, where Egger and his people work on innovative vehicle concepts as well as projects that have nothing to do with the car business. The Audi design team has designed skis, watches, sailboats and a concert piano, of which Egger is particularly proud. He pulls drawings out of a black portfolio, spreads them out on the table, points to the distinctive black cover that extends seamlessly to the floor on the left side of the grand piano. This wall reflects the bass toward the listeners.

Egger: When Lang Lang played this grand piano for the first time at our 100-year anniversary, a shiver ran down my spine. That was a new and entirely different dimension of the emotional experience associated with the Audi brand.

Susanne Hofbauer is an editor for Autorevue in Vienna. She is particularly interested in car design.