I just bought a new car. A Mazda 5. I’d never heard of them until I was looking for a replacement for our old Opel Zafira. They look a little more modern, and have some fun tech (reversing camera, cruise control) and a decent engine.
Sometimes when you are creating a brand you might ask questions like
- If the brand was an animal, what animal would it be?
- What city?
- What colour?
- What newspaper?
- What car?
These questions help to frame the idea of the brand.
As we are in the process of rebranding pop pop studio, I thought I’d find out a little more about Mazda’s ethos.
Here are some phrases from Ikuo Meada, the man who created the Mazda design theme.
“We come up and experiment with ideas to translate the artistic forms into a car’s design. We call the process an Exploratory Preparation. Our design process doesn’t start with car design. We create objects with different forms and explore how these forms move people’s hearts.”
"The Mazda brand allows all cars to present a unique, consistent message."
"Seeing the beauty of instantaneous motion in a living creature can evoke powerful emotions.”
“Emotion driven forms will move the hearts of people.”
“Mazda’s current design concept is called KODO Design. We took Kodo’s normal meaning of “heartbeat” and added the idea of imbuing something with life; of giving it a soul.”
“A car that expresses life beyond its own form and shape can capture the imagination of all who view it.”
“Designers and engineers used to reach a middle ground on technical issues by making compromises. Luckily, we designers now have the privilege to pursue an ideal and create jaw-droppingly cool design. We stand back with the engineers to view the design and share the excitement and enthusiasm. If we get more people to say, “wow how cool is that, I definitely want this car”, everyone starts to get aligned in reaching the same goal, which in turn becomes one big movement. So designers at Mazda are responsible for creating and showing off designs that knock our colleagues out.”
This is what I want pop pop studio to become. A design and development studio that builds websites with a heartbeat. That are energetic and efficient. That embrace the joy of the journey.