Retrofuturism: The Car Designs of J Mays

by Brooke Hodge, C. Edson Armi

The concept originator behind the New Beetle, J Mays is among the most influential designers in the history of the automobile. Mays's approach has revolutionized the industry by integrating branding and identity with the design process. Also at the foundation of his philosophy is a belief that the innovations of the past should inform future solutions. His cars intrigue us like no others because they respond to underlying emotional and cultural associations. This first book on Mays's work tracks his meteoric career from his start at Volkswagen-Audi to his current tenure at Ford, where he designs for eight lines (Ford, Mercury, Lincoln, Mazda, Volvo, Land Rover, Jaguar, and Aston Martin). Illustrated with more than eighty-five photographs, freehand sketches, and computer renderings, Retrofuturism reveals new ways of thinknig about design that have the potential to greatly change the way we live in the twenty-first century.

Genres: Nonfiction

96 pages, Hardcover

First published December 13, 2002

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Topaz]

This is another coffee table book that accompanies a museum exhibition. The essay and interview with Mays is fairly informative. The rest of the book is a combination of press photos of concepts and designs by Mays, some photos of historic cars, and a number of new 'artsy' photos of the Beetle which aren't particularly interesting.

It would have been nice to see more of the development sketches and concepts leading up to the final concepts shown in the book and exhibit. The book heavily focuses on the New Beetle while the rest of Mays' work is not thoroughly covered.

I also question if it was really appropriate to have an entire exhibition on one automotive designer, especially when he is still mid-career. So it's not a retrospective of his career, and he only has a few production vehicles under his belt, and at the time of printing, those were still concepts.

Considering how many designers are involved in each car design, it would have been nice to see a more thorough exhibit of the process and the others involved. Even though the lead designer of the concept usually gets the credit, there is probably not another consumer product that has as large and diverse a group of people developing it. I thin kit would have been much more interesting and appropriate to feature a number of car designers from the same period with equally impressive designs, and create a much more broad and deep exhibit of those designers and vehicles rather than just Mays.