share on BufferOn the occasion of the launch, the company has also presented a portfolio of projects, including four concepts – a sailboat, a powerboat, an airplane and a watch – and two creations already on sale, the DL121 and DL122 bikes.
Below we report the official details on the new studio. For more information visit www.peugeotdesignlab.com.
Genesis
Peugeot Design Lab is a Global Brand Design studio whose objective is to develop strong and coherent brand strategies so as to strengthen the client’s values, codes and identity.
Its main mission is the design of products, services and experiences for external clients from all market sectors.
The technical and human resources of the Peugeot Design Centre, at the heart of which the Peugeot Design Lab is located, gives the Peugeot Design Lab a unique capability in this area, across three continents, in the cities of Paris, Shanghai and Sao Paolo.
Peugeot Design Lab was born under the impetus of the new Peugeot corporate identity in 2010.
A team dedicated to the creation of products other than Peugeot vehicles was set up with the objective of developing this area of activity. This ambition rapidly became a reality following enquires from outside the company.
It was in this way that the desire to make available its automobile expertise became the common thread of this innovative approach. Today, the automobile is, in terms of design, a complex product but also one of the most accomplished.
As underlined by Gilles Vidal, Director of Style Peugeot, “The challenge for automobile designers is ambitious: to anticipate ever higher expectations for quality, safety, and content, while preparing to make a step forward in design with a style that is innovative, attractive, and different”.
Global Brand Design
Global Brand Design is the very foundation of Peugeot Design Lab. Global Brand Design is the control of everything perceived in a brand, directly or indirectly, through its products, the experience it offers clients and its publicity.
In a world that is more global and more competitive, Peugeot Design Lab defines for its clients an identity for a brand that is unique, strong and uniform, which is absolutely essential for the identification, success and durability of a brand.
Peugeot Design Lab is involved in:
- Brand-Imaging: analysis and creation of a brand strategy, by the definition of a vision, a philosophy of style, and a positive language.
- Creation: integration of the identity of a brand with the creation of one or more products or services. Over and above products and services, this work also involves the materials and colours used, the graphics and logos.
- Development : work on the design of products with 2D & 3D creative research, combining the requirements of the procedures used and the creativity related to the design
- Industrialization: conception of products or services that take account of the technical and industrial constraints, modelling and creation of prototypes.
- Communication: Involvement with all visual and event-related materials to best project the products in the final information release
Brand Imaging
Every brand is unique. Each possesses its own DNA, history, values and ambitions, which combine to create a world that is specific to it. The role of Peugeot Design Lab is to help in defining and illustrating the vision of the brand, as well as the associated imagery that will carry this vision.
Peugeot Design Lab then turns this information into a powerful and global visual signature. To do this, Peugeot Design Lab determines a philosophy of style, associated with a strong and distinctive language that naturally communicates the values and the identity of the brand through its products. This philosophy is also applied to the materials, colors, graphics and logos.
Creation
“All of the designers’ imagination and creativity, allied with the rigour required and demand made for the creation of an automobile, is applied to the creation of products and services for clients, throughout the world” declared Vincent Rambaud, Director General of Peugeot.
Located in the PSA Design Centre, the Peugeot Design Lab has a dedicated team of specialists, as well as more general access to the resources and talents of the various design centres located in Paris, Shanghai and Sao Paulo
The work on the design of products forms part of the extension of the definition of the identity of the brand design. This step consists of free and graphic research, pure creation, in order to come up with future innovative concepts, ideas and aesthetic treatments that are the most attractive and pertinent.
Development
Even the best ideas alone do not guarantee the success of a project or product. The design development phase, which integrates all of the various technical and manufacturing constraints is then carried out by 3D designers and experienced engineers
Modeling is seamlessly integrated into the process. It is achieved by iterations between digital modeling and physical development, using milling machines and 3D scanners.
The physical modeling phase is absolutely necessary in order to fully appreciate the project. The conception and creation of prototypes is possible, from the most simple to the most realistic.
Industrialisation
Quality is the cornerstone of a strong brand image. Our designers and engineers are constantly preoccupied with enhancing value and improving the image by design and by a level of perceived quality at the highest level in the world.
Perceived quality plays a major role in the design and industrialisation phases. These two phases are also determinate as they lead to the true success of a product, by rigorous work on perceived quality, on the alignment and gaps between components as well as to the materials chosen. The colour and material Designers, involved from the start of a project, are then present to determine the materials that will best present the design and express the image of the brand
Communication
Every product requires a coherent communication and at the appropriate level.
Effective communication emphasizes the characteristics of the products and enriches the image of a brand.
It is therefore created and adapted for all target customers, and to all types of media, and for wherever a brand interacts with its customers: events, stands, points of sale, image sites, internet website internet, photos, videos, models, catalogues, brochures …
The work of the Peugeot Design Lab in this area can range from advice on presentation (recommendations on viewing angles, photographs, ambience, locations, environments, models, product presentation…) to artistic direction. It can also extend to implementation through a specialist internal team.
Business Model
Peugeot Design Lab offers several ways of working which can be adapted to the various needs and business models of clients and their projects.
The tasks of enhancing the value of a brand and developing its products represent long term projects that we define as a strategic investment. The choice to communicate, or not, on this collaboration is left to the client of Peugeot Design Lab.
The creation of new products can also give rise to a co-investment shared between Peugeot Design Lab and the partner brand. Depending on the degree of involvement, this can range from partnership to co-branding.
Organization
The manager of the Peugeot Design Lab is Cathal Loughnane. Of Irish nationality, he takes control of the studio after 12 years spent working on design for the PSA Group’s brands (interior design and concept cars). He reports directly to Gilles Vidal, Director of Style Peugeot.
Gilles Vidal – Director of Style Peugeot
Gilles Vidal, 39, a graduate of the Art Center College of Design at Vevey (Switzerland), joined the PSA Peugeot Citroën Group in 1996.
For 11 years he contributed towards the renewal of the Group’s styles, working with Jean-Pierre Ploué. Since 2010, he has been the Director of Style Peugeot.
He worked on the definition of the new Peugeot corporate identity presented in 2010, with the SR1 Concept Car which inspired in particular the lines of the 208, launched in March 2012.
Cathal Loughnane
Cathal Loughnane, 34, a designer of Irish nationality, qualified as an engineer at the Dublin Institute Of Technology (Bolton ST).
He joined PSA Peugeot Citroën in 1999, working at the creative centre on vehicle interior design and on the design of concept-cars, before being appointed Manager of Peugeot Design Lab.
(Source: Peugeot)
These designs look great! Much more refined, premium and mature than the BMW Group DesignworksUSA (stupid name btw). Peugeot will kick their asses by delivering less BS and more substance.