The New Image Research
McLaren Racing Limited A British Formula One team based in Woking, Surrey, England, United Kingdom. The McLaren brand is best known as a Formula One constructor but has also competed and won in the Indianapolis 500 and Canadian-American Challenge Cup (Can-Am). The team is the second oldest active team (after Ferrari) and one of the most successful teams in Formula One, having won 182 races, 12 drivers’ championships and 8 constructors’ championships. Officially McLaren is the 2nd most successful F1 team. In 2015 McLaren are to separate with their long term engine suppliers Mercedes, to be replaced with past suppliers Honda. They will be the soul team to run this engine in 2015. And with no title sponsor currently in place this year nor next, there is the equivalent of a blank canvas for how the team may look next season. Fans speculate and dream about what their favourite team may look like in the future and whether the team may opt to go backwards with their design and take inspiration from the iconic McLaren Honda era back in the 80’s and 90’s.
The McLaren story In 1963 a young New Zealander called Bruce Leslie McLaren a race-car designer, driver, engineer and inventor introduced a team called Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Ltd. Now formally known just as McLaren. The New Zealander’s name lives on in the McLaren team which has been one of the most successful in Formula One championship history, with McLaren cars and drivers winning a total of 20 world championships. McLaren cars totally dominated CanAm sports car racing with 56 wins, a considerable number of them with him behind the wheel, between 1967 and 1972 (and five constructors’ championships), and have won three Indianapolis 500 races, as well as the 24 Hours of Le Mans and 12 Hours of Sebring. Making the McLaren brand one of the most iconic and recognisable teams in 4 wheeled motor sport. A story told to “humour” some audiences says that Bruce’s motivation as he was younger was his pet kiwi names Russell. The determination of his pet trying to fly showed him that he should never give up on his goal. In Bruce’s case, his goal was to make his cars win. The determination of the two paid off with the kiwi managing to fly, and Bruce creating a race winning team. Sadly Bruce passed away on June 2nd 1970, while racing one of his cars at the Good wood circuit in the UK. McLaren cars continue to race on the track earning countless titles and trophies, all continuing Bruce’s dream, his determination and his legacy.
The Brief: Topic -
Positioning competition
Brief -
Create a new identity for the McLaren Formula One team in 2015, opting to re inherit their past history with their iconic partners Honda.
Target Audience/ Theme -
Motor sport fans that are passionate about the McLaren brand. The group of people that are 100% committed to supporting their favourite Formula One Team.
Creative Requirements -
Generating recognisable, yet new concepts/themes which are capable of being developed across a range of appropriate media that fulfil the requirements laid down in the brief.
Objectives -
Graphic Design, 3D Design/Digital Design, Re Branding, Advertising or Digital Communications.
Research Strategy/Methodology Primary – Research into advertising schemes + ways of branding, research into the best way to promote the new look for the McLaren Formula One brand.
Secondary – Research into the existing ad schemes created by McLaren, and look into the ways they have advertised new looks in the past .
What is Branding? Branding is a terminology for a unique kind of alphabet of design elments. These are things such as colours, materials, shapes, finishes, types of typography and composition. These directly and subliminally communicate a company’s values and personality through compelling imagery and design style. When properly designed, the branding “alphabet” results in an emotional connection between the brand and the customer. Visual brand language is a key in making an authentic and convincing brand strategy that can be applied creatively in all forms of communications to both employees and customers. Successful branding creates a sort of memorable experience for the, customer and for the people under the name. For example, as shown, a McLaren constant, main design ingredient was the kiwi bird, which is an icon from New Zealand. The icon represent elements of the “alphabet”and the brands past. Another iconic design element for example is Ferrari’s prancing horse. Continually employed to represent the brand. While the cars and their design details evolve over time, the original idea is constant and memorable.
Branding What is Branding?
Branding is the “name, style, design, term, symbol, or any other item that identifies a seller’s product that is distinct from those of other sellers.”Brands are mainly used for business, marketing, and advertising. Originally, livestock was what people thought about when the term ‘branding’ was used. It was originally adopted to differentiate a person’s cattle from another by the means of a distinctive symbol/logo burned into the animal’s skin with a hot branding iron. Therefore leaving that animal under ‘Branded’ ownership of that specific person/company. A modern example of a brand is McLaren Mercedes which belongs to the McLaren Racing Limited. (Just WITHOUT the burning part!) Brands have a wide range of uses “Branding, to me, is the identity of a product or service. It’s the name, for businesses, products and individuals in today’s dynamic the logo, the design, or a combination of those that people use to marketing landscape where identify, and differentiate, what they’re about to buy. A good brand should deliver a clear message, provide credibility, connect with cus- publishing and message distribution are no longer limited tomers emotionally, motivate the buyer, and create user loyalty.” to media entities. Through the Gini Dietrich – Spin Sucks use of social media platforms, every consumer is a publisher and has his own brand to promote. ”Branding is the representation of your organization as a Each brand is competing for personality. Branding is who you are that differentiates you.” time and attention today’s scarce Dave Kerpen – Likeable Media resources to break though the message clutter in order to build relationships with their target “A brand is a reason to choose.” audience(s). By itself, a brand isn’t Cheryl Burgess – Blue Focus Marketing a marketing strategy.
Heidi Cohen
Designing Brand Identiity Review After reading the relevant sections of this book written by Alina Wheeler I have a better understanding of the term Brand Identity. I have learnt that there are three sections within branding. These are Navigation, Reassurance and Engagement. I have found that the Identity of branding is tangible and appeals to the senses. You are able to see it, touch it, hold it, hear it and sometimes watch it move. Brand fuels a companies recognition, amplifies its differentiation, and makes big ideas and meaning accessible. Brand takes disparate elements and unifies them into whole systems. Showing that actually Branding is far more important to a company in the modern world than most people may first think. As without it, there would be fewer ways in which a company can sell itself over its rivals and fewer ways in which a company could make itself stand out with a recognisable symbol. For instance, the McLaren Kiwi logo is their simble to help them stand out from their competition.
Create, Convince, Connect Review Still waiting for delivery on book.
Positioning Competition sets the McLaren service and brand apart from their competitors? What value do they provide and how is it different from the alternatives? What is different about the McLaren brand that means customers and potential partners will choose to work with and be loyal to over their competitors?
McLaren is known to be a very clinical. And serious brand in Formula One. But as a fan myself, this is not something I could agree with. My opinion of the team is that yes they are clinical, but in a way that ensures that there are no mistakes and that the team performs at its best every single time it puts its cars on the track. And again, I would say that the team is serious, but not the kind of serious that means the brand is not fun. More the kind of serious that means the team has hundreds of personnel behind the brand that are 100% devoted and dedicated to making the company and brand they work for the best in its devision. And as a fan of this brand, this is something I too would love to see again. Teams can struggle, as McLaren are. But they bounce back, stronger. Never loosing the urge to win.
Competitive positioning is about defining how you can differentiate your brand and create value for your chosen market. It’s about creating and finding a spot in the competitive landscape, putting your stake in the ground, and winning awareness and loyalty in the marketplace to allow the brand as being known for something.
When it comes to Formula One competition is obviously extremely high. There are many elements within the sport that all involve or incorporate some form of competition in order for it to strive and perform at its best. In formula one, it’s not just about being the fastest, of course this is something that all teams want. But as a whole, teams really appreciate and work for their fans. If it wasn’t for the fans of the sport, it wouldn’t exist. If it wasn’t for the fans of the sport, there would be no reason to compete. So a large motive for all teams involved, is to try and get the highest fan base possible. Not only because it shows their competitors that they are the more “popular”team, but also to show the workforce behind the scenes that there are people that will travel thousands of miles just to catch a glimpse of their favourite team in action. And for the personnel that work so many hours to produce what people see on TV, it gives them their motive to continue doing what they love. Pushing to make the brand they work for the best it can be.
Brand Identity means a company is out of touch with market sentiment, which will make selling its products or services much harder. The brand image held by customers can reach a point at which a business or product has to re brand itself or risk not bringing in sales. So if McLaren were to do this they would change their “boring/bland” image that some seem to think that they actually have into the fun loving team they actually are.
The identity of a brand consists of visual
aspects that form a part of the overall brand. Brand identity is tangible and appeals to the senses. You can see it, touch it, hold it, hear it, watch it move. Brand identity fuels recognition, amplifies differentiation, and makes big ideas and meaning accessible. Brand identity takes disparate elements and unifies them into whole systems. Brand identity is how a business wants a brand’s name, communication style, logo and other visual elements to be perceived by its customers. Each component of the brand are created by the business itself, making brand identity the way in which a business wants consumers to perceive its brands, not necessarily how it is actually perceived. So for example McLaren want to be perceived as a highly competitive race winning team, who’s only ambition is to be number one. People actually percieve McLaren as a rather boring, “too clinical” kind of team. So maybe with the new rebrand from this brief, it may be possible to remove this perception of what the McLaren Formula One Team is actually about. Brand identity is different to brand image, this is something that customers actually think. It’s created by the business itself, where a negative gap between brand identity and brand image stands
Promotion Promotion is a term used frequently in marketing. It refers to raising customer awareness of a product or a brand, generating sales, and helping create brand loyalty. Promotion is also found in the specification of five promotional mix or promotional plan. These elements are personal selling, advertising, sales promotion, direct marketing and publicity. A promotional mix specifies how much attention to give each of the sub categories i.e. how much to budget for each. Having a promotional plan can mean the company has a wide range of objectives such as sales increasing, accepting a new product, creating a new brand equity, positioning, competitive relations or the creation of a corporate image. There are three main reasons for promotion, these are to present information to customers. To increase demand/brand loyalty to a product/brand. And to differentiate a new or old product. Different forms of media allow different forms of promotion. Promoters use the internet, special events, endorsements and newspapers to raise awareness of the subject matter. In Formula One, a team may promote their new driver line up or new car by hosting a sort of ceremony. Where there is a grand unveiling of the car, normally undertaken by their driver line up. At these events many forms of media and reporters are present to give their take on the teams presentation of their new constructors title challenger.
History of Motor sport The most well known version of single-seater racing, Formula One which hosts glamorous events such as the famous Monaco Grand Prix, involves an annual World Championship for drivers and constructors. In single-seater the wheels are not covered, and the cars often have wings on the front and rear to produce downforce and enhance adhesion to the track. In Europe and Asia, open wheeled racing is known as a“Formula”. In North America, the “Formula” terminology is not really followed (excluding F1). Their sport is usually arranged to follow an international kind of format, a regional kind of format, and/or a domestic, or country-specific kind of format. In North America, the cars used in the National Championship i.e. Indycar and Indylights have traditionally been similar though less technologically advanced + Aerodynamicly unique than F1 cars. They have many more restrictions on technology they are allowed to use which are purely aimed at controlling costs. A more ‘Minor’kind of single-seater racing series is GP2/ Formula 3000/Formula Two(F1 Support races). Regional series include series such as Formula Renault 3.5 and Formula Three.
You don’t have to be a pro racing driver to be involved in single seater racing as its not limited merely to professional teams and drivers. There are a large number of amateur ‘club racing’ series’ for people who want to race single seaters against similar skilled people all over the world. In the UK the major club series are the Monoposto Racing Club, BRSCC F3, Formula Vee and Club Formula Ford. Each of these series are designed for a specific section of the ‘market’, with some primarily providing low cost racing while others aim for an authentic experience using the same regulations as a more professional series. There are other categories of single-seater racing, including the ‘entry level’ of karting, this employs a small, low-cost engine/chassis on small tracks. Many of the current top ‘formula’ drivers began their careers in karting. Meaning that open wheel racing is a genre of motor sport that allows all kinds of skilled and aged people take part in something they love. Around the world there are multiple variations of this kind of sport that all offer the same experience, the lust to taste victory.
McLaren Identity The main aspect of McLaren’s brand identity is it’s title sponsor, which determines the overall look of the teams livery, merchandise, team wear and sometimes even their name. There have been “four” looks of Mclaren. The first being McLaren’s own colours of orange, which originated when Bruce McLaren was still involved in the team. The orange being the national racing colour of New Zealand, like British Racing green. This is something that is still implemented today if the team have a race winning weekend, where there is an orange spec version of their team wear. The orange livery was mostly used in McLaren’s early days where they didn’t allow a title sponsor to be dominant over the car. Although there have been some reincarnations since that era like in 2005 where the MP4-20 first debuted it featured a very familiar looking orange livery where the sponsors had “lost”their hold over how the car looked.
Malboro McLaren Honda McLaren had one of the longest sponsorship deals in F1 history with Marlboro, whose red-and-white pattern appeared on the team’s cars for 23 straight years. The Malboro brand stood proudly and strong on the side of McLaren formula one cars, where the most iconic McLarens have been seen. Such as the ever famous Honda, V6 Turbocharged McLaren, the MP4-4. Most people who know McLaren will remember the red and white livery they used to run in what most would say was their most dominant era in their history of the sport. Scoring their most constructors and drivers championships under one livery, helped by names such as Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, James Hunt and Niki Lauda. With the 2015 season drawing ever closer, McLaren have resigned with their iconic partners Honda, and with no title sponsor in place. Many people wonder if 2015 may see the return of the iconic colours following suit with the iconic name. Many hope that the return of Honda could re spark the domination and success of past McLaren Honda formula one cars.
West McLaren Mercedes From 1997 to 2005 Mclaren took on board a second Cigarette brand. This time West cigarettes. Being ran by chairman Ron Dennis and starting with David Coulthard and Mika Hakkinen at the wheel allowed McLaren to seal the constructors and drivers championships two years in a row. With Mika Hakkinen winning the 1998 and the 1999 world championship. After these two dominant seasons, McLaren came tantalizingly close to winning again but were beaten to it by the supremacy of Ferrari and Michael Schumacher. In both 2003 and 2005 saw McLaren and their newest driver Kimi Raikkonen again nearly win the drivers championship, yet again to be pipped to the title by Ferrari. McLaren still saw success while under the black and silver colours of West. Also known as the Flying Finn era with both Finnish drivers Kimi and Mika driving thier cars. 2005 being the final season of West McLaren saw Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya have the most dominant season in years unfortunately to be beaten to the title this time by Fernando Alonso and Renault. Despite the success of the partnership of McLaren, West and it’s drivers the team opted to completely overhall their identity for the 2007 season.
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes The 2007 season saw McLaren go for a complete overhaul of their way of working. Introducing a new young McLaren hopeful, Lewis Hamilton and current world champion Fernando Alonso fill the seats of the MP4-22. The cars from this season through to the end of 2013 were seen in painted in chrome with detailing of bright red thanks to their new title sponsor Vodafone. 2007 saw McLaren’s new young driver Hamilton scoring high in his first big time race in his career. Through the whole season both Hamilton and Alonso fought for wins and pole positions in which turned out to be a very cotrovercial season where McLaren were excluded from the constructors championship for “copying Ferrari’s Car”. At the end of the season Fernando opted to go back to his title winning team Renault after a very controvercial and difficult single season with McLaren, to be replaced by another Finn Heikki Kovalainen. 2008 saw McLaren return to their winning ways with Lewis Hamilton taking the drivers title by a single point in the last corner, on the final lap of the final race. Being a very emotional end to a very, very competetive season with Ferrari.
In 2009 the sports regulations radically changed, having the teams need to create a completely new kind of chassis for their drivers to play with. This first season saw the team retain their 2008 drivers, but unfortunately they did not retain their competetiveness, only being able to win two races thanks to the champion Lewis Hamilton. Loosing to the newest team on the grid Brawn GP who with Jenson Button and Rubens Barrachello at the wheel tied up both championships, later for McLaren to sign the 2009 Champion for their 2010 campaign. 2010 through to 2012 saw the two british drivers Hamilton and Button have very stable, strong seasons where both drivers came very close to winning the championship in 2010. Only to be beaten by the rising Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel. The following two seasons saw the team put up a fight to Red Bull and vettel unfortunately not being able to beat them to the title. In 2013 Hamilton left the team for Mercedes, being replaced by McLaren’s 45th driver, Mexican Sergio Perez. Who alongside Button drove the very uncompetetive MP4-28. Despite being the teams 50th anniversary, unfortunately this was the first season since 1980 where the team were unable to make the podium in the whole season. Towards the end of the season Vodafone annouced they were leaving the sport leaving McLaren without a title sponsor for 2014.
McLaren Mercedes 2014 saw another shake up of the regulations opting to change the visual appearance and mechanical elements of the cars, reverting back to V6 Turbocharged power units. McLaren were unable to secure a title sponsor to run on the side of their car for the 2014 campaign nor did they run what many expected for them to do and use the traditional McLaren Orange livery. The 2014 Season saw the team drive under a chrome and black livery which seemed to alter its “title Sponsor�at certain points of the season. The team would retain the 2009 World Champion Jenson Button. Who was to be paired up with a new McLaren hopeful Dane, Kevin Magnussen. Who finished second in the opening race with Jenson finishing third. This season saw McLaren trying to claw back some of the pace and success they once had, trying to forget the horrendous 2013 season before. Throughout the season the team pushed and pushed making steady progress back up the field to a more competitive position, hopefully leaving them in prime position to be back up at the front in 2015. Where mid year, McLaren announced they were going to be parting with their long term engine suppliers Mercedes, to be replaced by a name that put a smile on many peoples faces. Honda. The McLaren Honda era was back, so many people wondering if the 2015 season would finally see McLaren back at the front of the grid. But with no title sponsor in place, no one knew what the team may look like. Could this be the return of the red and white Mclaren?
Or is the team more for continuing to look forward and not daydream about the success from their past?
McLaren Honda Pt. II 2015 states a ‘new’chapter in the history of McLaren. Old and new partners will be teaming up to hopefully remind the world why the McLaren team get out of bed in the morning. To win. This project will create this new livery for the 2015 campaign in a hypothetical way, opting to re inherit the past in its design. I am hoping to capture the key elements of past designs that made McLaren iconic so many times through their 51 years in the sport. And hopefully create an icon myself, that people would remember as the ‘rebirth’ of the McLaren Honda brand.
Globl Japanese Brands Many brands in the world suceed with where they are placed. A lot of brands are found globaly, this is to help meet demand and to get the most exposure to thier consumers. In Japan there some of the largest and most well known brands that have spread across the world. There are some Japanese brands that are naturally a part of motor sport. These brands are such like: Bridgestone, Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Lexus, Suzuki, Subaru, Mitsubishi and Mazda. Most of the mentioned brands are more manufacturers of vehicles that enter race going versions of their production road cars in various forms of motor sport. Although there are other brands such as Bridgstone, a japanese tyre manufacturer. Which doesnt need a huge ammount of explanation with it’s involvement in motorsport. But a brand such as bridgestone can either be involved in the sport asa sponsor or more obviously, a supplier. As they have been in not so recent years in Formula one.
There are other brands that have entered motorsport. These brands have mostly taken the path of sponsorship for teams that they feel will give them the best exposure to their market. There are some which after an extensive amount of involvement in a sport that can become its own self sufficient team, Red Bull is a very good example of this. As they originally started off as a sponsor for teams in different platforms of motor sport, and now have their own teams branded as Red Bull. With japanese brands aside from vehicle and tyre manufacturers there are some that become title sponsors for teams, giving them the most “advertising space� on a teams design. An example of a Japanese brand that is a title sponsor for a motor sport team is Denso, a global components manufacturer that is based in Japan. They are the main sponsor for the Toyota world endurance team. A trend that I seem to have noticed is that if there is a japanese brand in some form of motorsport, then its sponsors tend to also be japanese in order to promote the country to the rest of the world.
Honda Honda entered the Formula One world as a constructor for the first time in the 1964 at the German Grand Prix. Honda returned to Formula One in 1983. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Honda powered cars won six consecutive Formula One Constructors Championships. WilliamsF1 won the crown in 1986 and 1987. Honda switched allegiance again in 1988. New partners Team McLaren won the title in 1988, 1989, 1990 and 1991. Honda withdrew from Formula One at the end of 1992, although the related Mugen-Honda company maintained a presence up to the end of 1999, winning four races with Ligier and Jordan Grand Prix. In 2004, Honda-powered cars overwhelmingly dominated the IndyCar Series, winning 14 of 16 IndyCar races, including the Indianapolis 500, and claimed the IndyCar Series Manufacturers’ Championship, Drivers’ Championship and Rookie of the Year titles. In 2006, Honda became the sole engine supplier for the IndyCar Series, including the Indianapolis 500. In the 2006 Indianapolis 500, for the first time in Indianapolis 500 history, the race was run without a single engine problem.
During 1998, Honda considered returning to Formula One with their own team. The project was aborted after the death of its technical director. Honda instead came back as an official engine supplier to British American Racing (BAR) and Jordan Grand Prix. Honda then went on to buy a stake in the BAR team in 2004 before buying the team outright at the end of 2005. Making them their own constructor for the first time since the 1960’s. Honda won the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix with driver Jenson Button. And with their up and down presence in formula on 5 December 2008 it was announced that Honda would be exiting Formula One with immediate effect due to the 2008 global economic crisis. The team was then to be sold to former team principal Ross Brawn, who renamed the Honda F1 team Brawn GP who went on to win both championships in the sport (Under Mercedes power), and then 1 year later the team changed again to the works Mercedes Formula One team. In 2010 the Honda name returned as a works team in the British Touring Car Championship. 3 Years later Honda made an official announcement on the 16th of may 2013 that they were re-entering the Formula One Championship in the 2015 season to souly supply Honda engines to McLaren, continuing from where they left off with the team.
The Sound of Formula 1 The visual of Formula One is not the only aspect that makes the sport such an iconic figure in the modern day. One of the biggest features of an F1 car is their sound, they are very well known for their incredibly loud engine tones that can be heard for miles. Through the years the cars have had different aspirations and formations of engine pushing and pulling the driver around the track. Power units make an F1 car what it is, and whether it’s a 2.4 Letre Naturally Aspirated V8, a 1.6 Litre V6 Turbo or a screaming 3.0 Litre naturally aspirated V10. F1 cars always have something to shout about. But as many great things come to an end, so do eras of an engine. The newest era for the sport is the Re Introduction of a Turbocharged V6 Engine. These new power units also come eqquiped with a very powerful Energy Recovery System (ERS) alone giving the power of a fast family saloon road car.
Livery Design A livery is a uniform, insignia or symbol adorning, a vehicle that denotes a relationship between the wearer of the livery and an individual or corporate body. Often, elements of the heraldry relating to the individual or corporate body feature in the livery. Alternatively, some kind of a personal emblem or badge, or a distinctive colour, is featured. This can depend on what level the livery needs to be at, whether a global icon or personal saturday track day. The word itself derives from the French livrée, meaning dispensed, handed over. Most often it would indicate that the wearer of the livery was a servant, dependent, follower or friend of the owner of the livery, or, in the case of objects, that the object belonged to them. A livery really can determine if a team is popular or not, just because of how ‘pretty’ it is. Again taking into consideration the ‘canvas’ that the livery is being designed for. And for the sporting area it is going to be used in. There are some that reflect the personality of the team, such as Ken Block. Who runs his own rally team in America. And with him loving to live an exciting and playful kind of life, this is something that is pulled through in his driving style/choices and his liveries.
Good & Bad Design Within Motor Sport, Good and Bad Design can come under two things. It can either mean the physical design (Aerodynamically + Aestetically) of a motor vehicle is good or bad. And It could also mean that the look (The team colours/Livery) of the vehicle is good or bad. Each year a team will want their car to not only to perform the best on track, but to also look the best on track. Over the years through the many changing eras, regulations and names there have been hundreds of failures and triumphs with how vehicles in motorsport state their presence on the track if thats by its racing performance or its beuty.
McLaren Design in 2014 In 2014 McLaren opted to create their own livery with no title sponsor being in place to take a hold on how it looks. This also influened the teamwear and merchandise that was seen in the 2014 season. There were certain alterations throughout the year depending on certain celebrations, reincarnations or just general changes to make the look of the team better. Despite there being alterations to the teams look during the season, the ‘house style’ of how the team looked stayed the same. And with the style of the team continuing through the season, you can see that the designer of any visuals from the team have to be smart in how they adapt. As there will always be change in a season, so there is always the neutrality that is needed with a design in the sport to ensure that the design can easily adapt to new elemets being introduced or removed through the year.
Possible McLaren Partners There have been many partners to work with McLaren through their 51 years in the sport. Some related to motor sport, others not. 2015 leaves an open door for the next brand wanting a spot in the light on the side of a McLaren Formula One car. But the question is, who?
McLaren Livery With McLaren being one of the top Formula One teams of the sport, it’s no wonder that they would only want the best sponsors and livery for the vehicles. Through their history, they have always had a fairly simplistic and clean livery that alters depending on certain races and certain sponsors. In 2014 McLaren not having a Main Title Sponsor for their car meant that there was more of a blank canvas for them to make the car’s livery look how they wanted. As the usual case when it comes to a livery is that a team will have to make it work with its sponsors and partners to give them a chance to advertise their brands, but also give the McLaren car the sort of racing look that they naturally have (Obviously). With there still being no title sponsor for 2015 there are no restrictions on what the 2015 livery may look like, with that in mind many people speculate about what the McLaren title sponsor will be for 2015 and generate their own ideas of what the car will look like that year. As pretty and as ugly some may look at the end of the day these are just user generated ‘fan made’ concepts of what loyal fans of the team would like to see the team look like in 2015. This project will follow a similar ethos.
Japanese Partner With McLaren being re involved with the Japanese brand Honda in 2015, I have been putting a lot of consideration as to whether “Title Sponsor”for the team next season should also be from Japan or not. The 2015 partnership could have a very authentic visual feel to it if the three main partners have a big link, in this case being the country. With the title sponsor being from the same country as Honda would allow me to have the option of creating a “traditional” looking design for the 2015 campaign. The alternative is to use a large global brand, such as Microsoft. A brand like that would compliment McLaren in being a very clean and straight to the point company, yet still has a little bit of a fun side to break the seriousness of the overall brand. I will consider creating multiple concepts using different title sponsors to see what variants and what aspects from each do an dont work as a whole. Generating these concepts will help influnence further research into those specific brands in their ways of advertising and design. This will also help develop the path that the style and look of the new McLaren brand will take in 2015.
Japanese Art & Design In Japan, there are many forms of art and design inspired by Japanese heritage. A common theme that I have found with any art work is that it always has a sense of cleanliness and simplicity to it. As if to represent the calm and peace of meditation. An aspect of the design work that I have pulled out and linked with the Yin and Yang. I really like the idea of two opposite items coming together to make one whole. The colours used in a lot of Japanese design tend to be the same, Black, White and Red. The red representing the rising sun, and the black and white to represent the Chinese philosophy Yin and Yang. All of these colours help each other co exist in the same space without having more dominance over one another. They also help to keep a sense of calmness and tranquility.
One thing I want to elaborate on is the fact that I want to combine something Japanese and something Chinese together. I.e the Japanese design style and Chinese Yin and Yang philosophy. “Yin-yang” or “yin yang”, are concepts used to describe how apparently opposite or contrary forces are actually complementary, interconnected, and interdependent in the natural world, and how they give rise to each other as they interrelate to one another. Light and dark, fire and water, and male and female are thought of as physical manifestations of the duality of yin and yang. The philosophy can be thought of as a complimentary force that has two interactions to form a dynamic system in which the whole is greater than the two individual parts on their own. Regarding the McLaren Honda 2015 Design, A two stage design could be used to split both sides of the garage into “different Colour schemes”But when together create the McLaren Honda Brand.
Looking more into the Japanese side of the design, I would most certainly include the colouring used as mentioned earlier. With McLaren being known for their clean simplistic/Clinical look, the Japanese style of design could actually work better than you may first think as the visual up front is straight to the point and not too intensive on the eye. To fuel the further research and development of this project I will consider looking into the meanings and understanding of traditional and current Japanese type writing, as this could be a very good method of portraying messages across to the world. Through discussions with tutors an idea that has been put on the table is to have the design include the countries that the 2015 season will visit. If by that means having the entire design theme itself around that country, or whether it means having certain phrases/languages that alter per event (In the real world this would be a more viable option financially and logistically as finances and timescales sometimes limit teams to even bring upgrades to their cars if the travel time for new parts is too long for it to reach the next racing event).