[by Katerina Kyselica] The public around the globe has seen the Tata Nano – a small car introduced to the Indian market in 2008. While the world is fascinated by its $2,500 price tag, the Indian National Institute of Design fears the consequences of massive motorization for Indian cities. The Cooper-Hewitt museum presents Tata Nano as one of the latest developments in design and technology. Shall we talk design?
I rushed into the museum as soon as the exhibition opened. I walked up the stairs to get my ticket, and I asked where I can find Tata Nano. “Oh, you passed it, it’s behind you to your right”, directed a young woman smiling from behind the desk. I had overlooked it despite its brilliant yellow color. I read the press release again to make sure that I am indeed supposed to find “…diagrams and photos describing its concept, development and production”. There it was: one photo of a mom and two children riding on one scooter, two colored-pencil drawings of earlier concepts from October 2003 (a boxier version of the final model), a 3D visualization of the interior of the car from 2007 (no different from the final model), and a simplified diagram of the ‘under-the-hood’ parts.
I was left perplexed. Who led the design efforts of the team of 500 Indian engineers? What were their challenges? Why did they choose a convex shape for the front of the body? Did the Tata Group, a gigantic Indian conglomerate of Tata enterprises (28 publicly listed businesses), consider the impact of mass distribution of the ‘people’s car’ on Indian society? Should they?
M P Ranjan, designer and professor at the National Institute for Design in Ahmedabad, India, questions the hyper-fast “mind to market strategy” of the Tata Group and similar business enterprises. In his article “Tata Nano and Design Education Challenges for India”, urges industries to work hand in hand with design to create a good life in India. He urges businesses to put design before technologies.
[…] Design is complex and while I can admire the engineering achievement of Ratan Tata and his team I bemoan the huge catastrophe that this will portend for all of our society and us in the days ahead. …I would have liked to see some imaginative public transport solutions rather than just some more sleek automobiles being exhibited at the Auto Expo 2008 in New Delhi.
However, many do not see beyond the price tag of the Tata Nano. In the article “Tata Nano Takes Manhattan” by Phil Patton, the director for advanced mobility research at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Calif. Geoff Wardle emphasizes the influence the Tata Nano already has on car designers and the automobile industry. Warlde says that designers must now benchmark the Tata Nano’s low price.
Only the time will tell how much good, if any, the Tata Nano brings to India. However, when a prestigious design museum places the Tata Nano on a pedestal as a design achievement we should ask why.
What can we learn from the design of Tata Nano?
First, we should agree on a definition of ‘design’. We understand design as a profession of satisfying certain minimal requirements, including the requirements of use, sustainability, requirements for ease and economy (acceptable cost), and the requirements of appearance. It is in the balance of all the requirements that design as an art of making takes place. David Pye, a British designer, writer and professor in the London Royal College of Art, wrote in his book “Nature and Aesthetics of Design”:
It is folly to pretend either that design is simply a problem-solving activity or to pretend that it is simply an art. It is both…The world should not accept designers who are not artists, nor should it those who will not think hard.
According to Economics Online, Girish Wagh – who lead the Tata Nano team – said that their biggest challenge was to define the product’s specifications as they went along. “….all we had was a cost target,” he says. “That and the fact that it had to be a real car which met all the regulatory requirements.” The mechanical engineer with a post-graduate program in manufacturing delivered as requested: a compact car for the lowest price possible. Visually, however, the Tata Nano appears fragile. The tiny wheels and tires verge on silliness, Patton sums it up. Besides the price, there is not much design thought behind the ‘people’s car’ – a thought on accessibility through design, not just through engineering. Designer Yves Behar (fuseproject) for instance proposes a concept of a ‘modular’ car as an accessible means of transportation for developing countries. His idea includes a design of a ‘one-fits-all’ chassis that would allow building cars with different functions on one base. Behar calls it a ‘hackable’ car. The concept strives to use a minimum amount of components resulting in an almost mirror form of front and back of the car.
photo: provided by the Tata Group
the Tata Nano - interiors, photo: provided by the Tata Group
versatility of the 'hackable' concept car by Yves Behar/fuseproject
the 'hackable' concept car (back) by Yves Behar/fuseproject
Secondly, we must see each product made in the context of a system. Everything that surrounds us has been designed. Everything that we use, regardless whether it was made in India, China or Brazil, creates our global landscape. It doesn’t disappear once we decide to replace it, it fills up the landscape.
[…] Perhaps we need to take systems design more seriously and get all our disciplines to work together in the final years to show India just what can be done by a determined young team of designers, all moving in the desirable direction… as the premier National Institute of Design we are just as responsible for our actions as is Mr. Ratan Tata as the senior Industrialist and businessman of India in the 21st century.” concludes prof. M P Ranjan in his paper.
Praising the Tata Nano as a design achievement is at its minimum exaggerated. The Tata Nano is an example of a missed opportunity to integrate design and technology to deliver an affordable product. For us, however, the “Quicktake: Tata Nano” exhibition is a missed opportunity to discuss what a good design is.
Filed under: Design, New York City, World Tagged: | Cars, Design, New York City, Review
[...] costs, fuel costs, materials, and maintenance expenses. Given these constraints and goals, the Tata Nano is really quite an achievement. No other real car in modern times had previously accomplished all [...]