When Women’s Design Work Is Macho
Marketing can be rough in a time when gender assumptions are going out the window. We used to be able (we thought) to comfortably deduce what were “women’s” products and what were “men’s.” The gender question had been easy to answer – and generally served as the first layer of market segmentation, whether appropriate for the product/service or not. And, now we read that a legendary man’s realm – sports cars – has gone to the girls? What?!
Here’s an assumption for you: Sexy sport cars are designed by and for the men who will buy them.
Here’s the gender bubble-burster: Sexy sport cars can be designed by women as well as men for the men and women who will buy them.
Welcome to the twenty-first century. According to a New York Times article by Cheryl Jensen, the key designers of the new BMW Z4 are women – Nadya Arnaout (interior) and Juliane Blasi (exterior). And, my, what a gorgeous car it is! Interestingly, when these women were introduced at the New York Auto Show’s media preview, there was a stir. As Adrian van Hooydonk, BMW Design Group’s Director, put it:
“I guess still a lot of people think that women can only design round shapes and soft shapes and fluffy stuff.”
If the definition of sports car design has always been “macho” – now’s the time to agree that women can get there too or, better yet, that macho may not be the right word. After all, the brains of both men and women can understand and fully interpret sleek lines and aggressive styling. As Arnaout put it in Jensen’s piece: A designer just has to be able to communicate with a form language that fits the concept.
On that note, there is one very telling element of this BMW story – Arnaout and Blasi won a design competition to get the job, where the creator/competition applicants remained anonymous “to ensure that personalities were not a factor in the judging….”
Very interesting. It’s not the gender of the designer, but the uniquely skilled/experienced brain in that male or female frame. “Macho” doesn’t mean man-only. Rather, it is just a label for a fast, sleek car to which many a consumer, no matter their gender, might respond.
No need to be surprised that women can create products with machismo. And, vice versa – there can certainly be men behind products that have seemed more feminine. Wouldn’t it be great if more anonymity in product design/focus were possible, so that we – as consumers and as marketing students – could judge the success of such things based on their unique merit for their unique customerrs?
From the looks of the car and the sound of this article, BMW’s new Z4 will resonate on an emotional level with the people most likely to buy it. Should it be huge news that women were behind it? No.
Marketing perspectives should be shifting in this gender convergent world. Undeniably beautiful design won’t wait for us to “accept” this fact as marketers, and consumers have already proven it true.
