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Design Services: Car Menu launched

Within almost every automotive design department throughout the world, their comes a time when a junior designer is dispatched to find a picture of some new model's tail lamp, the side view of a particular class leading competitor or examples of several new cars' colour and trim packages. Whilst looking at the competition is not necessarily a healthy way of finding ideas, it is often essential to demonstrate what is feasible, check in-house proposals are not too derivative, or show how advanced a design theme is relative to the same type of cars on the market. But even if the particular aspect of a car can be found, press packs and magazines typically show cars in the flattering light of an exotic location or being drifted around a corner on opposite lock; rarely are these images particularly useful.

Clay modeler turns steel sculptor in new exhibition

A GM Holden clay modeler who has used his skills to transform scrap metal into over 400 works of art will display his creations at an new exhibition in Melbourne, Australia.   Jamie Schena, whose sculptures will be displayed in his ‘Mechanisation' show at custom bike shop Gasolina, sold his first artwork in 2001 after starting to sculpt models from bits of scrap metal lying around his father's workshop. After helping to rebuild engines and design farm machinery in his family's mechanical and engineering business, he moved to Melbourne to study Industrial Design at Monash University.

Volvo S60 R-Design won on Facebook by ‘The Lake District’

Volvo Greatest Drive Winner – The Lake District You may remember we reported in June that Volvo had gone slightly bonkers and decided to give away a brand spanking new S60 to whoever submitted the ‘Greatest Drive’ on Facebook; the route that offered not just great scenery but a great driving experience too. And Volvo didn’t skimp on the competition, with not just an astonishingly good prize but also the services of Robert Llewellyn to drive an S60 round the three routes initially voted the best (curious, that – we didn’t know Bobby could drive a car without an electric motor), with videos posted so Volvo’s Facebook fans could make a proper decision on what really was the ‘Greatest Drive’. And the winner was ‘The Lake District’.