Taurus & Good Design
Posted by Adriane Jewett | Labels: kusocialmedia09, Meikle, Taurus | Posted On Saturday, August 29, 2009 at 11:26 PM
Two words I never thought I'd use in the same sentence.My dad has a Taurus. I've never liked it.
No particular reason, it just seems blah. Dad's is white, nondescript and company-issued. It's serviceable, comfortable, drivable and boring. As a popular fleet car, I imagine an army of cars exactly like my dad's clogging the highway.
You can imagine my surprise when I turned the page in my history of industrial design book and came face to face with a picture of a white, nondescript Ford Taurus. This particular picture happened to be the station wagon version...but let's be honest, that only makes it worse.
According to Jeffrey L. Meikle, author of Design in the USA, "Automotive historians regard the Taurus as 'the single most important American production design of the 1980s[.]'"
Never in my wildest dreams have I imagined that the Taurus held any significance in the world of design. Apparently, the 1986 Taurus redefined American cars. Meikle calls it the "aero-look." It took cars from all their boxy glory and began the transition to a smoother, curvier, more aerodynamic body style.
Meikle goes on to say that the Taurus' "jelly-bean look" (his words, not mine) not only impacted car design, but the look and feel of other small, everyday objects like point-and-shoot cameras.
What does all this mean? It means that in 1986 the Ford Taurus was a sexy car. It was the car people were clambering to own. Heck, maybe it was equivilent to when Ford redesigned the Mustang.
And that makes me wonder which of my favorite objects will be the Taurus of tomorrow. What super-cool thing in my life will college design snobs turn their nose up at in 2030?
Oh, and in case your wondering, Ford's out to do it again. Feast your eyes on the new again 2010 Ford Taurus. Wonder where it will lead.
(On a completely unrelated note...I had to reword one of my sentences because I could not figure out the plural form of "Taurus." Tauruses? Tauri? Apparently the whole Internet community is stumped, because I couldn't find the answer. If anyone knows...please enlighten me!)
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