Day: Feb 15, 2016

A Little More On Train Interiors

A while back I ran an item on the connection between the 1991 Mercedes S-class and the Ulm School of Design. In it I promised I’d show some photos I took of the Deutsche Bahn ICE train which I propose as having been at least inspired by the Ulm School’s design approach.

Deutsche Bahn ICE train
Deutsche Bahn/DSB ICE train about to run for the last time from Aarhus to Hamburg.

This photo series was taken on the last run of the ICE direct line from Aarhus, Denmark to Hamburg, Germany in December, 2015. I took the opportunity to photograph the interior which is both modern and welcoming. It is full of thoughtful touches and is in contrast to the rather horrid Alstom commuter train I experienced recently.

The essence of my argument is that design differs from engineering in that it recognises the humanity of the user through what David Pye calls useless work. David Pye’s work is required reading for anyone interested in the meaning and value of design. This train supports that case. Continue reading “A Little More On Train Interiors”

Theme : Special – ‘S’ as in ……

Driven to Write considers the cream of the motorist’s alphabet

Three in a row. The S's finest moment?
Three in a row for the letter’s finest moment? The Datsun 510SSS: superstreetonline.com

Every niche has its own alphabetical hierarchies. For computers, maybe ‘X’ is the best letter, or perhaps lower case “i”, but top of the motorists alphabet must be ‘S’. ‘S’ is the most Special letter, whatever it stands for. Just seeing an ‘S’ attached to a car’s name lets you know that it will be better and faster than a car that only has an ‘L’ or, horror of horrors, a ‘D’, a letter that offers only parsimony, slipperiness, smell and clatter, unless it is a Citroen. Continue reading “Theme : Special – ‘S’ as in ……”