Mark Roberts

Originally a technical illustrator at Lotus, who moved to McLaren and ran the design studio for 30 years, and is now a creative consultant

- 

1. For the McLaren F1 owner's manual, Gordon Murray told me to deliver something that was significantly better than our competitors'. Nobody reads owners' manuals and I wanted to change that to reflect the handbuilt nature of the car and sense of occasion. Pencil drawings with watercolour washes seemed appropriate. I hate human figures and hands in manuals - they just look wrong against the product - so I used crash dummies and it really worked.

2. When I was about ten, I found a couple of my parents' enamel Butlin's badges in a tin - stunning translucent enamel, vivid colours and beautiful Deco designs. I have bought so many over the years and even approached Fattorini (who made the originals) to make the badges for the F1. My wife bought me the crab, the holy grail of Butlin's badges, for my last birthday.