A designer's view of a car as a digital product

For Tata Motors' Martin Uhlarik, good design is about fitting into a customer's lifestyle and thinking digital and futuristic every day

- Renuka Kirpalani

Good design is all about ease of use, whether one is designing spaces, clothes, appliances or cars. For Martin Uhlarik, global design head of Tata Motors, understanding who is going to use his products is fundamental to his design philosophy. After a recent walk around London for a design immersion experience and a visit to the state-of-the-art Tata Motors Design Tech Centre in Warwick, UK, Uhlarik explained how he and his team draw inspiration from trends in fashion, electronics, and even the way people use public spaces.

Could you explain how designers draw inspiration from the world and how it translates to the final product?

All of us as designers are fundamentally curious. We're constantly looking at what's new, what's innovative. We go to auto shows. I go to dealerships on weekends, you know, dragging my kids. When we start a programme (to design a vehicle) we think about who the customer is going to be. We break it down a lot, a kind of map of the customer landscape, from an Indian customer point of view or global customer point of view. Then we think where would these people go, and we go there to see what they're shopping for. Whatever the trend—it could be an electronics product, a fashion product. As creative people, we walk around looking at what people are buying, and we look at whether there is something happening. To be honest, in my personal time I do that, so we're getting inspiration everywhere all the time.