Paul Priestman

Transportation Design

PAUL PRIESTMAN 23

PAUL PRIESTMAN

Cover MOVING PLATFORMS CONCEPT Tram and high-speed train Docking - front view

Our aim is always to create a seamless passenger journey from home to destination, to make travel easy, comfortable and stress free.

Paul Priestman

Paul Priestman is a designer and cofounding director of Priestmangoode, leaders in global travel and transport design.

Based on the philosophy that design makes things better and more efficient, both to use as well as to manufacture, run and maintain, Priestmangoode’s award winning designs have cemented the studio’s reputation as a visionary and innovative leader in user and passenger focused solutions.

SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS Economy class

The conference by Paul Priestman on 23 April 2014 considered the personalisation of the public transport experience, drawing on Priestmangoode’s expertise designing urban, national and intercontinental transport systems.

Designing the travel experience for people sounds like a challenging, but also like a dream job. How did you personally get into that field of the design market?

I’ve always been interested in making things better and more efficient.

Interestingly, looking back, transport was always a key interest of mine, even if my training was in product design. That was a very useful path, however, as my background means I’m always thinking about the user experience, which is key in transport.

In retrospect what were the key projects for your company Priestmangoode?

There are many, although one project does stand out as pivotal in the growth of Priestmangoode, and that’s the work we did with Virgin Atlantic in the late nineties. We designed the first lie flat seat for them. This was really the start of airlines using design for competitive advantage, and launched our reputation in that industry. A couple of years after that, we worked with Virgin again designing the Pendolino train in the UK. Transport and aviation have since become our main areas of work.

TAM Airlines First Class various views

Since being flexible and being mobile is such a universal requirement these days, being in transit and on the road is an everyday experience for people. How do you contribute to the ease of the everyday commute or to the special moments one is also looking for on a private journey like a honeymoon?

At the end of the day, the most important thing as a designer in transport, whether for a daily commute or for a special occasion, is to create a better experience, so that’s what we work on. Our aim is always to create a seamless passenger journey from home to destination, to make travel easy, comfortable and stress free.

I’m a firm believer in mass transit, and think it’s crucial to persuade people out of personal transport. Design is the way to do that.

Designer Yves Behar from fuseproject and his client from Jawbone said in a recent interview that they would love to redesign the airport security check in experience. What is your perspective on that?

Security in airports is led by technology, and as technology develops, the security experience as we know it will be a thing of the past. Passengers might for instance be ranked according to high and low risk, so that if you’re a frequent traveller on a particular route, you would experience a much quicker walk through security. A good example of the types of changes technology enables is passport control, which has dramatically improved since the introduction of automated walkthroughs and iris recognition.

From the point of view of the airport, security should happen before passengers enter the building, not once they’re halfway through. I think we’ll see many changes in airport security, but these will be gradual as many of today’s airports will have to be reconfigured to maximise security and passenger flow.

It’s all about knowing who you’re designing for, passengers’ habits, needs etc and designing something that is culturally relevant.

TAM Airlines First Class Console detail and bespoke reading light

You have worked on the design of First and Business class airline cabins.

What are the key requirements there?

We’ve designed many Business and First Class cabins over the years. But whether you’re working at the higher end of the market or on an economy cabin, every part of the travel experience is important.

And travelling doesn’t just start at the airport, it starts when you first book your ticket. We work on everything from that point onwards: websites, mobile apps, ground services, airport transit trains, aircraft interiors, livery, uniforms, graphic items etc. Everything that the customer sees and touches throughout the journey. And each part is crucial as it’s a reflection of brand. It doesn’t matter if you have the best cabin interiors if your website is hard to navigate and counter-intuitive, so we place as much importance say on a mobile app as we do on an aircraft seat.

What is your own favourite means of transportation?

I’m a big supporter of rail travel. I think it’s a great way to see a country and it’s the most sustainable form of transport.

I’m delighted that we’re entering a new age of rail. From a designer’s point of view it provides exciting opportunities to deliver a new generation of iconic transport designs.

The Eurostar recently appointed Christopher Jenner as its creative director in charge for an upcoming redesign. What would your recommendations be?

The Eurostar is many years old already and showing its age. But the service works. Why would you fly to Paris or Brussels when you can take the train and arrive directly in the city centre? The interiors just need an update.

On a different level you have been appointed as creative director at CSR Sifang, one of the largest rolling stock manufacturer based in China.

What is your role and impact going to be there?

Our partnership with Sifang sees us designing trains and metro for all over the world, and there are always local, cultural differences that are important to keep in mind. In China for instance, passengers like to sit in the direction of travel, so all seats need to be able to pivot 180 degrees.

There are also hot water dispensers for tea. In Australia, we need to make allowances for surfboards in storage areas. It’s all about knowing who you’re designing for, passengers’ habits, needs etc and designing something that is culturally relevant.

I personally enjoy travelling on the German ICE trains. The only two issues I have there are the lack of storage for times when people actually travel with luggage or baby carriers and the nonsense toilet paper holders they have in each and every generation of those trains.

I always wonder about the process that leads to such decisions. How do you make sure you pay the same kind of attention on all levels?

It’s interesting how certain things really annoy passengers on transport, and often the smallest things are the ones that leave a lasting impression.

In my experience, the best way to get something changed is to tweet about it.

The level of detail and rigor that goes into a design will vary according to the brief, the designer and the client. One of our advantages at Priestmangoode is that our background is in product design, so whatever we’re working on, whether a seat on a train, a hotel or a cruise ship, we look at things from the user

perspective, how things feel to the touch, how intuitive they are to use.

We do extensive research for each project, user studies etc, particularly in aviation. And we also build mock-ups of our designs. Seeing the space, how passengers use it, what works, what doesn’t, is a crucial part of our design process. The nature of the work we do means our designs are likely to be in circulation for 20+ years, and they’re such big investments, it’s important to get them right the first time round.

As for the quality, we try and manage a project from start to finish wherever we can, to ensure our design vision is correctly implemented.

What part of such a project is the part you enjoy the most personally?

Sketching and brainstorming at the initial phase, seeing a design right through to production, ensuring every part is correct and finishing with a great product that will make people’s lives better.

It’s absolutely imperative that we solve the issue of traffic congestion in cities, that we get people out of personal transport into mass transit, and the way to do that is to make public transport an easy, convenient and comfortable experience.

Above MOVING PLATFORMS CONCEPT Tram and high-speed train Transfer Below MERCURY HIGH-SPEED TRAIN CONCEPT Standard Class

MERCURY HIGH-SPEED TRAIN CONCEPT Exterior view

You are also working on visionary ideas. The moving platforms concept would allow travellers to move between running trains. What is the motivation behind this idea?

Operating a station based infrastructure to me is like communication before the age of the internet. Slow and clunky, when it could be so efficient and convenient.

We need to move rail travel into the 21st century. The technology in the manufacture of high-speed trains has evolved rapidly, yet we’re still running these superfast, high-tech trains on a system that was designed 200 years ago for steam trains. We need to rethink the infrastructure as well as the trains.

And it’s absolutely imperative that we solve the issue of traffic congestion in cities, that we get people out of personal transport into mass transit, and the way to do that is to make public transport an easy, convenient and comfortable experience.

I assume such moving platforms would kill the stations, that landmark in almost any city centre, that place of farewells and movie scenes…

AIR ACCESS Air travel concept for passengers with reduced mobility

Moving Platforms would not kill stations, it would just mean not building vast new stations outside city centres that function as car parks for most of the day and take up huge amounts of valuable land. It's about making the best use of existing infrastructure.

What level of appreciation and understanding for design do you find among your clients?

The most successful companies get design and some of our longest standing clients are companies that understand the importance of design as a business tool.

We have worked with other companies that had a stronger focus on engineering, and therefore didn’t have a detailed knowledge of the design process. But we’ve found all our clients become receptive to design very quickly, and understand its value in the long term. As we always say, design is not just about styling, it’s about making things better and more efficient to use, as well as to manufacture and maintain. As designers, you just need to learn to speak the same language as your clients.

What is your team structure like and what type of skills and qualities are you looking for in your team members?

Our studio has grown rapidly over the last few years. While originally we were mostly designers, we now have a team of designers, visualisers, CMF specialists and project managers.

Above all, the quality we look for is flexibility. We work on a wide range of projects, from consumer goods to aircraft interiors, hotels and high-speed trains. Our designers are able to move seamlessly from one area to another. In fact, this has proved instrumental in designing industry changing solutions, as we’re able to transfer skills learned in one sector to another. Our Recovery Lounge healthcare concept is a great example of that.

You are also working on interior architecture projects. What makes a good hotel from your point of view?

What should be avoided?

A good hotel has a sense of place and let’s you know where you are in the world. It also considers its guests and their needs.

We worked with Etap and Motel 6 a few years ago. These are budget hotels where consumers will stay one, maybe two nights. We looked at how guests used the rooms, and as they generally stayed for such short periods of time, they didn’t use the wardrobes, which took up valuable space. So we did away with those and reclaimed the space. But a good hotel isn’t just one that’s good for guests, it’s also easier and more efficient to run and maintain.

Do you have a favourite hotel? What makes it so special?

The Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong, because I know I’m in Hong Kong when I wake up, it’s well designed and the service is fantastic.

The world of hospitality seems to be changing quite rapidly. How would you describe this change and its reasons?

I think consumers are more discerning now. And interior design has been democratised. Guests expect more for less, and this has put pressure on the industry to provide the same level of quality, at better prices, whilst ensuring development and running costs are kept low.

LOUNGELINK Air-rail concept

MOVING PLATFORMS CONCEPT Tram and high-speed train Docking - bird's eye view

In terms of networking and new business what are the key events for people in transportation design?

There are a handful of key fairs and conferences around the world, such as Aircraft Interiors Expo and Innotrans in Germany, that we attend as a matter of course. Government led initiatives and events are also important to take part in, particularly in certain markets.

In China for instance, government is absolutely key to business. Many companies are still state-owned and it’s simply impossible to do business without government support. Being seen with high-ranking government officials impresses and is valuable for business. I regularly take part in trade missions around the world, and last December joined the British Prime Minister on a trade delegation to China. I find it encouraging that industrial design is starting to be recognised as a valuable contribution to the economy.

Would you share a mistake you made and what you learned from it?

When we were working on the Virgin Pendolino, we were originally campaigning for the nose of the train not be yellow. We felt that it detracted from our design. However, all noses in the UK must include yellow as a safety

feature. As designers, particularly on the type of products we work on, it’s important to think about the consequences of what you do, about your motives to make something look better. Design, and particularly transport design, must be interlinked with practicality, safety and efficiency.

I recently met a design executive who told me about his experience to build his home with his own hands and that he would really like to build his own motorcycle in that same way. Do you also have such dreams or first-hand crafting experiences? What are they?

I enjoy sailing and am always designing yachts in my mind. That would be a great project to work on.

Thank you.

I find it encouraging that industrial design is starting to be recognised as a valuable contribution to the economy.

WORLD VIEW Space capsule for the Paragon Space Development Corporation

PUBLICATIONS

COLOPHON

01 CHRISTOPH NIEMANN Illustration 2009 02 MICHEL MALLARD Creative Direction 2009 03 FUN FACTORY Product Design 2009 04 ANDREAS UEBELE Signage Design 2010 05 HARRI PECCINOTTI Photography 2010 06 KUSTAA SAKSI Illustration 2010 07 5.5 DESIGNERS Product Design 2011 08 NIKLAUS TROXLER Graphic Design 2011 09 JOACHIM SAUTER Media Design 2011 10 MICHAEL JOHNSON Graphic Design 2011 11 ELVIS POMPILIO Fashion Design 2011 12 STEFAN DIEZ Industrial Design 2012 13 CHRISTIAN SCHNEIDER Sound Design 2012 14 MARIO LOMBARDO Editorial Design 2012 15 Sam Hecht Industrial Design 2012 16 Sonja Stummerer & Martin Hablesreiter Food Design 2012 17 LERNERT & SANDER Art & Design 2013 18 MURAT GÜNAK Automotive Design 2013 19 Nicolas bourquin Editorial Design 2013 20 SISSEL TOLAAS Scent Design 2013 21 Christophe Pillet Product Design 2013 22 MIRKO BORSCHE Editorial Design 2014

PUBLISHER Design Friends COORDINATION Nadine Clemens, Mike Koedinger LAYOUT Mik Muhlen INTERVIEW Sven Ehmann PRINT Faber Imprimerie PAPER Scheufelen (Heaven 42 softmatt) PRINT RUN 500 (Limited edition)

with Carrérotondes asbl Mapping August. An Infographic Challenge 2010

ISBN 978-99959-807-3-3 PRICE 5 € DESIGN FRIENDS Association sans but lucratif (Luxembourg) BOARDMEMBERS Nadine Clemens (President) Mike Koedinger (Vice-president) Anabel Witry (Secretary) Guido Kröger (Treasurer) COUNSELORS Heike Fries, Mik Muhlen, Stéphanie Rollin and Silvano Vidale

WWW.DESIGNFRIENDS.LU www.Priestmangoode.com

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Paul Priestman Personal Public TransPorT

23 aPril 2014, 6.30PM MuDaM luXeMbourG

16.10 PRIESTMAN 148x148_NEWPARTNERS2.indd 1

2/4/14 11:24 AM

This catalogue is published for Paul Priestman's lecture at ­Mudam Luxembourg on April 23, 2013 organized

by Design Friends. In the framework of Design City LXBG Biennale 2014.

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