First Design Experiments

Design Notes & Comments

July 28, 2002. I started on my first design theme aiming for a fresh look for an S30 body while trying to pickup where Nissan left off 32 years ago trying to incorporate elements that would be compatible with several of paint colors and/or body flares while also tipping my hat to the direction that Tim240Z has led uswith his Firebird like cut-out-slit panel design.

I've named this first design effort "Tail light theme 1a" for the sake of future reference. I've created several color variations of theme 1a, one of which is being sent to you today (dark blue, of course) and another (orange on black to gray gradation) which will be posted to the tail light thread at Hybridz later today.

Once I have worked out a few more themes and decided which ones I favor most, I probably will next move the vector illustration layers into Photoshop to attempt more 3D realism with more convincing "lighting" because what is not shown in present image is the 3D sculptural protrusions and recesses intended to enhance this design from many view angles of the car. Definitely, I envision all the lights as rounded

protrusions coming out of the sheet metal or fiberglass panel embedded in the stock S30 tail light body area.

Being a theme rather than a finished design, the idea with this one is that many of the elements can be tweaked, repositioned, scaled relative to each other and possibly, logical new components added (or subtracted) without the feeling of the theme being lost.

btw, I think the weakest part of this design that needs tweaking is the equal length of the 4 stacked, off center, horizontal lines inboard of the main light. I suspect that the inboard ends of these horizontal lines need to be arranged asymmetrically by shortening the upper widths progressively or altered to create the illusion of an invisible oval-like circle forming the inboard end points.

Your comments, both pro and con, would be most welcome, especially at the hybridz.org "What Tail lights Work On a 240Z?" thread where I think it will stimulate the most thought and give the greatest benefit.

--Eric Neyerlin (aka "Sleek Z")