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How Ford designers screwed the Bronco in the best possible way
The 2021 Ford Bronco's chief designer says his favorite thing about the SUV is a humble piece of hardware.
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Every time you see a Ford Bronco-branded bolt on this SUV, like on this grab handle, it's a call to action.
Nick Miotke/Roadshow
One of the most impressive things about the new 2021 Ford Bronco is how thoughtfully the Blue Oval's designers and engineers seem to have been about considering the way the model's typical customers will want to personalize and reconfigure their vehicles. During a Friday conversation with Paul Wraith, Bronco chief designer, ahead of the Bronco's reveal, I asked him what his favorite feature of the new truck was, and he gave an unexpectedly simple response: a bolt.
More precisely, a custom-designed Torx-head screw that's been strategically deployed around the vehicle, inside and out. "I think we can all take a great deal of pride, actually, in a bolt," he said. "We have these little Bronco bolts and they're fitted all over the interior and the exterior. And each one has got 'Bronco' bashed into the head of it."
It's a simple surprise-and-delight detail, but not a merely ornamental one. Wherever you find one of these special screws, it's a subtle call to action. According to Wraith, "Each one of these little Bronco bolts is an invitation to do something with the vehicle. This is a little bit of a giveaway. Where they exist, we've set the vehicle up to have things attached to it. Whether they're lights, or racks or mounts for all sorts of things.... we have those on the grab handles, on the instrument panel, and on the console, as well. It's an invitation to add things, take things off, play, invent, create things."
Paul Wraith, Bronco chief designer, has a surprisingly simple thing he's most proud of on Ford's new SUV.
Ford
This little mechanical detail actually required a surprising amount of effort to execute, the nearly 20-year Blue Oval veteran noted. "We spent a lot of time dealing with people who are not used to designers being concerned about the appearance of bolts and the accuracy of the fonts that are knocked into the heads of them, which was fun in itself," said Wraith.
In an earlier part of our interview, while conversing about a different subject, Wraith said, "We don't want people to be intimidated about doing the things they hope to do with the vehicle because it's complicated." A simple screw head that flags itself as a point of interaction and personalization would certainly seems to fit that mold, too.
"I love the bolt," he said.
https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/ford-bronco-design-screw-bolt-paul-wraith/
The 2021 Ford Bronco's chief designer says his favorite thing about the SUV is a humble piece of hardware.
Every time you see a Ford Bronco-branded bolt on this SUV, like on this grab handle, it's a call to action.
Nick Miotke/Roadshow
One of the most impressive things about the new 2021 Ford Bronco is how thoughtfully the Blue Oval's designers and engineers seem to have been about considering the way the model's typical customers will want to personalize and reconfigure their vehicles. During a Friday conversation with Paul Wraith, Bronco chief designer, ahead of the Bronco's reveal, I asked him what his favorite feature of the new truck was, and he gave an unexpectedly simple response: a bolt.
More precisely, a custom-designed Torx-head screw that's been strategically deployed around the vehicle, inside and out. "I think we can all take a great deal of pride, actually, in a bolt," he said. "We have these little Bronco bolts and they're fitted all over the interior and the exterior. And each one has got 'Bronco' bashed into the head of it."
It's a simple surprise-and-delight detail, but not a merely ornamental one. Wherever you find one of these special screws, it's a subtle call to action. According to Wraith, "Each one of these little Bronco bolts is an invitation to do something with the vehicle. This is a little bit of a giveaway. Where they exist, we've set the vehicle up to have things attached to it. Whether they're lights, or racks or mounts for all sorts of things.... we have those on the grab handles, on the instrument panel, and on the console, as well. It's an invitation to add things, take things off, play, invent, create things."
Paul Wraith, Bronco chief designer, has a surprisingly simple thing he's most proud of on Ford's new SUV.
Ford
This little mechanical detail actually required a surprising amount of effort to execute, the nearly 20-year Blue Oval veteran noted. "We spent a lot of time dealing with people who are not used to designers being concerned about the appearance of bolts and the accuracy of the fonts that are knocked into the heads of them, which was fun in itself," said Wraith.
In an earlier part of our interview, while conversing about a different subject, Wraith said, "We don't want people to be intimidated about doing the things they hope to do with the vehicle because it's complicated." A simple screw head that flags itself as a point of interaction and personalization would certainly seems to fit that mold, too.
"I love the bolt," he said.
https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/ford-bronco-design-screw-bolt-paul-wraith/
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