How to Design a National Icon

Sometimes a product transcends its profane role and becomes iconic. Often this occurs naturally but then when it becomes time to replace it this sacred part of its character has to be consciously addressed because the high expectations of this more esoteric purpose must be met. How do you even start to design a product that embodies an entire country's self-image?

The company I have forged my career with has an intimate relationship with vehicle manufacturers around the world. More often than not we are working together to develop vehicles that will carry their names. Products like the SandCat that Plasan sells as its own or white-labels for local assembly, are actually the much smaller part of the business but because it is a calling card of sorts into the capabilities that we have as a turnkey designer and supplier of vehicles, the SandCat and its siblings in the Plasan portfolio are often more visible than the vehicles that we have designed for OEMs and supplied as kits in much greater volumes.

Plasan's major successes over the years have been when collaborating with vehicle OEMs and integrators to develop vehicles with and for them. Many of the most significant armoured vehicles of the last 20 years have quietly been designed by us, to suit the requirements of another company or country's "brand". The American Navistar MaxxPro MRAP, Oshkosh M-ATV and JLTV, and Thales Hawkei for Australia, among many others, were conceived, designed, and developed in collaboration between Plasan and the maker whose badge they wear.

Many of the most significant armoured vehicles of the last 20 years have quietly been designed by us, to suit the requirements of another company or country's "brand"

When doing projects like this, I am very aware, as the Design Director, of the responsibility involved in designing a potential national icon that will be a flag-bearer for its manufacturer and the nation's military. On these vehicles the Plasan name takes a back seat and the product is designed with full respect for the values and national character of the vehicle's owner and operator.

Hawkei is a proudly Australian product that waves the flag for their industry

Plasan's success at doing this usually goes unseen precisely because it is accomplished so effectively. The JLTV is an all-American hero, The Hawkei a proudly Australian product that waves the flag for their industry, the M1114GR is a uniquely Greek Humvee with Hellenic style, and there are other countries whose indigenous vehicles were actually designed for them by Plasan who quite rightly goes unrecognised as being the creator. Sometimes these relationships are very sensitive commercially and politically because the homegrown nature of the product is one of its key factors and any foreign input must go unacknowledged. But often we are just a quiet partner and can admit to playing a role without this diminishing the identity of the vehicle as a local product.

Occasionally though, this identity crosses the threshold of merely being a local product, and it becomes a national symbol.

In the early stages of JLTV I remember telling the engineers at Oshkosh of the weight of responsibility that I felt on my shoulders being involved in designing a new American icon. I thought that it would allay any reservations that they had about allowing this British-raised Israeli to have a hand in designing it if they saw that I understood the significance and took the duty seriously. But until I said it I don't think that it had crossed their minds at all. I myself was hyper-aware that the JLTV was replacing the Humvee that replaced the Jeep, and it's hard to overstate the iconic nature of that line of vehicles as American heroes. Short of replacing the Statue of Liberty, or Bruce Springsteen himself, this was the big one.

When tasked with something like this, the responsibility and personal conflicts are huge. Of course you want to leave your fingerprints on it but this isn't yours, it belongs to an entire country. My own personal tastes as a vehicle designer don't align perfectly with American aesthetic values and I certainly couldn't impose them here. The end result was of course a collaborative effort between many different teams of people. The final bonnet design wasn't my own proposal although the central body is largely mine with some changes that were made along the way. Ultimately I think that we hit the spot. The American people, and especially the people for whom this was important, took it instantly to heart. It's a cool truck and a worthy replacement for the iconic Humvee, and although I am proud to have played a part in it, I don't consider it to be mine in the same way that I do certain other vehicles that I have designed because the JLTV isn't mine, it belongs to the USA. I just left some fingerprints on it.

Short of replacing Bruce Springsteen himself, this was the big one

There are other examples where my personal input was more significant, not all of which I can admit to publicly. Somewhere in the world there is a head of state, who shall remain nameless, who when presented with a prototype vehicle shook my hand and asked me if I could also design him a house. Had it been a mobile home I might have given it a go, but as it stands he used a different architect and I still can't talk about the vehicle.

there is a head of state who shook my hand and asked me if I could design him a house

The Greek M1114GR and M1118GR HMMWVs, about which I have previously written the development story, is a good example of a design that while far from iconic, was all about endowing it with its own national identity, giving it a Mediterranean Hellenic aesthetic that would differentiate it from the standard American Humvees, and about which the nation could be proud. It's a Greek Goddess of a design which combines Olympian athleticism with classical Greek geometrical symmetries and aesthetic harmony. It may seem a strange or even inappropriate point, but the Greek Army has the best looking Hummers in the world and it detracts nothing from their pride in this that they were designed for them by us.

Ultimately the challenge of conscientiously designing a national icon comes from balancing your own ego and desire to make it yours, with understanding the tastes and sensibilities of the people who must feel that it belongs to them. It is impossible not to feel the honour that comes with the responsibility, but this personal pride must be tempered by the pride of the nation that you are designing for. It is a rare privilege to be involved in projects like these, and this privilege is to give a nation something that is theirs.

Nir Kahn is the Director of Design for Plasan and has been responsible for vehicle design in the company for over 18 years, including the design of the Navistar MaxxPro MRAP, Oshkosh M-ATV, and the Plasan SandCat and Yagu. He is working on new composite architectures for the cost-effective mass-production of lightweight cars.