Mustang Matchmaker: Senior Color and Material Designer Helps Customers Fall in Love with All-New Model with Customization and Personalization

Mustang designers and engineers loved putting their stamp on the all-new, seventh generation. Carrie Kennerly, senior color and material designer for the all-new Mustang and Mustang Dark Horse performance model was one of them.

A Ford veteran of 21 years, Kennerly worked with the engineers and designers to bring Mustang to life by adding color, grain and gloss. Her work extends over the entire car, inside and out, all the way down to the wheels and badges.

“There’s a lot of little details that come together so customers can choose the finishes they want,” said Kennerly, noting the iconic pony car’s reputation for customization.

Kennerly worked closely with Ford’s vehicle personalization group on different aspects of the Mustang, including ensuring the Brembo brake calipers, now available in Grabber Blue, match various exterior color options like the new Yellow Splash and Vapor Blue metallic paints.

“It’s very important for a vehicle like the Mustang that we work together to make sure all the colors and materials harmonize,” she said. “There’s a lot of back and forth to make sure everything orchestrates together.”?

A Michigan native, Kennerly was a natural for a career in the automotive industry, where her father worked as a designer. She studied industrial design with an emphasis on color design at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit.

“I’ve always had a love of cars and I was the artsy one in the family,” she said.?

While in college, Kennerly took interest in color and material packages that adorned the latest vehicles. She went on to intern twice with Ford before she was offered a job during her senior year. In the past two decades, she has rotated through various programs, including trucks, Lincoln projects and recently working on Bronco Sport. Kennerly has been with Mustang since 2010, working on the Mustang Mach I, Mustang Boss 302 and Mustang Shelby GT500.

“I’ve been fortunate to be a part of some very fun projects,” she said. “However, color selection can be a challenge. For a vehicle like Mustang, people can be very opinionated. It can take a couple of years of testing to ensure a correct fit.”

Kennerly monitors trends, as well as the pony car’s history, but whatever hue is chosen after extensive testing, she says the car’s curvy design wears it well. Colors and materials have taken on added significance over the years, and they are now integral to the overall Mustang experience.

“We want people to not only want our vehicles, but we want them to fall in love with them,” she said. “Color and materials are the icing on the cake, pulling the elements together to create a theme and a feeling.”

In addition to the array of color choices available on the all-new Mustang, Kennerly is also proud of the fine touches she helped advocate throughout the project, such as color-coordinated, asymmetric accent striping on the seat belts on the higher trim series. There are also details like having “Mustang” embedded in the new available Electronic Drift Brake handle, as well as the unique design bolts that are functional and stylish.

“It’s just the little things that make people proud to drive it and make it special,” she said.

Kennerly also championed wrapping the instrument panel.

“It really paid off for the whole interior,” she said. “You really want to focus on things right in front of the driver and passenger.”

The all-new Mustang also saw an expansion in the use of laser graining, a more precise and clean approach than traditional acid printing, to create textures on the interior and exterior of the car. Those and other details were finally revealed for the world at the recent Mustang unveiling in Detroit. The night was a “fun and proud moment” for Kennerly, who was joined by her mom, aunt and daughter at the event.

“It was so great to finally show everyone what the team has been working on for so long,” she said.