Featured Speaker

Inside the studios of one of the world's most technologically advanced automotive and racing companies, a lump of clay, an organic expression of a next-generation car, sits near a supercomputer that visualizes the car in a virtual environment that is almost impossible to distinguish from real life. The studio walls are covered with images and examples of natural objects and technological tours de force; animals, jet fighters, exotic new materials, and even the world’s fastest sailfish splashed in chrome with McLaren’s rocket red accents. The studio's designers are constantly debating and exploring new technologies, new materials, and new concepts.

Technology has changed the way designers work. Traditional design phases, from hand-drawn sketches to clay modeling, are now realized through digital tablets and digital three-dimensional modeling. Designers must combine the best traditional and new approaches to define the optimal balance between digital and analog solutions.

Automobiles have always been a reflection of technology draped in art, and "super cars" are the ultimate expression of automotive art and technology. Designers who create the next generation of super cars must have the right tools to articulate their vision. At the same time, they must always ask: What’s next?

With its roots in Formula One racing, the design studio at McLaren is where "what’s next" is already here. In his featured speech, McLaren Design Director Frank Stephenson explains how his world-class design team looks beyond what's next to challenge the future.

Frank Stephenson began his career at BMW, where he designed the X5 and the popular Mini before becoming design director for Mini. He was the design director at Ferrari, Maserati, and Fiat before joining McLaren and achieving his boyhood dream of working on at the pinnacle of car design – Formula 1.