Imhotep Evil, you have some very strong opinions and some unique ways of seeing things. ...but I must explain what I mean by metaphsical.

Symbolical is too specific Imhotep Evil ... it refers to signs and symbols with specific meanings. I am referring to the "coded" messages (signs and symbols) suggested in the design that arouse the subconscious.

Metaphysics in Modern art and design refers mostly to the subconscious associations a person makes with particular signs and symbols (semiotics). These associations may be learned (cultural/environmental) ...or gained through personal experience (subjective understanding). Post-Modern design generally communicates more directly, less intellectually and more emotionaly -- this is what BMW are trying to achieve with their "Human design" -- in this respect, you are correct, it is anti-metaphysical design.

The human link (as you put it) in high Modernism (Bauhaus) design -- is not so directly emotional ...but can achieve a high degree of aesthetic stimulation, however, this requires a cultural understanding of the Modern context -- most of us do have a cultural understanding of this Modern context -- it is the context of high technology and industrial engineering -- this is metaphysical design. Audi still subscribe to this methodology ...but they are a Post-Modern car company and so this Modernist ideology is only one aspect of the Audi design philosophy -- I see irony in Audi's design philosophy ....that is a purely Post-Modern trait.

Design plays a major part in communicating these high-technological values of contemporary industrial engineering and information technology .....it creates an overall "effect", expressing and arousing our awareness of the "culture of technology".

Also, you are talking rubbish when you say BMW created the concept of humanity in design -- God almighty, that is one of the tenets of Post-Modern architecture -- nothing new there.

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Originally Posted by Imhotep Evil As for Ferrari, in the begining it was about shape follows purpose (= to win races). Same with Pagani, their car looks like a LeMans sport-prototype from the 1980s.

Give me a break Imhotep Evil -- Ferrari and Pagani road cars have never been purely "form follows function" -- they are absolutely loaded with complex subliminal references (codes) that go far beyond anything pragmatic and essential to performance. They are designed to heighten our senses, arouse our subconscious -- stimulating primal instincts and emotions ........excitement, aggression, lust, sex. We would mostly associate this with the Italian passion for beauty in design -- but it stimulates very basic human desires.