It's no surprise that designers often misinterpret future design trends. Part of the problem is design is often a slave to current technology. To accurately design for the future, one has to guess what technologies will be available in the future. These designers are often labeled "conceptual". This paradox is clearly seen in a post I saw at another blog about what designers in 1933 thought cars in the future would look like. "What do I think about automobiles in the future?" Well, it will be about one-third the weight of the present car and will, of course, be streamlined. The new cars will all weigh less than 2,000 lbs. and will probably have motors of around 100 horsepower. They will be lightweight cars, because the lighter the car, the easier it rides. . ." Interesting that designers then understood the dichotomy between weight and ride suspension. They understood coefficient drag and knew that cars would have to be streamlined. They also knew engines would have to be more powerful to adapt to the burgeoning drive culture. What they didn't guess right was what those cars would look like.
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