I don't see many Minis out where I am, so was surprised when Jalopnik's Jason Torchinsky highlighted this Tweet of one:
So as it turns out, Mini's Countryman model has the Union Jack graphically integrated with the two rear taillights.
And when you activate the turn signals, you get this:
I'm not sure if it's supposed to be cheeky, or funny, or if no one on the design team cares about cognitive dissonance. But I think it's really, really dumb.
Torchinsky reached out to Mini for comment, and received an unrepentant response ("there should be no trouble at all for a driver to understand" and Mini "has in fact received positive feedback about the taillight design," etc).
Mini is, after all, owned by BMW—whose response to negative design feedback on the iX was "It's not us, it's you."
I’m a lapsed industrial designer. I was born in NYC and figured I’d die there, but a few years ago I abandoned New York to live on a farm in the countryside with my wife. We have six dogs.
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Incredibly, Mini's Countryman has Stock Turn Signals That Point the Wrong Way
Only the US uses the entire brake light as an indicator. Everywhere else only the orange flashes which makes far more sense then.
Each half of the Union Jack is on their respective side. It wouldn't look like the flag if they swapped them.
They are absolutely f-ing nuts. This is the sort of thing that inspires another Ralph Nader book.
Probably one of the best analogies (or mockery) to Brexit I've ever see.
Got beat to the Union Jack observation, but I’ll post my comment anyway — “perhaps it’s part of the Union Jack package”.
I followed one in to work this morning and the story is quite different.
When I saw these taillights, I immediatelty saw them as some sort of resemblance to Union Jack, each side showing half of the flag. It makes some kind of sense trying to add a little extra storytelling to the cars way out British heritage, still being quite far out considering the car being a BMW with a Mini badge. But take a look next time you see one of these cars braking.
I think it's probably not going to cause confusion on the road but people will laugh inside their cars.
Are there any recorded instances of this so called design mistake having caused confusion and accidents? Non-googled answers only please.
when marketing dept. wins the argument against user centered designers
Wait. Minis have indicators?