2016 Titan designer was interviewed:
Diane Allen was born and raised in Detroit with a proverbial pencil in her hand. As a child, she says, “you could not stop me from drawing. I was constantly drawing. It wasn’t cars at that time, but always something.”
"An automotive guy saw my work and said, ‘You have to go into cars.'"
Read more: Interview With 2016 Nissan Titan Senior Design Manager Diane Allen
After graduating from high school in the Detroit suburb of Garden City, she went to Wayne State University in Detroit on a full academic scholarship, but didn’t stay long. “I was looking into product design,” she relates. “An automotive guy saw my work and said, ‘You have to go into cars.’ He literally picked up the phone and made an interview for me at College for Creative Studies.”
Read more: Interview With 2016 Nissan Titan Senior Design Manager Diane Allen
Well, she is responsible for the outgoing Titan. So how exactly does your point stand?Yes, just the person I'd have design my "world beater" 3/4 ton beast...lol
He came in very last minute. 80-90% of the truck was designed during 2012. Diaz arrived in April 2013, shortly before the design freeze.Wheres the Diaz guy who came over from Dodge. Or any guy for that matter.
You've got it, excellent write-up! I don't think too many know how design works at Nissan or any company for that matter, unless it is hand delivered to them in the form of a quoted linked article or Youtube video.Diane Allen also had a part to play as the Chief of Design for other projects like the Nissan 350Z. Her forte is managing a design team and giving them the room to be creative within a set of design parameters. I think she's done a superb job over the years.
I'm sure she's done great work over the course of her career, and the cracks about her being female, goofy looking, and overweight are entertaining but irrelevant. Simple fact is, the ball was dropped with the aesthetic design on the new Titan IMO. It is hideous, and seems to just borrow from the herd of the other pickups on the market rather than being a stand-out like the first gen Titan. No one gets it right every time.. and in this case, it turned out to be a disaster that they are going to have to cram down most peoples' throats and make up this 'warrior' junk to justify the ugliness. Better luck next time Diane
Based on what? After designing the 2001 D22 Frontier/Navara, from late 1999 to August 2001, she was responsible for design of the Titan, Pathfinder Armada, and QX56. The 350Z was done with by March of 2000, she spent most of 2000 working on the Titan.I think there was too much space in this one. I certainly can't claim to know, but the end result smacks of screwing off, and then just copying what seems to sell in the market at the last minute to be done with it.
Seriously, Pickup folks should design the looks of pickups, not car people.
Precisely, you got it.We should also consider the fact that design might have not been all her, having influences from other parts of Nissan that all have to come together with her and her team to get it to this stage.
Yep, you got it! The amount of time allowed on this, may not have been enough.In one article I read it was leaked from her that a portion of the front end design did come from a different department because it was an issue with the cummins for fit. Also just like the fender vents being fake rather than being actual vents as originally planned, the motor actually performed lower with the fender vents. I know there's other factors that went into the design that do limit sheer creativity, but the overall just didn't turn out well.
Precisely, that this is the case here. No one ever wants to give the little guys credit, who do the sketching and oversee the shaping of the design personally. Randy Rodriguez comes into play here, regarding much of the Titan XD design.The problem with PR on a new product like Titan is whoever is put up front will take the brunt of the criticism from people who don't like it. Allen (and other senior Nissan managers) are a bit like QBs- they get too much credit when things go well and WAY too much blame when they don't. I expect sales of the Titan will eventually justify the work that went into it.
You don't know what you're talking about, since there are many fantastic Nissan products overseen by her.No she hasn't.
Not sure you know what you're talking about, as she also was responsible for the 2004 Titan. After the 350Z design was approved in March 2000, she turned her full focus towards the full-size truck and SUV programme.Trying to be PC:
It would take a special woman who could design a vehicle that is typically purchased and used by males for typically male dominated activities.
Obviously Diane wasn't this person, Nissan should have played down her role, or better yet used a male design team. It's just a fact.
Here's to hoping that the XD is unique and that the 1/2T Titan will be MUCH better looking, like an evolution of the current (but OLD) design.
It's a shame that Nissan applied social engineering to our beloved truck.
Now, that is just your opinion and not fact. I find laughable you'd say that, considering she worked on the original Titan 15-16 years ago. If she didn't touch anything related to that, I doubt the Titan would come out the way it did in terms of design.I really don't think she should be designing vehicles. A sexist guy at GM supposedly told her than women shouldn't design cars. I can't say I agree with that. I can say that SHE shouldn't be designing cars. She's somehow had a 30 year career doing this. Time to retire. I never liked any of her designs. Even the 'z' seemed to be a missed opportunity. I don't know if it's an inability to see 'the whole' of the vehicle and just focusing on a single small piece at a time or what.
Bingo! The rest don't seem to get it of course, unless someone bothers explaining it to them.She's the same person that did the 2004 Titan.
Yep, clearly she is doing something right. Even if many Titan owners don't have a clue about her past work and only assume this is her first rodeo in this segment. There are always external factors with a project, that can affect things negatively.I guess she has be doing something right, 30 years with a company, that says something. Might just be a small amount of us that disagree with her
Umm?“An automotive guy saw my work and said, ‘You have to go into cars.’
You can put lipstick on a pig but it still looks like a pig.Thislilfishy said:Color for certain, a camera just can't capture a color in the sun, specially any metallic or pearl color. Design, well mostly, but it can vary with the color, some cars look pretty cool in a certain color and down right hideous in another color. When I saw the picture for the new f150's at first I liked it. Then I saw it in person and decided I definately didn't like it, except in the pearl white color, then it looked pretty nice.