• Chris Bangle – autore
• Roberto Mugavero -  Minerva Publishing House
• Valerio Cometti - Creative Director  V12 Design

A provocative and unexpected journey behind the scenes of the birth of a car, from the blank sheet of paper to its debut on the road. Chris Bangle, an American designer by birth but resident in Italy for over 15 years, publishes for Minerva Reading between the lines of Car Design, a magical and mysterious manual that aims to bring the reader a new perspective and knowledge of automotive design and more. In pocket format, the volume is structured along 102 sketches taken from the author's notebooks, each a starting point for a fun and authoritative analysis, including personal reflections, anecdotes on creative processes, but also quotes from some of the most iconic cars of our time, up to references far from four wheels, because after all "everything is car design". "I often refer to sex in my notebooks when analyzing Car Design; as an old proverb says: "It's all about sex, except sex, which is about power". Maybe that's what attracts me to cars: they fit into that particular meeting point between the two themes. Car Design, however, requires something else: it takes love", writes Chris Bangle, who with a fun and fresh style leads the reader on a journey between past and future, between personal experiences and professional challenges, between artistic intuitions and technical limits to overcome. From the Countach to today's cars: the philosophy of design In the pages of Leggere tra le righe del Car Design, the author explores the concept of pure design, comparing the glorious past of supercars with today's challenges. The book ranges from reflections on the Lamborghini Countach designed by Marcello Gandini to modern autonomous cars, which risk reducing the pleasure of driving to a simple passive experience. “Today’s supercars are too predictable, too polite, and too ready-to-wear to be on the same level as the Countach. Gandini showed us what a true supercar should do: be wildly risqué, unabashed, and sensual (I would venture to say erotic) on the road,” Bangle explains. This vision translates into a critique of the standardization of the automotive industry, where creative freedom is often stifled by technical constraints and market logic. “While engineering and marketing compete for living space, the design department plays the role of the gangster’s lover and shuttles between these two forces, usually playing them off against each other,” he adds. The Art of Innovation: Lessons for Designers and Creatives The book is not limited to the automotive industry, but offers valuable insights for designers, artists, and innovators in every sector. The author analyses the creative process with bold comparisons, such as the one between Car Design and the artistic nude of Sir Kenneth Clark, between the design of motorbikes and jazz music, or again, with the adventures of the great explorers: «Car Design is an adventure, like those of mountaineers or polar explorers: you don't discover the South Pole by advancing 100 metres every year because you are too scared of losing sight of the footprints or tent poles of those who came before you». A book that inspires and provokes With an ironic and very personal style, Chris Bangle challenges the clichés of design and invites readers to reflect on the future of creativity. From the concept of thinking out of the box to the management of talent in design teams, the book is a mine of insights for anyone who wants to understand the mechanisms of the world of design.