I always enjoy taking the lessons I’ve learned in the motorcycle industry and applying them elsewhere. I was very happy to work with the good folks at GKDI, who design exclusively for Yamaha. At their invitation, I joined them in their Long Beach office for a week. Along with a handful of other designers from around the globe, we devoured the market reports, did firsthand research, and rolled up our sleeves to create a few designs that would appeal to buyers. While the form of the watercraft went unchanged, we were tasked with giving several models a fresh look. These are the two receiving the brunt of my mouse-work: the race-inspired FX SHO/SVHO models and the Superjet racer. While the focus during the design session was the FX models, it was great to see the team apply one my racier concepts to the Superjet.
Images courtesy Yamaha Motor Corporation