Let’s be clear. I’ve always been into cars. Heck, I’ve been a car and driver subscriber for years now. I wouldn’t say that I’m some incredibly informed car enthusiast but I definitely have a lot to talk about when it comes to the topic. One thing I’ve noticed recently has been how much better cars look now than in they did in the past. However, I’m not just talking about those dream cars that everyone has posters of in their dorms. I’m not talking about the Lambos and Ferraris. I am talking about the cars that anyone can afford to buy.
Lamborghini Reventon
2012 Ford Fusion
Take for example Ford. Ford in the past has mostly designed their cars to be modest and inconspicuous. Things have changed. Take for example the Ford Taurus, their 4 door sedan. The car has gone from being lanky and blah to being quite good looking. The Ford Fusion and Fiesta are probably the two best examples of cheap Fords that still look good. A huge reason why cheap Fords have looked better in recent years. First of all, consumers have actually become more concerned about appearance. With less to separate cars in competitive markets and less consumers in the market, car companies need to do everything to separate themselves from the pack. However, when it comes to Ford, the biggest reason in design improvements has come down to personal. After Ford sold Aston Martin to Tata, the company went on to hire several of the sports car companies designers to their own company. All of a sudden, this designers went from creating cars that easily cost more than $100,000 to cars that anyone can afford.
2008 Ford Taurus
2013 Ford Taurus
However, branding has also become increasingly more important in car sales. Hyundai, and their sister company Kia, are probably the most prominent examples of changing your brand through improving the design of your cars. Both companies as recent as five years ago were thought of as companies that produced cars that were cheap and ugly. They were all utilitarian and no style. Things have changed in recent years. Not only has sales for both companies improved significantly, but the cars have also gotten prettier. The perfect example of this branding change has been the release of the Hyundai Genesis, a car designed to compete in significantly higher markets than in the past. All in all, when it comes to cars, style does pay off.
2015 Hyundai Genesis Sedan
2014 Hyundai Genesis Coupe
I had not noticed this when I first entered Baruch, but the Newman Vertical Campus can be both a college building and a museum.
When we go to museums such as the Metropolitan or the Guggenheim, we enter through the doors with a mindset of expecting to see great pieces of art. When we go to Baruch, we go through the turnstiles focusing on our next class or thinking about a paper due in a week; looking at art is probably not our main focus. However, on the walls of the Newman Vertical Campus, much like on the walls of the Metropolitan or the Guggenheim, there are some great paintings that I always notice and take a few seconds to look at before entering the classroom.
Doing some last minute practice for my speeches for Speech Communication, I always sit in front of this painting.
Going up the escalators to my large Introductory to Business Lecture, I notice these paintings
.
Exiting the 8th floor escalators to my English class, I pass by these colorful paintings.
There are probably so many more great paintings throughout the building that I have never seen before and that just shows how the Newman Vertical Campus can be, in a way, a museum.
Feel free to share or describe any paintings or works of art that you always notice on your way to classes!
I remember a trip I went to when I was in elementary when we went to a museum. I was so tired of going to museums and the same one every year too. I mean, come on, the same thing every year? Uh-uh. No, thank you.
But then one year, instead of going to a normal exhibition where we couldn’t touch anything and had to had at least 2 feet away, we went to a different show. This show was about the Big Bang Theory. We all sat down in seats, with no screen in front of us. I was thinking, “What in the world is going on?” and then something magical happened. Above us, in what seemed like the ceiling, the show started. I was in 3D too so I felt like I was a small meteor observing all the action. It was breathtaking. It was the first museum visit where I wasn’t sleepy on the ride home because everyone was talking about that show. I was so excited I remember wanting to become an astronaut for the next month!
I don’t remember what museum I went to for that show or even exactly what grade I was in, but it’s definitely an experience I never plan on forgetting. (I’m also still looking out to see if museums will do anything like this again because I want to watch it again!)
A similar exhibition was a past exhibition in the American Museum of Natural History, which you can read about here.
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