Design Talk with Marco dos Santos

At our partner Audi, Marco dos Santos designs vehicle wrapping — the so-called «Liveries» — for prototypes, series models and Formula 1.

Marco, you create film designs for Audi. What does your day-to-day work look like?

When a project lands on my desk, I first talk to the model designers and developers to find out what their core ideas were, what character they gave the vehicle. It’s about sensing where the focal points are, what kind of story you want to tell with the vehicle and what technical innovations you want to explain. With the help of these discussions, I can set the first markers and points of reference on the vehicle and think about where I want to focus.

Where do you get your inspiration from?

I personally find the most exciting approaches in the areas of robotics and fashion. In robotics, there are a lot of technically driven elements that can be found in my work and a clear aesthetic that simply suits Audi. Fashion, on the other hand, reflects more the spirit of the times and lives from current, sometimes contradictory trends and movements.

In the past, there were mainly the classic, black and white ‘Erlkönig’ wraps, but now they are suddenly much more colourful and exclusive.Why is that?

Black and white still exists, whenever we really don’t want to show anything at all.But we want our models to evoke emotions and tell exciting stories. This is not yet possible with a secret prototype. But thanks to the liveries, we can tell stories within stories. For me, livery design is therefore above all an effective tool for good storytelling.

When painting a vehicle, the paint is supposed to emphasise the bodywork, but with film you actually want to conceal it.Isn’t that unsatisfactory?

When it comes to whether you can show everything or tell the coolest story within fixed limits, I really believe that creativity grows through restrictions.

You designed two different wraps for the new Audi e‑tron GT. Why did you do this?

The Audi e‑tron GT is an absolute solitaire in our portfolio.That’s why it was so great to be able to use two completely different colour schemes for the new wrapping. With the dark wrap, we stayed close to the typical Audi colour palette — if the e‑tron GT was a person and the wrap was an outfit, the wearer would probably have stayed in their comfort zone. For the light-coloured wrap, I was thinking of a combination of sand and champagne, because it feels high-quality and, above all, unseen. The purple colour gives this combination the right contrast. In this way, we have created two dissimilar brothers with the same formal design of the foiling via the colour scheme.

Is there a difference between foiling for a purely electric model and a combustion engine?

In the e‑tron models, there are certain basic elements that are part of the core language, such as the power stripes on the sill or an isometric hatching that accentuates the battery — the heart of e‑models. In the Audi Q6 e‑tron, which is a true SUV in its DNA and is therefore larger and bulkier, the graphic elements in the foiling are also larger and less detailed. For combustion models, there are other themes, such as the familiar quattro blisters, which emphasise the muscles and are style-defining for high-performance Audi models.

What’s your private life like?Have you also wrapped your car?