A Case Study on Evolution of Car Styling and Brand Consistency Using Deep Learning

• Main Authors: Hung-Hsiang Wang, Chih-Ping Chen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-12-01
• Series: Symmetry
• Subjects: brand style; car styling; brand consistency; zeitgeist; deep learning; heat map
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-8994/12/12/2074

Brand style and product identity are critical to the core value of a brand. Yet how to identify the style and identity is highly dependent on the human expert’s judgment. As deep learning for image recognition has made a rapid process in recent years, it’s the application of brand style and design features have potential. This investigation assessed the car styling evolution of two car brands, Dodge and Jaguar, by training convolutional neural network. The method used heat map analysis of deep learning and was supplemented by statistical methods. The two datasets in this investigation were the car design features dataset and the car style images dataset. Results using the deep learning method show that the average accuracy of the last ten under verification modes was 95.90%, while 78% of the new cars continue the early brand style. Moreover, Jaguar had a higher proportion of style consistency than Dodge. Results using statistical methods reveal two cars had evolved in two different trends regarding the vehicle length. In terms of the design features, Jaguar had no noticeable design features of the rocket-tailfin. The heat map method of deep learning indicates a design feature’s focus area, and the method is beneficial for future brand style analysis.