"If you're gonna build a time machine into a car, why not do it with some style?"

Who's to say the famous Back to the Future line wasn't on the walls of the design studio when they produced the OKX liveried MCL36 at the McLaren Technology Centre?

If we were going to have a stab at what a futuristic McLaren design might look like, this would be it, and "great Scott," we think Dr Emmett Brown would agree. The "Future Mode" livery on the MCL36 that Lando and Daniel powered around the streets of Singapore under the lights was unlike anything we'd ever done before.

The "Future Mode” campaign signifies McLaren and OKX’s future-facing partnership. The two brands are aligned in their values of innovation and accessibility, with OKX evolving its platform every day and McLaren constantly pushing on its journey back towards the front of the grid.

Creative Director Ed Sullivan and Brand Senior Specialist Stuart Robinson led the design process, and they allowed us to sit in on several meetings and follow the progress. Here's what we learned.

Following the Gulf livery

As far as iconic liveries go, the Gulf design we ran at last year's Monaco Grand Prix is right up there, and that's a tough act to follow. Now, you could simply never attempt to follow it up, but obviously that was never an option, and anyway, where would the fun in that be? Expectations will always be high, but our team loves a challenge.

"You're constantly up against it against Gulf," Ed explains to us. " Gulf is a racer's colour scheme. It's got so much heritage and history. Plus, it was also a full takeover, whereas we were working within certain restrictions with this particular campaign – we couldn't change the entire car, and there are partners that you cannot move."

The McLaren Creative in-house design team were working to a short deadline, with the entire project completed in only 12 weeks, start to finish, alongside their usual tasks. "We really went to town, but that's because we enjoyed it so much, so we didn't mind putting the extra hours in."

Partnering with OKX

Partnering up with OKX gave them a basic direction to follow and two key ideas. Both ideas were shared with our friends at OKX, and both were hits, but the "progressive, cyberpunk" approach was the eventual winner as it aligned with similar campaigns that they were already running, including one with current Premier League Champions, Manchester City. 

Several other benefits came with this. The style would fit nicely at the Asian double-header in Japan and Singapore, with the design team leaning into the two countries' forward-thinking nature and Japanese heritage, which includes gaming and manga.

On top of this, Lando was set to run a Halo-inspired helmet in Singapore. Sheer coincidence, but the timing couldn't have been better. "It's as if all the stars were lining up," Ed smiles.

What is Cyberpunk?

You'll probably have seen the term "Cyberpunk-inspired" a lot this week, but what does it mean?

"Science fiction in a dystopian setting with futuristic urban societies dominated by computer technology." Any clearer? Probably not, so we'll let Ed and Stuart explain. The McLaren Creative in-house design team were given almost free reign to produce their take on cyberpunk, which they conceptualised and presented to OKX for approval.

"Firstly, it's 'inspired by...', which for us was these boxy, glitchy effects and vibrant colours, something that looked and felt futuristic," says Stuart.

Ed continues: "A cyberpunk theme had to be very tech-heavy, so we thought we could try and have apertures as if you're looking into the car, which is where the cyberpunk style engine comes in.

"The key thing with that is that it shouldn't look like a real engine, so it has these unusual shape forms, glitches, and these liquids inside it. In simpler terms, it is quite over the top - we really embraced cyberpunk and manga with this - we actually built a full 3D model of the engine, which is really cool.

"You want to bring all these different ideas together, so the cyber element, the punk element, warped minds and Downtown Tokyo – or could it be Downtown Woking?"

"Downtown Woking," Stuart decides.

Piecing it all together

The fluorescent pink exaggerates all of the themes and frames the apertures throughout the car's design. It also happened to be an unlikely match for the flouro papaya of the MCL36.

"OKX showed us a lot of trust. A relationship was built very quickly, and the creative direction resonated extremely well," he says. "We frontloaded the conceptual side with a range of designs in around five days.

"You always want to present a design to your partner that challenges them, while being confident that you can deliver on it. A major consideration from our side is the application and any effect it may have on performance, so time was spent collaborating with our Aero and our Surface and Brand departments – it was a real team effort to get it on track.

Stuart picks up: "Things like, you have to find the colour matching for the vinyl of the fluoro pink, and it actually takes a couple of weeks to find the colour matches and to make sure they complement each other and have the level of vibrancy that we need for when they are out on track. You need a colour that is going to have an impact with the flouro papaya.

"What is great about the end result is that every time you then look at the livery, I think you're going to notice something different. There's quite a lot happening, and each time you stare at it more, you start picking up on all of these other details."

An unlikely focal point

The feature of the design that has most come to define it is the fluorescent pink 'cyber smiley' that has been used as a focal point of the campaign. It features on the car, across all of the hero images, the Instagram filters, and the merchandise, including a limited-edition tee and poster.

It was late on a Friday afternoon, and the team were having creative R&D (Research and Development session), or as Ed calls it, "playtime." - “We got locked onto the punk side of cyberpunk and tried a few bizarre approaches, but the ‘cyber smiley’ seemed to really resonate and compliment the harsh cyber tech side. It brought some warmth and personality to everything.

Stuart explains: "We felt that it complemented the harsh tech, and OKX really embraced it, but it's something that ultimately just came from a bit of fun we were having in the studio."

The enjoyment that came from developing these ideas shines through. OKX trusted the team and it allowed them to flourish. That much was evident from the time we spent with them, they were passionate about the project and are rightly proud of what they've produced.

"I think you need to lean into that fun side of things to create something like this," Stuart agrees. "For example, when we created the key art, those posters you'll have seen, there are a few easter eggs in there."

Handing us a copy of the poster, we are sent off to find the easter eggs for ourselves. The OKX "Future Mode" livery will be back in Japan this weekend, but before returning to the track, how many easter eggs can you spot? Let us know in the replies on Twitter or using #FansLikeNoOther.

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