The design was specifically modified for the graphic. It doesn't represent the ship in an early concept phase.
Starship design history in light of Discovery
- Thread starter INACTIVEUSS Einstein
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In the earliest images I know of, the Phase II concept had the pylon bend.
Man I would've loved to see that on the big screen, as much as I love the TMP refit.
Someone explain why more surface detail on a hull seems more advanced? IMO, it should be the other way around.
Why do these cars not exist? What am I looking at?
To me it is a hint at the complex systems going on below. It's like having part of the engine block sticking through the hood. It indicates something more powerful going on. I know it is a balancing act, but I think some increase in details does a better job of conveying a real object, rather than a smooth, featureless surface.
It's fun because smooth vs. detailed being more or less futuristic is completely subjective and related to constantly changing cultural norms so it doesn't matter either way! To me, smooth looks retro-futuristic. SUPER FUTURISTIC, but from the context of back-in-the day.
Not one is a real model of car. They're all AI generated amalgams, like the similar face-generating websites. And I think there's enough Star Trek ship content out there, both official and fan-made, to create a Star Trek version*
*he says with zero idea what goes into the making of these things.
Details like hull plating seams and/or aztecing and the metallic look of the DSC Enterprise would have been enough to make the old girl look more updated.
In the end, the angled pylons, big impulse deck and the saucer lights/windows are the only major differences and those could have been left off. From certain angles, it looks like the same ship with HD level detailing.
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IIRC, in an early concept Discovery was meant to split off its saucer section and masquerade as a Klingon vessel. The classic D7 class has rectangular nacelles.
Source: Eaglemoss XL Discovery magazine.
Because "kewl"? 
They were designed by Admiral Emerson R. Angle.
Not Fleet Engineer Pythagoras?
Pythagoras oversaw construction.
Actually, this one is.
Note the pylons go out, get wider at the top and then angle up. Art by Mike Minor. He actually did all the TMP concept paintings. But this one was his idea before Matt Jefferies had his input.
And this is a model based on the concept. It was a modified AMT kit.
Actually, this one is.
Note the pylons go out, get wider at the top and then angle up. Art by Mike Minor. He actually did all the TMP concept paintings. But this one was his idea before Matt Jefferies had his input.
And this is a model based on the concept. It was a modified AMT kit.
Wasn't the first one I posted a Mike Minor drawing as well? Either way, the thing had the same features until it became the TMP refit, so the bend isn't that strange on the Defiant "refit".
The thing that always irked me about how they used the AMT model so heavily in the beginning stages of pre-production, that many of the concept artworks that came out during that time had those ridiculous three dimples on the underside of the saucer. After all these years, I still don’t know what those things were supposed to be. Sensors? Phasers? Torpedo tubes?
I'm guessing photon torpedo tubes? The DSC Enterprise has similar notches and torpedo tubes on the underside of its saucer section.
Minorcs concept paintings change to the ship changed. That first one that I just posted is of his own concept. Then there's at least one of Matt Jeffries concept (with details that match how they were building the model) and then one of the initial Richard Taylor design, and then the final one of the final motion picture version. If you're familiar with the design changes, you can see how the picture changes at each stage. But I think you use the lighting from that first miniature on most of his versions until he had something to go into the studio and look at. And at that point they also had made a smaller model for the long shots over V'ger so he might have an access to that one for the final paintings. But you can definitely see the progression and the changes. In particular the photons torpedoes. If you see in that picture I posted they aren't there. The Phase II is the revised Jefferies version with dual photon torpedoes. And then we have the early motion picture version which has the familiar photon torpedoes but still has the TOS style lower sensor dome.