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Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Sarasota, Fl.
Posts: 12,712
Pay to call speedball1 for advice ($.95/min) | Re: College Search
Hi, I thought you would like to read a little about auto design. what do auto designers actually do?
One person does not design a car, and designers don't spend all their days drawing cars. Today's car designers work as part of the development team that makes an automobile. They are often referred to as "stylists", since their input used to be restricted to the appearance of the car. Although they still affect the appearance of the car, they now interact actively with engineers, marketers, management, product planners, etc. Today's designers must be well aware of all aspects of a design including the target buyer, engineering requirements, quality issues, and cost targets. A designer must quickly develop ideas both on paper and on the computer. Eventually a 3-dimensional proposal must be made for more accurate evaluation. This requires accurate scale drawings for the design theme and interaction with the modellers and engineers. Scale models can be made to try out several ideas. Then full size models are made and developed to meet all the requirements. After a design theme is selected, all the details must be resolved. Eventually a fiberglass "see-through" model is made combining the interior and exterior. The design is then considered "frozen" and the tooling is prepared to make the real car. The overall development takes 2-5 years, but designers spend only up to a year on the actual design process. The rest of the time is spent trying to make sure the design does not stray too far away from the intent.
so you still want to be an auto designer?
Robert Cumberford wrote that there were maybe 2,500 automotive designers in the world, with perhaps 1,000 of those working directly for car companies. Automotive design is a specialized form of industrial design, a profession which is not well known in itself. A degree is necessary to get a job. Most schools require a portfolio as part of the admissions process. The top schools, make that the only schools, that offer transportation design programs in the U.S. are CCS, Art Center , Cleveland Institute of Art, and Pratt Institute. Others around the world include: the Royal College of Art and Coventry U. (both in the UK), Pforzheim in Germany, and a handful of schools in Japan. Now that I'm in Europe I've become aware of other programs in Spain, France, Sweden, and of course Italy. Australia has one or two also. Most car designers are graduates of these design programs. However of these graduates, only a small percentage actually get positions in the automotive industry. If you have the talent and ambition, any decent industrial design school will do. Please note that, due to the large number of requests, I can not accept your work to critique. If you have further questions check out my FAQ.
(auto) design related publications
If you want to know more, the two publications that deal specifically with automotive design are Car Styling and Auto and Design. Both are extremely expensive (approx. $30 @issue) and difficult to find. I prefer Auto and Design because it covers more European cars and has more sketches. Both magazines show the design process for new cars. They also cover auto shows and student shows around the world. Other good publications are ID, the German Design Report, and Wallpaper. Automobile magazine has a design column by Robert Cumberford, who also writes for Auto and Design. The best website with the most up to date news, forums, and portfolio section is cardesignnews.com
Car Styling
c/o Kaneko Enterprises, Inc.
16421-D Gothard Ave.
Huntington Beach, CA 92647
USA
Auto and Design
c/o Speedimpex USA, Inc.
45-45 39th Street
Long Island City, NY 11104
USA
design books have moved here
design links are on a new page
Hope this helps and good luck. Tom |
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