Designer at the wheel

Calling all car enthusiasts with a flair for design: here's a career option right up their street. Dr Amrita Dass writes from India.

What is automobile design?

Envisioning future generations of automobiles is a dream for the car enthusiast. Car designers are stretching their imaginations, designing cars that will create a feeling of driving exhilaration while incorporating advanced safety technology.

Automotive design is the process of creating vehicles. Designers, who usually have an art background and a degree in industrial, product or automotive design usually take it up as a career. It incorporates concept, exterior, interior and production design of all types of vehicles.

Automobile design is different from the other design disciplines as it has an important kinetic dimension that involves emotion and dynamics. These qualities have a strong influence on the way designs are created, especially with regard to exterior designs and visuals. It also tends to drift into futurism and fantasy. Many designers find places in the film industry creating designs and models on film sets such as Star Wars and Blade Runner.

What should I study?

You should have passed your Plus Two examination with physics, chemistry and mathematics with at least 50 per cent marks. For a postgraduate diploma in automobile design, you should be a graduate in mechanical, product or industrial engineering.

WHAT NEXT?

The industry will remain a fiercely competitive business in the foreseeable future due to business conditions of over-capacity and the law of supply and demand. To meet the demand automobiles will have to be technically advanced, aesthetically pleasing, socially responsible (eg. noise and air pollution) and functional.

Balancing different interests and working in multidisciplinary teams is crucial for the success of the industry. There is therefore a need for new design professionals with a holistic perspective and understanding of the development process.

Graduates can expect to find employment in the following areas:

- Design management positions within organisations,

- Platform and vehicle development,

- Project management,

- Managerial roles within design consultancies and new business development.

THE DESIGNING PROCESS - STEP BY STEP

- Cars are complicated, so automotive engineers and designers have to specialise. Their job is to make a given component or subsystem the best it can be. Design of the suspension, engine, transmission, the styling, crash protection, electronics, interior, and production engineering of the car are tasks that are often separated.

- There are two aspects to designing a vehicle - the appearance of a vehicle, both exterior and interior, and the engineering.

- Long before a new model is designed, the research and design (R&D) division begins to work on the first conceptual sketches. Upon compiling draft designs, the basic vehicle concept is ready.

- Simultaneously, with the development of the platform, various studies of the vehicles are in progress in order to define optimal external and internal dimensions. The results of the studies are then converted into sets of data called packages which are then used for creating clay models.

- The models are continuously checked for conformity to internal, external and ergonomic parameters, technological feasibility, and compliance with current legal regulations.

- The designing process includes creation of cross sections of the each design version and the junction points of the future body frames.

- During the final stage, a final package is produced, which is a compilation of all the important parameters of the exterior and interior as a 3D model.

- Virtual designing and test-crash simulations have now made the design engineer's job much quicker. The term CAD tuning stands for creation of 3D computer models of exteriors and interiors. This creative work forms a critical interface in every development process involving design and engineering.

- Upon approval, each new model's clay version is used for CAD tuning. Modelling is done directly on the computer according to the designer's ideas, with the aid of sketches and cross-sections.

- Taking all these conditions into consideration often leads to modification of the designers' original ideas. The final version depends very much on the model maker's ability to project in space and on his cooperation with the designer and engineer.

- Using large-scale projections facilitates presentation of CAD data for the whole vehicle in virtual reality. They, in turn, facilitate evaluation of the presented forms and make room for recommended adjustments.

- Upon processing and approval, CAD data are released for machining a so-called data control model on a 1:1 scale.

- The model is then presented for final approval as to the form and surface of the exterior and interior.

- Redesigning vehicles is a new concept wherein the existing model has add-ons and a new look.

WHERE DO I STUDY

Some institutes offering courses in automobile design:

- National Institute of Design, Paldi, Ahmedabad
Website: www.nid.edu

- The National Institute of Design offers a two-and-half-year postgraduate course in Transportation and Automobile Design. This course seeks to establish a credible relationship of products and services with the user, technology and environment.

- MAEER, MIT, Pune
www.mitpune.org
Course: Postgraduate Diploma in Automotive Design

- This field is also a part of the design
course at the Industrial Design Centre (IDC), Indian Institute of Technology (IIT),
Powai, Mumbai.

Art and design schools abroad with degree courses in automobile design are:

- Royal College of Art, London
Website: www.rca.ac.uk

- University of Central England, Birmingham, UK
Website: www.uce.ac.uk

- Umea Institute of Design, Sweden
Website: www.dh.umu.se

- Strate College, Paris, France
Website: www.stratecollege.fr

- Pforzheim University, Germany
Website: http://intl.fh-pforzheim.de

- Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, USA
Website: www.artcenter.edu

- College for Creative Studies, Detroit, USA
Website: www.ccsad.edu

- The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) and Cadpo have launched their first CAD Certification course in Shanghai, China. SAE Automotive CAD Certification is the industry's only international programme that provides the standard for developing and measuring automotive CAD skills globally.

WANT TO BE CAR DESIGNER?

"No, because to do that kind of work you must have it in you."
- Ahmad Younis, finance, American University of Dubai (AUD)

"No. I am not into drawing and design."
- Ammar Ayad, finance and management, AUD

"Not really. I am more into fashion and interior designing. Cars are a bit difficult."
- Dina Bader, business, University of Wollongong Dubai (UOWD)

"Yeah sure. I am into drawing."
- Eric Wang, commerce, UOWD

"No. I believe we should leave the designing for the designers."
- Ebrahim Hamada, accounting and management, AUD

"Not really, especially that it is not a job you hear about a lot."
- Umair Shah, business administration, UOWD

- The writer is the Director of the Institute for Career Studies based in Lucknow, India