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Old 12th June 2011, 13:33   #1
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Common Entrance Exam for Design (CEED): My take

Hey all!

There are quite a few people here on TBHP who are interested in a career in automotive design. One fine day I read about NID and the CEED exam. I thought I would try it out. Let me just say, I was not prepared for what I saw in that exam paper!! Believe it or not, I started feeling anxiety and I wasnt even attempting it!

After analysing the papers for the past few years I have come to this conclusion. I believe that at least in the transportation design department, this test is a false marker. Let me make my points.

1)Good design takes time:

Every company has a time frame for creating a product. Therefore I feel it is unfair to expect someone to come up with a product in a few days let alone few hours. I know for a fact that this is not how people are selected in design schools. Your portfolio is your entrance exam. It shows what you can do in a time frame that you decide, which is more reasonable and closer to the industry process.

2) Creativity means different things to different people:

My analysis of the test leads to believe that the examiners understand only one definition of creativity i.e a brilliant solution to a problem. Fair and valid point. But here is the reality, in the design business, sometimes creating problems is the right way to go! Take the Chevrolet Camaro as an example. In the Camaro the roof is very low which hinders the viewing angles for the driver. However it retains a very sporty profile therefore it works.

3)CEED is restrictive:

Okay this I believe is a very bad point on CEED. The examiners assume that you know all the major concepts of art and drawing, many of which takes years to master. So therefore only those who have had training have a chance to get in. However art and design is not part of the high school training syllabus and you have to go to a private institute to get it. What about the poor guy who has finished his engineering and wants to pursue design, he has a very uphill battle to climb, not least because NID has an age limit, which I find extremely unfair and counter-productive.

Let me put it to you this way. Bluntly speaking IMHO CEED should be scrapped. I feel that it is an IQ test rather than a test for talent. I know many individuals who are car designers who would agree with me. We should follow the industry standard of a portfolio and interview and abandon our age-old love affair with the 3-hour exam format. I have failed Mechanical Engineering and yet I got into Art Center on my first try with a double scholarship. If I had given CEED, I would have failed, plain and simple.

Again this is my opinion so let me know what you think.
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Old 20th June 2011, 17:05   #2
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Re: Common Entrance Exam for Design (CEED): My take

Saif!
The CEED is a joke, don't waste your time! 5 years of Design ed has brought to light the enormous counter-productive state of mind of design in our country!

If you were applying to a Design school being a master in all things creative and the know how of their manifestation, then why, i ask, would you be going there at all? The main idea of going to a school is to learn, they convienently forget that, ofcourse one must show some inclination through their creativity and understanding of the field of design, but the CEED doesnt do that!

Last edited by Edmund : 20th June 2011 at 17:09.
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Old 27th July 2011, 16:50   #3
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Re: Common Entrance Exam for Design (CEED): My take

Kool man, you got into Pasadena with double scholarship. Thats really great. which program have you gone into ?( transportantion offcourse.. but just curious about the program 1 yr / 2 yr? )

when you ended your opinion with
Quote:
Again this is my opinion so let me know what you think.
that show the correct attitude that is required for a budding designer - ''open mindedness''

regarding your views on the ceed exam and your capability, i would have to disagree some of them. The first one is you said
Quote:
If I had given CEED, I would have failed, plain and simple.
I dont think so! If you had used the same beleif to applying for art centre, you would have never even applied there... however in reality you did got a double scholarship...its not an easy job !!!!..you have skills so yo ugot it. similarly you would have cracked ceed easily if you had attempted it, as you have skills.

the second one is -
Quote:
''I feel that it is an IQ test rather than a test for talent''
if you go through the question paper thoroughly you would see only 10% of the total marks are allocated to IQ, and they are asked in the form of objective questions for general awarness. the rest 90 % are for DQ - design qoutient consisting of creativity, visual communication, problem solving, observation skill and drawing skills. for answering these type of questions, one need to use their creative faculties rather than just memory. so ceed does try to test ones' DQ (design aptitude) and not meerly ones IQ.

Third -
Quote:
''We should follow the industry standard of a portfolio and interview and abandon our age-old love affair with the 3-hour exam format.''
Well CEED is only a qualifiying exam. if you get 99 percentile in CEED , it does not gaurantee you an admission at any of the IITs / IISc. !!! I know people who got top percentile and were unable to get an admission because......they could not clear the Institute level test and Interview !!....on the other hand, there are those who got just 75 percentile and got admission in MDES, as they have done extrememly well in the institute level test and interview....so what does the institute level test and interview contains?....a thorough portfolio review and a gruelling test of ones design aptitude.

If this is the case why CEED?...Do you know that IITD interviews 1500 + students who cracked CEED for filling up 20 seats?....How difficult that is to screen the deserved students?... it is very evident that IITs and IISc wants an efficient system of selecting deserving candidates, and that is acheived by a national level test called as CEED, which is just a qualifying exam - to show that a student is ready or has enough skills to puruse a design course.

ok, now the most important thing. who designs CEED question paper?...This tells us if the CEED exam is valid or not. CEED is designed by the very professors who teach design in IITS and IISCs. these guys have tremndous expereince in the industry and have mentored few hundereds of designers ( like myself) and are responsible for hunderds of products that you see and use in the market today. I can say that the CEED exam is quite relevant and there is always scope making it even more relevant.

Yes it requires special skills to crack ceed that is not taught in regular ciriculum. but you can develope them with relevant guidance ceed.dqlabs.in

these are my view about the ceed exam. well i have cracked ceed some 10 years back and am a practicing design professional currently in automotive industry trying to pitch in my capacity and capability to rollout awesome cars....and the reason why i am posting this is that i find your opinion is based on a false beleif and it should not misdirect the pospective design aspirant....

Hope this helps.

Have a fantastic time at art centre and i would love to see your work...keep me posted or updated on my facebook
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Old 2nd August 2011, 22:46   #4
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Re: Common Entrance Exam for Design (CEED): My take

I have to say truthfully that your points confirm my suspicions. Very Briefly let me explain.

1) CEED can only be passed by someone who has a strong knowledge of the fundamentals of design including light and shadow, materials and perspective. These are things which I was taught in my first year at Art Center. It was the first time I was exposed to these concepts.

2) If CEED doesnt guarantee admission then what's the damn point of it??? It would make much more sense to go to the university, give a portfolio and interview and be done with it!! Why all the needless effort? Now that you've mentioned that, CEED seems even more stupid!!

3) Let me guess, the professors are all grads of NID and IIT yeah? If they were so qualified and amazing then why isnt India an automotive design hub already? Why wasnt the Nano, Indica, Safari, Scorpio designed here?

Listen, design education in India is nascent at best. NIT and IIT primarily serve the subcontinent. If India is going to become a global player in design, you need a global perspective. That's why you need professors who have graduated from foreign institutions because over there the curriculum has matured over a long period of time. These institutions have adapted to changes in the global design field.

Let me give you an example.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/iipcache/142602.jpg

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/iipcache/142603.jpg

This is the extent of automotive design in India. This was done by an NID student.
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Old 2nd August 2011, 23:53   #5
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Re: Common Entrance Exam for Design (CEED): My take

Sorry if you have developed that sort of view on ceed exam but,whether you like it or not, thats the way the world is my friend! exams are stupid, this is a universal phenomenon.

By the way please dont undermine the design professors of NID and IITs. you got to interact with them to appreciate them. They have more international exposure than one possibly could think of. They are more passionate in their respective feilds than you and me!

are you refering to automotive design or styling in those two pictures??

by the way, you are comparing cars of 2 different brands and reaching conclusion, about its designer. Each brand has its own design language, philosophy and different market criterea and clientile to satisfy. How can it be a fair comparision?

Even if you replace that NID designer ( i dont know who it is) with chris bangle, however not change any other constriants, i will bet, that suzuki rear end would have looked exactly the same that it is right now. Designers role is constrained heavely in the industry. if one can ensure atleast 60% of ones intial sketch or vision is realised in the final production as it is, then hats off to that guy !!...
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