[jagpreetsingh]

Everybody

Hope my last post was useful. Thanks for reading it, liking it and dropping email(s).

Now this post is related to design education.

How to get into Designing?
A couple of decades back, having a formal education was not 'necessary' for becoming a designer. People like Harley Earl never studied designing but they did create a new field.

Today, there are numerous colleges/schools across the globe that offer Design Courses specifically into Automotive Design. And a good college does help you in becoming a better designer.
The list can be had at http://www.cardesignnews.com/site/ca...esign_schools/. This is not the only list, however.

All these design schools and colleges offer various courses in automotive design/transportation design. From Cars to bikes to yachts to trains etc. From 3 to 4 year graduate course to 1 to 2 year post graduate courses as well.
The basic requirement is that you should;
1. Be able to sketch,
2. Be ready to work hard to be a designer.
3. Have a decent design portfolio

Many people confuse engineering with designing. Automobile engineering is DIFFERENT from automobile designing. In broader aspect they are dependent upon each other, but as professions, they are much different- just like a tailor and a fashion designer or an interior decorator and a civil contractor.

Anyhow, coming back to schools;
There are a few schools in India as well. Dypdc (pune), DSK-ISD (Pune), NID (Ahmedabad), UPES (Dehradun-startin this July). They all intend to provide the best teaching.
In case you are really looking forward to get into designing, look around. Judge the colleges.
The first thing you need to know is the faculty members of the college. Are they related to the industry? Are they a mix of young and old experienced people who have the passion for designing?
Look at the curriculum of the college. If they are giving due importance to skill development and are serious about leading the students to a level where students can think for themselves.

Design schools will not hold your hands and teach you to draw. They will guide you to improve your skills and also develop your creativity. In any case, you need to work a lot since there is a fierce competition. Design schools are a guiding tool where you are free to explore different ideas.

A good design school will have a curriculum that has a lot of sketching along with technical subjects and subjects based on virtual 3-D and physical modelling. Look at the final projects they do, the placements done so far and in what companies. Talk to the existing students and find out the way of teaching.

-Cordially
Jagpreet Singh

[SPIKE ARRESTOR]

Some nice work there on the website. IIRC, IISc also has a course related to Product Design, one of my friends is doing his Masters there.

Are you into 'A' surface designing or you do detailed design as well?

Spike

[jagpreetsingh]

Originally Posted by SPIKE ARRESTOR

Some nice work there on the website. IIRC, IISc also has a course related to Product Design, one of my friends is doing his Masters there.

Are you into 'A' surface designing or you do detailed design as well?

Spike

hey Spike!
Thanks for the appreciation.
There are many product/industrial design schools across India, but only the above mentioned Automotive Design ones are there. In some of them, you can have a 'topic' of automotive design, however.

I do 'A' Class as well, but am more of a styling person. I draw cars.

[sjcherian]

Hi Jagpreetsingh - nice website and portfolio. When is your next Chennai class ?

[jagpreetsingh]

Originally Posted by sjcherian

Hi Jagpreetsingh - nice website and portfolio. When is your next Chennai class ?

Hey Sj!

Thanks for the appreciation.

I am not sure when would the next Chennai would be, however I am in talks with a few people and we may organize one soon. Interestingly;

1. I receive many queries about workshops in Chennai
2. It is Chennai only where I have found students who showcase real good amount of talent. comparatively, that is.
3. During the class, students do not ask questions nor they have queries. Mostly they are silent.

-Cordially
Jagpreet

PS:

[sjcherian]

Originally Posted by jagpreetsingh

Hey Sj!

Thanks for the appreciation.

I am not sure when would the next Chennai would be, however I am in talks with a few people and we may organize one soon. Interestingly;

1. I receive many queries about workshops in Chennai
2. It is Chennai only where I have found students who showcase real good amount of talent. comparatively, that is.
3. During the class, students do not ask questions nor they have queries. Mostly they are silent.

-Cordially
Jagpreet

PS:

Thanks ! Looking forward to it - hopefully it will be affordable and done over the weekend :-) as I have a job that keeps me busy during the week.

Dont worry - I wont be sitting silent - you may actually have to get me to keep quiet ! :-)

[jagpreetsingh]

Originally Posted by sjcherian

Thanks ! Looking forward to it - hopefully it will be affordable and done over the weekend :-) as I have a job that keeps me busy during the week.

Dont worry - I wont be sitting silent - you may actually have to get me to keep quiet ! :-)

If you are working, it will be affordable. . I do not charge directly from students/participants, I charge the organizers.

I have a job myself too, so weekends work perfectly for me as well.
It is always good to have questions. queries solve problems.

[jagpreetsingh]

This is 'specifically' for the Indian students
Since we in India do not have much emphasis on 'arts' side of education, this post is dedicated to Indians.

An automotive design portfolio is essentially a collection of your personal work you do/did related to automotive design.

What to add
Add everything that shows your inclination towards automotive design, sketching and modelling.

Start from simple car sketches. Go online on www.cardesign.com, www.carbodydesign.com, www.simkom.com etc and look at the work done by other professional designers. Try and analyze the choice of 'style'.
At the entry level, nobody expects you to be highly professional. You are taking admission to 'learn' about designing.
You may add your skills on sketching human figures or paining fruits, creating clay models or photography skills (but please, do not add the foto of how your bog sleeps with its belly up). Add things that add value to your 'design' and 'artistic nature'.

Building Portfolio
Do this;

Go to the above mentioned websites, download the sketches. Keep them under a plain sheet of white paper, take a pencil and try to 'sketch'. DO NOT TRACE! Sketch over. do it repeatedly and then do it without an under-laying image. look at a car and try to draw it.
make as many cars as possible. Make bikes, trucks, auto-rickshaws...pretty much everything u can.
make some products as well. cell phones, pencil sharpeners, pen stands, luggage bags, a water bottle, computer station etc. etc.

Add value to your portfolio. Give every design a reasoning and an improved outlook above the existing one.

Add all the BEST WORK ONLY to your portfolio. Scan freehand sketches, take pictures of the models, take along some small sized models that you can show to the interviewer.

Arrange everything in a professional manner. buy some file folders and add the sketches to it.
Neat and Clean work is the key here.


Taking admission
Select the college/school you want to to get into. I have provided a list on one of my previous posts.
Contact them regarding the admission process and timeline. Every school will ask for a design portfolio. Create it.

In the past I have been interviewing students for DYP-DC, Pune and currently teaching at University of Petroleum & Energy Studies, Dehradun as a design faculty. The main things we look before accepting the students were;

1. They are ready to sketch on a piece of paper with a simple pencil.
2. They try to express, through sketches, what they talk about cars.
3. They have a passion about designing.

A student who feels that designing is 'better and easier' than physics, maths or chemistry is grossly mistaken.
Designing is as difficult (or easy) as any other subject. In fact, in designing you must continuously practice and learn. You can not simply start working 2 weeks before the exam and perform greatly.
You have to be very consistent. You must work throughout the semester to present a good work at the end. There are presentations and jury and not exams.

I hope the above has been of some help. Will be updating more soon.
keep asking questions

-Cordially
Jagpreet

[jagpreetsingh]

Design Job scene!

Now this is a tough one and one of the most important one as well.
Automotive design is a niche career and profession choice. It is not like fashion design or interior decoration. The comparative sale of the finish product is much lesser as compared to the other two.

Since the recent global melt down of 2008, automotive market has seen many downs and a few ups. Companies are surely hiring new designers but they seek more of experienced ones and there is a lot of inter-brand transfers.
The after effects of melt down led to closure of many design houses and car manufacturers. Many car manufacturers are struggling with low sales and huge staff. That further led to strict visa rules and a sort of 'no-immigration' policy by many European nations. Consequently, design has suffered. getting a job in Europe is not as difficult as getting a visa. Hence, many companies avoid hiring the foreign nationals.

Said that, this is the career that you do not only for money, but for your love towards cars and automotive design. Many car designers choose from various career options;
1. Go for further studies and wait for the situation to get better.
2. Start your own business. That may not be a car design thing, but industrial and product design.
3. Try to get internships. This is a bit easier to get.
4. Get into design education. Many many institutes are coming up.
5. Keep trying to get into the smaller design houses. That gives u a varied experience too.

Many of the companies are moving east. India and China are the most sought after countries globally. Unfortunately, Indian policies and bureaucracy are a sort of headache for foreign players, which is not the case with China. Our government and the opposition must work this out first. Let the Parliament function and take decisions that suit the country's development.
Well, chances are that in coming times, the Indian design scene will improve and more and more companies will hire more and more Indian designers.
We do not have any sort of 'design language' when it comes to automotive design. We need to develop it and do it fast!

-Cordially
Jagpreet

[Na_sh]

Originally Posted by jagpreetsingh

Design Job scene!

Hi Jagpreet! How important is a design degree useful in finding jobs? Can a someone from an engineering background get into design field just on the basis of creativity and a design portfolio?

What kind of jobs should be the target? Or should the focus be more on internships?


Regards,
Na_Sh

[RavSam]

Why is this thread so inactive?
Are there not many automotive designers here in Team-BHP?
I thought this thread will serve as a joint for designers to share their opinions and views.
Hope to see design being a topic of active discussion here someday!

[zenren]

Originally Posted by RavSam

Why is this thread so inactive?
Are there not many automotive designers here in Team-BHP?
I thought this thread will serve as a joint for designers to share their opinions and views.
Hope to see design being a topic of active discussion here someday!

Before we think of good design schools for vehicle design in India, first think of how many good original designs have come from India. That is probably going to be a crucial factor in determining the prospects once you graduate from there.

On a lighter note, the schools where the designers of the current breed of sub-4m compacts studied should be blacklisted just because of those ugly products.

[RavSam]

Originally Posted by zenren

Before we think of good design schools for vehicle design in India, first think of how many good original designs have come from India....
On a lighter note, the schools where the designers of the current breed of sub-4m compacts studied should be blacklisted just because of those ugly products.

Some of the designers who are Indians are doing very good! Just because of lack of "affordable "design schools and government's lack of grants and promotion we see that 'brain drain' here.

I was shortlisted in some design schools but their fees were humongous! Scholarships here unlike in European counterparts is not declared upfront, so you have to 'gather' your money first and then think of applying.

[Doge]

Bumping an ignored thread here.

I am seriously considering transportation design as my career of choice but some how don't know what exactly I have to do and how to get there. I really am quite clueless but I genuinely want to go in this field since like 8th grade.
I did draw a lot of cars for portfolios sake but it's not really up to the 'mark' and I feel I need to start drawing with a more professional view but any ways, drawing is not a problem.

The issue is that I am in my final year of schooling and I really am getting quite worried. I don't have maths and science as subjects which may be (?) required. I have found about a few institutes in India namely the ISD and DYPDC,both of which are in pune. I do prefer to study abroad for I wish to work with an Eu company like Alfa Romeo or my dream, Ferrari.
The thing is that ISD and DYP both accept non science students which is a relieve but I really am quite sceptical about the ones in the west.
Can anyone please let me know what I need to be doing now and what should I expect in future? What is the eligibility criteria abroad? Do you feel that I should also do some other "conventional " course before?

[Doge]

Sorry for back to back but no has replied yet. Bhpian's,where are you, I am here to rescue all from DC's designs. Please anyone who has a clue about my query reply.