How to design Cars?

It's a common predicament. You're 16 years old and desperate to become a car designer but have little idea about how to achieve that burning ambition. Well, discovering Car Design News is a good start, but if you're serious about training as a designer to work in a major car studio then you need to do a course in Transportation Design, a branch of Industrial Design (sometimes known as Product Design). Whereas several hundred design schools around the world run Industrial Design courses, only around 20 wordwide offer courses that specialise in Transportation or Automotive Design and most of those are listed here in the Careers section of the CDN website.

So where should I apply?

Car design has always been one of the most competitive design careers around and the struggle starts with gaining a place on one of these courses. Competition for places is fierce and schools can often afford to choose the best applicants. Simply sending in an application isn't enough, in addition you're going to need a good portfolio of work to back up your application.

Amongst the variety of courses on offer, you need to select one that suits your requirements. Obviously a school that's reasonably close to where you live is one starting point, although that may not be so easy if you're outside a region where a course is located. The philosphy and reputation of the course and the teaching faculty are also important factors.

Some schools have strong links to nearby car companies or motor industry, where practicing designers will be involved on a part-time basis or for sponsored projects. A few of them have a stronger engineering bias, others may have more impressive modelling and workshop facilities or 24 hour studio access. It's important to visit a few school degree shows and talk to students at the school to find out what the course entails, what the classes are like and to get in touch with the applications department early on. Many schools have open days and arranging to visit on one of these days is thoroughly recommended before making any decisions.