Automotive Interior Design a Cool Industry Niche
What do you get when you pair interior design students with one of the country’s largest automakers? Some pretty cool car interiors. Eighteen interior design students at a Michigan design school worked with the General Motors Design Center to create auto interior designs for “Generation Y.”
Auto Interior Design Partnership
Inventing interior design for the cars of 2020 was the mission of the 18 juniors from design school in Michigan earlier this year. The interior design school students worked in groups of three, producing six interior designs at the end of the semester-long project. This kind of partnership is one benefit of attending interior design school, and students often end up with contacts useful in an interior design career.
The Project
The lucky design students determined the following interior design aspects for the futuristic auto models:
- Colors
- Materials
- Lighting
- Theme
- Customer profile
- Interior Design Trends
The design students had mentors from GM (not a bad relationship to make in one’s interior design career) who aided their efforts in the creation of sketch boards for each interior design.
The Auto Interior Design Industry
Interior designers at automotive manufacturers often hold the same degrees as residential or commercial interior designers. They also hold degrees from automotive design school. As many as 20 interior designers can work on one car interior at a time, and many designers work on more than one project at once.
Every automaker has a design department, focused on material, spatial planning, and marketing image. An interior design career in the automotive industry involves creativity, the use of 3D modeling software, and deadlines, just like other interior design careers. A degree from interior design school is still the best way to start.
