Core77

Isn't 16 to 18 the graduating class size of the transportation major at CCS? in other words they only accept 16-18 people into Trans each year. Any more would make it nearly impossible to get any feedback from a professor 1 on 1. A review would be taking a look at the percentage of graduating kids in Trans that make it in the industry compared to the ammount of rookies that make it in the NFL compared to the ammount of kids up for draft eligibility. I would almost guarantee that Trans would have a better statistic. Anyways how many major car companies are there? a handful? and how many NFL teams are there? over 30? I think this article isn't fully accurate...plus schools not even mentioned like University of Cincinnati put around 1 or more graduating seniors into the Indusrty a year from a graduating class near about 10 students in trans.

Deeply flawed story. Deeply flawed analogy. If the premise is that becoming a car designer has similar odds as that of becoming a pro football player or fighter pilot, the author needs at least a couple of data points:

1) How many people are actively pursuing the career
2) How many available career positions exist

This will result in a simple ratio that allows an accurate comparison. However, the author does not research or provide how many available career positions there are in automotive design or the air force, nor does the author share how many people are actively pursuing careers in football or the air force. So how can the author make such claims, and why should any alert reader believe the analogy is accurate or relevant?

There are other innaccuracies and missing details as well, but to make a long story short, this is just a happy fluff piece for CCS that will excite gullible junior high school students - nothing more. Is that Autoweek's target reader, or is that the knowledge level of Autoweek's writers?

"CCS is a finely tuned designer factory"
This article is humorous! Every American car company is losing hundreds of million dollars a year and hasn�t designed a car anyone has cared about in probably 15 years. I would suggest design schools should start taking more students� or automotive companies could pick from some other crop.

As a graduate of ArtCenter (not transportation) it always struck me as a huge gamble for designers to roll down the path of automotive specific design. Most of the students in this department were so single minded in their approach to their education, it really struck me as borderline OCD. That said, I don't think the 'blame' can be placed upon institutions lack of proper education. After all, schools like ArtCenter pump out another 10 or whatever new car designers every 4 months. Are there 10 new vacancies in the automotive field every 4 months? The auto industry, to my knowledge, isn't like graphics, architecture, product or what have you, where a savvy and hungry designer can hang his / her own shingle out and do freelance car design....

or maybe the problem lies in the fact we're still so concerned with cars.

It makes me laugh to see students work so hard on full scale models, only to find themselves working on door handles and mirrors for all of eternity!!!

Alright, so I'm exaggerating. But I can't help to think that some people are better off in other industries than car design. Car design can be awfully bureaucratic, and with bean-counters running the show! No fun! Some graduates go to the entertainment industry however. Hmmm... door handles or making a futuristic Lexus in Minority Report? The dilemma!

"Yet CCS has never graduated more than 20 automotive design majors in a year."

um, there were 25 people in my graduating trans class.

Jeremy,

I think you got it! If you ignore the fact that Japanese cars sell so well because of their engineering, or that American companies hire grads from all over the world, or that there are other issues besides how a car looks to a consumer, your point might resemble something slightly valid.

To me, transport design has become somewhat of a fashionable choice - I'm an ex-Transport Design student myself, and the harsh reality is that there are an increasing number of courses appearing, with varying levels of knowledge/facilities/genuine links to industry; yet this growth does not run in any way parallel to the growth of the automobile industry/number of opportunities for young designers.

Universities often paint a rosy picture of the potential prospects for youthful designers, yet universities are an enterprise, more students means more revenue and many universities seem to have jumped on the transport design 'band wagon'.

For example, ten years ago, the number of courses available were few and far between, and the number of graduating students was considerably less. University offered placements/positions within large automotive companies were easier to maintain as there were less students to tend to, and it was easier for companies to forge personal bonds/track the development of specific designers.

I have ex-colleagues who work in the industry for large brands, but they were the lucky few, from over 40-50 Transport students at my university graduating in my year alone, there are only probably 2-3 I know of actually working in top automotive studios, and a handful of others in consultancies.