Archive for the ‘Transportation Design’ Category

Alumni and Student Find Dream Jobs at Porsche, Cadillac and Tesla

Monday, June 17th, 2013

Working for a carmaker is a dream come true for many, but for Transportation Design alumni Julien Bilodeau and Christine Park and Graphic Design student Bryce Shawcross, it’s a testament to their individual goals, ambition and perseverance, as well as Art Center’s stellar design programs.

Julien Bilodeau grew up in Baie Sainte-Marie, a small French Canadian town in Nova Scotia, where he dreamed about designing cars. When he came to Art Center, he said, “I was instantly impressed by the passion of the students, teachers and Southern California as a whole,” citing instructors Stewart Reed, Bumsuk Lim and Jason Hill as major influences on him as an artist and designer.

Alumnus Julien Bilodeau drafted sketches of Multiplier, a mobile, temporary & expandable parking structure.

Alumnus Julien Bilodeau drafted sketches of Multiplier, a mobile, temporary and expandable parking structure.

“Art Center really helped me develop a wide skill set, allowing me to approach design from a number of perspectives,” said Bilodeau. “The flexibility of the curriculum and supportive guidance allowed me to really pursue my own avenues with regards to my own interests.”

During his time at Art Center, he held an internship at the Honda Advanced Design Studio before transitioning into an internship at Porsche. Once his internship ended, he was offered a chance to complete his thesis project at Porsche. Although he couldn’t complete his final term at Art Center, he decided this was the best opportunity, knowing that it would be an important factor in eventually working at Porsche.

(more…)

Print Friendly

Alumni Featured in AllSpark Platinum Winners Video

Thursday, June 6th, 2013
Yves Béhar displays the durability of his See Better to Learn Better glasses in the new AllSpark video.

Yves Béhar displays the durability of his See Better to Learn Better glasses in the new AllSpark video.

Earlier this year, Art Center alumni swept the first ever AllSpark Platinum Awards, which honors “the best of the best of the best” of the 2012 entrants to the Spark Awards.

Spark recently released a video in which AllSpark winners Yves Béhar PROD 91, Franz von Holzhausen TRAN 92 and Sujin Hwang PROD 11 are interviewed alongside other top designers, including Sam Lucente and alumnus Earl Gee GRPK 83.

In the video, Béhar speaks about See Better to Learn Better, a program his company fuseproject created in partnership with the Mexican government and Augen Optics. The program distributes hundreds of thousands of eyeglasses every year to schoolchildren in Mexico. Children have the opportunity to choose their glasses’ frame, size and color, giving them a chance to be involved in the design process.

(more…)

Print Friendly

Henrik Fisker
 to address Beverly Hills business forum April 9

Tuesday, March 19th, 2013

Henrik FiskerNotable Art Center alumnus and leading electric car designer Henrik Fisker will be speaking at Beverly Hills Tomorrow, a forum sponsored by the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce, on Tuesday, April 9, 2013. The founder and former executive chairman of Fisker Automotive, whose tenacity and passion to pursue a childhood dream of becoming a car designer became a reality after completing Art Center’s renowned Transportation Design program in 1989.

In addition to Fisker, the forum will feature: Emcee Frank Mottek, veteran broadcaster and host of the top-rated Business Hour and anchor of Money News, on KNX 1070 News Radio; Michael Burns (Vice Chairman of Lionsgate Films), who helped engineer the acquisition of Summit Entertainment; Dr. Eduardo Marbán (Director, Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute); and Lynda Resnick (Vice Chairman, Roll Global, a holding company whose business divisions include Teleflora, POM Wonderful and Fiji Water).

The Chamber, a membership organization founded in 1923, works with city officials, local businesses and the community at large to promote the local economy. The audience will include business people ranging from small business owners to chief executives and entrepreneurs.

To attend, register by April 5. For more information, visit beverlyhillschamber.com/tomorrow.

Print Friendly

Red Cross Shows Off Student-Influenced Emergency Response Vehicle Prototype at Art Center Friday

Wednesday, March 13th, 2013

Come see the Red Cross Emergency Response Vehicle (ERV) prototype this Friday, March 15, from 2 – 4 p.m. in the visitor’s parking lot on the Hillside campus.

In the fall term of 2010, Grad ID students were tasked to envision an improved Emergency Response Vehicle (ERV) for the American Red Cross (ARC).

(more…)

Print Friendly

Art Center full throttle at 83rd International Geneva Motor Show

Tuesday, March 5th, 2013

Automobile enthusiasts from around the globe are gathering in Switzerland for the 83rd International Geneva Motor Show March 7–17, 2013 and Art Center faculty, alumni and staff are circulating among them.

An Art Center alumni event
is set for Wednesday, March 6, 17:00-20:00 
at the C Bar and Lounge, Starling Geneva Airport Hotel.

Alumni and friends are invited to meet up at an informal reception in conjunction with the show. Geoff Wardle, executive director of Graduate Transportation Design, and Cathy Karry, director of the College’s Career and Professional Development office, will be among the faculty and staff in town to connect with alumni who live in, or near Geneva as well as those visiting for the auto show. For more info, please contact Alumni Relations at alumni@artcenter.edu.

Wardle will be meeting with industry and media representatives to discuss Art Center’s new Grad Trans program that offers two tracks for students to pursue:

Geoff Wardle

Geoff Wardle, executive director of Graduate Transportation Design

  1. The Vehicles Track is for those who are intent on entering or returning to the vehicle manufacturing industry who have strong strategic thinking skills and the ability to focus on the bigger issues facing the field relating to its customers and its future business models.
  2. The Systems Track is geared to individuals who have a more varied background plus are interested in a more holistic, systems-thinking approach to innovative transportation solutions from personal mobility in the urban environment through to more sustainable freight transportation, for example.

Wardle will also discuss the development of automated road vehicles, future business models for the industry and generally what the outlook is for the future of the automobile—which, in his opinion, is positive!

– Teri Bond

For more information on the graduate program, visit

http://www.artcenter.edu/accd/admissions/graduate.jsp

http://www.artcenter.edu/accd/programs/graduate/transportation_design/course_of_study.jsp

Print Friendly

Students design cars around engine, win scholarships

Wednesday, November 28th, 2012

From left: "Top Gear" host Tanner Foust, Bruno Gallardo, JJ Hwang discuss Gallardo’s design for a full-size pickup at LA Auto Show.

Art Center students’ car concepts won top honors Wednesday at EcoMotors Future Design Challenge, from a paired-down pick-up to a “Brosome” dad wagon.

The Michigan-based company challenged more than 20 students from Detroit’s College for Creative Studies and Art Center to design a concept around its unusual engine. The OPOC (opposed piston, opposed cylinder) delivers 12- to-15-percent better efficiency than conventional piston engines but looks like nothing else under the hood.

Students were challenged to create a vehicle around the engine’s wider and shorter shape, and winners in three categories — mid-size sedan, full-size pickup and emerging-market vehicle — were announced at the L.A. Auto Show. Here are Art Center students’ winning designs.

(more…)

Print Friendly

Production Designer, alum Patrick Hanenberger behind ‘Rise of the Guardians’ look and feel

Tuesday, November 20th, 2012

Even if you’ve missed all the great stories in the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times and Entertainment Weekly, you’ve no doubt heard that DreamWorks Animation’s latest film Rise of the Guardians—which takes childhood fantasy figures like Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny and reimagines them as mythological heroes in an epic fantasy adventure—comes out in theaters Wednesday, Nov. 21.

And right in the middle of all that legendary action is the film’s production designer, Art Center’s own Patrick Hanenberger, who graduated from the College in 2003 with a degree in Transportation Design and is currently teaching a Visual Communication course.

We recently caught up with Hanenberger to ask him about his role in Guardians, how he ended up working in animation and which lessons from Art Center have stuck with him.

Dotted Line: First of all, how did you go from being a Transportation Design student to a production designer for animated films?

Patrick Hanenberger: I studied Transportation Design at Art Center and it taught me problem solving, 3D modeling, sculpting, sketching, designing around the human figure, rendering, research and most importantly presentation. These are all skills I use on a daily basis and are universal in any kind of design field. I always knew I wanted to work in movies and animated movies are great for designers since every single little detail needs to be designed and modeled. During Art Center I developed my portfolio to be very content based, which meant I always designed my vehicles for a specific story. After graduation I got a job as a visual development artist and from there on over the last eight years worked my way up to become production designer.

(more…)

Print Friendly

Tesla snags top Motor Trend, Popular Science honors

Thursday, November 15th, 2012

Tesla Motors’ Model S sedan might be the best thing on four wheels.

Designed by Art Center alum Franz von Holzhausen, the battery-powered sedan this week was named Motor Trend magazine’s 2013 car of the year and topped the Popular Science “Best of What’s New” list.

The family-size sedan beat out some high-power competition — BMW’s new 3-Series, Honda’s revamped Accord and Toyota’s 2013 Lexus GS — to become the first electric car to earn the Motor Trend honor.

“It is a testament not only to the luxury sedan and electric car segment, but to American engineering overall,” said Edward Loh, editor-in-chief of Motor Trend. “To be the first car in the 64-year history of the award to be powered by something other than gasoline must mean it is very special.”

Popular Science gave the Model S the grand prize ahead of on- and off-wheel innovations in the auto category – from Ferrari’s fastest car, the 730-horsepower F12 Berlinetta, to MyLink, which integrates a smartphone into the dashboard.

(more…)

Print Friendly

Survey: Art Center ranks No. 1 for industrial design

Tuesday, November 13th, 2012

Art Center’s industrial design graduate and undergraduate programs have ranked No. 1 by the Design Futures Council in its DesignIntelligence survey of America’s best architecture and design schools.

Additionally, DesignIntelligence named Integrated Studies instructor Randall Wilson among the 30 Most Admired Educators for 2013.

Art Center’s undergraduate industrial design programs — which include Product Design, Environmental Design, Transportation Design and Entertainment Design — were praised for teaching students communication, computer applications and design.

Deans and department heads surveyed said they most admired Art Center’s Graduate Industrial Design program, “For its forward-looking focus on the role of design in business and research.”

Art Center’s industrial design undergraduate program has ranked No. 1 in the survey since 2006, while the graduate program has ranked in the top three during the same time.

(more…)

Print Friendly

Yahoo! names Tesla Model S car of the year

Tuesday, November 6th, 2012

Yahoo! Autos tested 100 vehicles — from the amped-up Ford Shelby GT500 to the pared-down Toyota Prius C — and named the Tesla Model S their 2013 car of the year.

Art Center alum Franz von Holzhausen and a team of 11 spent eight months designing the Model S, an electric luxury sedan styled somewhere between a Jaguar XJ and an Audi A7.

Bucking the electric car stereotype, the $50,000-and-up Model S goes form zero to 60 mph in 4.4 seconds and seats seven with room for groceries. Designers took a page from the aviation industry adding 17-inch center-console screen with connectivity to the Web, navigation and the car’s systems.

(more…)

Print Friendly