What qualifications to you need to be a car designer?

To be a car designer you need to graduate from an accredited Bachelors or Masters degree program from a top or second tier school that specializes in automotive or transportation design. Taking a few drawing classes at a normal college is like flying a kite hoping to become a professional airline pilot. Do research into colleges in your part of the world that offer a transportation or automotive design degree. There are a handful of colleges and universities around the world that offer such programs. You can see that list here:

Automotive Design Education – Top Schools.

What courses and degrees should a high school student take now and in college to become an automobile designer?

You want to take as many creative courses as possible. Drawing, painting, graphic design, photography, etc. Also, if classes in Illustrator and Photoshop are available, I would add those to the list. The idea is that by the time you graduate, you want to have a broad portfolio of creative work to present to a top design school. You want to  show your potential talent as a car designer. The better the portfolio, the more the student is able to potentially win scholarship funding. You can read an excellent article about what to study here:

Which Course Should I Take for Automotive Design?

Can industrial designers design cars?

Professionally, car designers are considered industrial designers. Typically someone who receives his or her degree in Industrial Design, specifically product design, does not become a car designer. The skill sets are different. An industrial designer can design a car but would not be hired by a car company to do so. There is a very specific technique to drawing cars that is not taught in a typical industrial design or product design college program. To learn this technique, you need to attend a program that specializes in automotive or transportation design. For an more in depth look at this topic, see these articles:

What Degree Is best for Car Design?

What Degree is Best for Automotive Design?

What does an automotive designer do?

An automotive designer is responsible for the exterior and interior design of a car. The overall visual theme, what the car looks like, and all the details are the work of a car designer. Inside, instrument and door panels, consoles and seats are all the work of a car designer as well.

Designers usually specialize in exteriors, interiors, color and trim or UX design. Many automotive designers specialize in doing “Concept Cars” or show cars that never make it to production. These creatives tend to be even more far reaching in their vision for the automobiles future than a designer working in a production studio. Car designers also get to design wheels, badging, logos, graphics packages and automotive accessories like roof racks.

For an more in depth look at this topic, see this article:

What Job Allows You to Design Cars.

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How can I become a car designer if I am a computer engineer?

The first question you need to ask yourself is whether you can draw. Most car designers have been drawing for 10 years by they time they enter design school. If you can draw pretty well, you have a chance. If you cannot draw at this point, it will be near impossible to learn to draw well enough to put together an excellent portfolio. You’ll need an excellent portfolio to get admitted to a top car design school in a reasonable amount of time.

Let’s assume you can draw pretty well and you have been doing other creative work outside engineering computers. Start researching a top design school to attend. See what the admission requirements are and begin to put your portfolio together to apply. Your ticket to becoming a professional car designer is getting into a top school. Once you get in, the work really begins but you’ll be on your way. The fact that you might be a bit older than your classmates will be asset. You time management skills will be better. Again, this is an asset.

While your engineering background will also be an asset, you need to know how to conceptualize a vehicle. Then represent it so someone else can understand it. This is usually done through drawing, sketching and rendering. These are all skills you will need in great abundance if you want to make the jump to transportation design.

There is a specific sketch technique that transportation designers use to show their designs. It involves accurately representing the surface while at the same time imbuing the drawing with an emotional, passionate line quality. This takes a long time to master. The scholastic environment of a top design school will teach you this.

If you have any questions regarding the information contained in this article, please leave them in the comments section below and we will get them answered. Thank you.

For an in-depth review of this topic, see our article –

Automotive Designer or Engineer?