Advanced Automotive Design

Over the years, automotive design has been guided by intuition and driven primarily by knowledge derived from experience. However, societal changes and industry developments require designers to go beyond solely aesthetically pleasing designs and to come up with new automotive designs whose existence can be justified in the long term. The automotive designer needs to consider a broader context and apply a more scientific framework to facilitate and guide his process. If automotive concepts are to be meaningful for users and society in the years to come, the designer must take psychological, cultural and technological principles into consideration in order to arrive at an integrated vision that addresses user concerns and expectations about future developments in society. 

Three perspectives

Advanced Automotive Design is a specialisation that focuses on the automotive design process from three strategic perspectives, related to the three MSc programmes in which the specialisation is available:

1. Business strategy, which focuses on the interaction between the automotive company and
   its product. What kind of product planning strategy, technology strategy, mechanical
   principles and manufacturing processes best respond to automotive design requirements in the long term?
2. Behavioural strategy, which deals with identifying user behaviour which the designer wants to encourage and facilitate, with respect to mobility in the future and the automotive product to accomplish this.
3. Product strategy, which examines the interaction between the customer and the automotive company. How can brand identities evolve over time and remain meaningful for customers? How can a brand portfolio be designed and managed in such a way as to generate strategic advantage.

What you will learn

Automotive electives are equal for each of IDE’s Master’s programmes and form the student’s automotive specialism, understanding and skills. Contrary to conventional programs in automotive design the centre of gravity lies in content, with skills development in a facilitating role. In the Integral Design project, in which students of the three master programmes form teams in industry commissioned projects, automotive projects are compulsory for students in the automotive specialisation.

The automotive master specialiation in a nutshell:

• Master specialisation is within program SPD, DfI or IPD
• Elective Automotive Design ID5242 is compulsory
• At least 9 ECTS for electives (out of 18) spend in automotive electives
• Further electives recommended, dependent on master program
• Integral Design Project in automotive
• Graduation project in automotive.

What does this mean for the master programs for DfI students, IPD students and SPD students.