Success by design - Letters

Black Enterprise, Feb, 2002 by Sebastian Peter

I WOULD LIKE TO THANK YOU FOR YOUR informative article on black auto designers ("Performance by Design," November 2001). Reading the designers' profiles, I was surprised at how closely their formative years mirrored mine. I, too, have been drawing since before I could walk I was also surprised at how they made their way into the field of auto design via a variety of paths, and have a variety of interests. I have been told that there is only one way into the field: to receive a BFA in transportation design from one of the top design schools in the world, such as The Art Center, The Center for Creative Studies, or The Royal College of Art.

While I have enjoyed drawing cars from a young age, I was afraid that pursuing such a specialized degree would be limiting professionally. Throughout college, I explored a variety of academic fields, and am now in a mechanical engineering program with a year to complete a bachelor's degree. Last year, on a whim, I entered the Motor Trend Design Contest, and was surprised to win third prize in the student category. This has given me encouragement in this direction.

I would appreciate very much if you could offer any more information with regard to entering the field of auto design. I have visited Pratt Institute in my hometown of Brooklyn, New York, and have learned that many of the courses in their industrial design program are similar to courses I have taken as a mechanical engineering student. Would I need to pursue another degree [from one of the top design schools], or just take part-time unmatriculated courses [to get into the field of auto design]?

Sebastian Peter
Brooklyn, New York
SPeterjr@aol.com

Editor's note: BLACK ENTERPRISE Technology Editor Sonya A. Donaldson, who edited "Designed for Performance," spoke to Chrysler spokesperson Sjoerd Dijkstra and asked whether you would need to earn a degree at a design school even though you are a year away from earning a degree in mechanical engineering. His answer: absolutely yes--even their auto design interns come directly from design schools such as The Center for Creative Studies, according to Dijkstra. "We only hire from design schools," he says. "Nothing is lost with having a base in engineering, but you need the true experience of a design school" in order to launch a career as an auto designer.