Nissan Design China recently joined the 6th Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Program for College Students, which cultivates automotive design talent at higher education institutions in China. Created by SAE-China, the project runs for about one year. In early May, vice president of NDC Yoshihisa Akiyama, together with NDC senior designers, visited six universities in South China including Donghua University, Jiangnan University, China Academy of Art, Nanchang Hangkong University, Hunan University and Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts.
Students learned about Nissan and Infiniti’s global design philosophy, NDC’s Role and Responsibility, corporate culture, and NDC’s contributions for both the Chinese and global markets. During a one-week sketch competition, 10 student designers stood out from 100 participants. They will attend a Designers’ Workshop training session, which will meet for two weeks in early August. The Designer’s Workshop includes courses on car design fundamentals, sketch skill and ideation generations, and visualization of creative concepts.
A students’ achievement presentation will be held upon completion of the workshop. Students will be divided into three groups, and NDC will create a special corporate project for them. From mid-August to mid-November, NDC designers will continue to instruct the groups and guide them through project completion before the Guangzhou International Automobile Exhibition in November. “This is an amazing opportunity for us to connect NDC and the Nissan brand with design students, and is a way to share our design aesthetic with tomorrow’s talent,” said Akiyama.
