Transportation & Automobile Design

Course

The Specializing Master in Transportation & Automobile Design is a Master in Car Design of the Politecnico di Milano and it is a pathway to excellence for those who seek scientifically rigorous training to meet the professional challenges that automakers’ design departments are offering in this era of far-reaching change and radical innovation in the industry.

Reliance on facilities at the Design Department of the Politecnico di Milano, such as its prototype workshop and its virtual prototyping workshop, enrich the learning experience by assuring the availability of equipment up to the task of the Specializing Master.

The Specializing Master is designed to train a figure of designer who is able to develop own creativity, integrating it in an innovative way with the academic knowledge of the training scenarios, and at the same time to experience the entire development process of typical style of the world of the automotive industry.

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Training objectives

The goal of this Specializing Master is to train a professional designer to develop her or his own creativity, while innovatively integrating it with the academic knowledge specific to the syllabus. At the same time, the student is expected to experience the whole style-development process typical of the automobile industry. This Specializing Master is designed to enable graduates in industrial design, engineering or architecture who are interested in a career in automobile design to bring rigorous focus to their curriculum.

Didactic Plan

The Transportation & Automobile Design Specializing Master aims to train designers capable of developing their creativity, integrated with academic lecture cycles, by experiencing the entire design process typical of style centers in the car design world, from the definition of the exterior design to the development of the interior, the study and choice of materials and colors, and from physical modeling with clay to digital modeling.

The Course is made up of lessons, project seminars, workshops, and a final Master thesis and it consists of 17 learning modules, selected so as to provide a mix that will assure the theoretical and practical knowledge essential to developing transportation-design projects with full awareness of the context.

Didactic Modules

• Car Design Studio

Didactic workshop where students can practice what they have learned in the first months of the Master’s program, through the design development of a vehicle in its different aspects.

• Exterior Car Design

Students will learn how to design the body of a vehicle.

• Interior Car Design

Students will learn how to design the interior of a vehicle.

• Colour & Trim

The unit focus on the selection process for colours, materials and finishes in the automotive design field, for both interior design and exterior design.

• Transportation Design Workshops

Workshops will take place over several days in which students will develop some specific and limited design themes.

• Alias modelling for Car Design*

Module dedicated to digital modeling developed with the tool considered the reference standard for automotive design.

• Multimedia Tools for Car Design

Acquisition of knowledge and skills regarding new ways of fruition of a project.

• Adobe Tools

Students will learn how to use the Adobe Suite to communicate a project.

• Vehicles Architecture

In this didactic module, students will acquire skills on the disciplines that combine design with vehicle engineering.

• Car Design Culture

Didactic module dedicated to the history and culture of the vehicle.

• Presentation Techniques for Car Design

Acquisition of the techniques and tools for presenting design proposals both within one’s team and externally.

• Experience Interaction Design for Vehicles

Use of new technologies of User Experience for the fruition of vehicles.

• Ergonomics

The concepts of comfort, accessibility and fruition of a vehicle will be addressed.

• Portfolio Empowerment

How to set up one’s portfolio in a professional way.

• Creative Group Empowerment

Students will work in a creative group, learning how to manage interpersonal relationships.

• IP law in Automotive Design

In this educational module, students will gain legal skills regarding their rights and duties in the industry, either as employees of companies or as collaborators or suppliers.

• Project Enhancement Studio or Internship

Additional in-depth pathway for all students who should not be selected for a curricular internship in companies in the industry.

*Basic Alias
Enrolled students will have the opportunity to participate free of charge in an introductory course on Autodesk Alias®: the digital modelling software is a key tool in transportation design. This program is widely used by companies in the automotive sector. That’s why it is a crucial asset for those who wish to step into the world of work in this field.

Title Released

The Specializing Master grants 60 CFU, equivalent to 60 ECTS. Upon completion, students earn a Politecnico di Milano first-level Specializing Master.

Employment Opportunities

This Specializing Master produces an innovative professional with advanced skills related to the main tasks involved in creating an automobile’s style. Its goal is to give students the chance to enter the production stream for auto-industry design. This is not limited to traditional roles or companies but encompasses a network of enterprises that interact and collaborate with corporate design departments on co-design projects. Acquired skills include teamwork and conflict management.

Professional outcomes:

• EXTERIOR DESIGNER – Designer involved in the exterior design process, for new products as well as face-lifts and derivatives. They also work on the exterior details, such as wheels and lights.
• INTERIOR DESIGNER – Designer involved in the design of the interior of the vehicles. They may be involved in the design of the whole living experience, or focus on the many components of a car interior, such as the cockpit and the seats.
• COLOR & TRIM DESIGNER – Designer involved in the voice of materials, colors and finishing. They may work together with suppliers to develop new materials, to research colors, new technologies and new trends.
• VISUAL DESIGNER/MULTIMEDIA DESIGNER – Designer who creates visual contents. They create graphics, digital rendering and videos and they may be involved in virtual reality content creation.
• SURFACE DESIGNER – Designer working together with the design team to create 3D digital models.
• UX DESIGNER – Designer involved in the definition of the user experience on board of vehicles. They focus especially on the infotainment systems and the issues connected to human interface interaction.

Admission

Requirements

The Specializing Master in Transportation & Automobile Design was created to transform those graduates in Industrial Design, Architecture and Engineering who have always loved the world of vehicles, into the Transportation & Car designers of the future. The Specializing Master is dedicated to all those who have fed their passion over the years, following developments in technology and admiring new vehicle models, and who have often found themselves with pencil in hand to design cars while imagining new ones.

The didactic plan offered by the Specializing Master in Transportation & Automobile Design gives students all the tools to fulfill their passion and work in automotive and transportation design.

To be admitted to the Master’s program, it is necessary to send the following documents:

• Curriculum Vitae: specify educational qualification and date of birth.
• Video CV of 30” – 45”: tell in English the reasons for applying and one’s passion.
• Selection of drawings: submit a collection of drawings of existing and/or fantasy vehicles.

The enrollment at the Specializing Master in Transportation & Automobile Design requires a University Diploma, a Bachelor of Science degree, or a Master of Science degree in Industrial Design, Architecture, Engineering, or an equivalent qualification. Anyhow, the Master board has the right to consider the enrollment of candidates holding the above mentioned titles in other disciplines.

For those who graduated not in Italy, equivalent study titles will be considered if recognized in the respective course of studies.

The formal evaluation of the study title eligibility is by Politecnico di Milano. As a consequence the formal application should be done on the website www.polimi.it (the steps are described in the following weblink).

In particular, the steps that you will have to follow are those mentioned from page 1 to page 8 (by clicking on the following link you will find yourself directly in the same page shown on guidelines).

Deadlines

To take part to the selection process, the application form must be completed online within the following deadlines:

• for Italian / foreign citizens with a qualification obtained in Italy and Italian/U.E. citizens with a qualification obtained abroad within March, 5th 2025;
• for Extra U.E. citizens within February, 5th 2025.

Price

Total charges for the Specializing Master are € 15.500,00 (including Politecnico di Milano enrollment fee of € 500). Exempt from VAT under Article 10 of DPR 633/72.

PROMO

FAMILY SUPPORT: -50%
A chance to gift your siblings the encouragement they need to invest in their future.

FRIEND TO FRIEND: -20%
An opportunity to gift to a friend to make education the foundation of their growth.

POLI.NETWORK: -50%
A promotion designed to strengthen the bond and identity among members of the Politecnico di Milano community.

BACK TO SCHOOL: -1.000€ on Specializing Masters
The discount for those who have already trusted POLI.design and Polimi, and wish to return to study and build their future.

PER MERITO
Intesa San Paolo supports talents and gives everyone access to training. Discover more details here.

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