Starting this coming Wednesday (the 7th of Feb) seven of GM’s auto design interns will be featured in a 4-part series on the Discovery Channel.

Titled “FutureCar”, the series chronicles the adventures of the students as they are given a task to design a fuel-cell vehicle for 2030.

So, that’s the bare-bones details of the show’s premise. Now on to the opinions.

Not having watched the show, I can’t really say anything too positive or negative, but I do have a few points/concerns. First, the show was filmed over a 3-month period so crunching it down into 4 episodes may be a difficult task. However, it will emphasize what we as designers tend to go through. Often we are subjected towards grueling, insurmountable tasks that are required “by the end of the week”. Several hundred sketches, coffees, and Taco Bell runs later we are left with a final product going to a customer, and a serious case of sleep deprivation. Perhaps this will show can give a glimpse to all our friends of the tireless efforts we go through to make a product. No, it’s not all easy sketching work that the rest of the world seems to think we go through. It can be (and often is) more of an effort to complete a product design in the timing we are handed than the average day for Jack Bauer (of “24″).

I’m finding myself curious and interested as to what the process the interns are going to be using. Sketch on paper? On Painter or Alias? Model-building, or someone else “helping” build a clay model for them? Design reviews with GM’s brass? There is a lot that I am curious about. Perhaps that is what gets me as a designer rather than the outcome of the fuel-cell technology: what exactly are these kids going through, and does it compare to what we went through “back in the day” when WE were at school and interning?

I’ll be watching, if for nothing more than to come into the studio the next day and say “dude, they have it totally easy” or “wow, I can’t believe they made him (or her) cry like that”!

Grab your popcorn and Heineken, and plop in front of the couch.

For more info, check out www.Discovery.com/futurecar

Dali

FutureCar
Discovery Network
Wed 7th February @ 8PM