A glimpse at the future

I'm not a particularly artsy individual by any stretch. However, this has not deterred my mother from positioning humiliating childhood artwork throughout our home. Exhibit A (below): My third grade portrait of a Navajo chief that inexplicably appears to have just emerged from a cage fighting match.

<--- Why?!

Despite my shortcomings in this area, earlier this week I had the opportunity to be further humbled while watching the GM design interns at work. Each intern specializes in a specific area of design - sketching, sculpting, color, engineering, animation, etc. They are working in teams to conceptualize car models for 2020 and it is quite an operation. Participants not only hail from the US, but from India, Mexico, Russia and China as well. The communications interns are going to be working on a project for these folks, and I think they have an exciting story to tell.

I can't forget the design center itself! On the surface, the GM Technical Center in Warren, MI has the look of a college campus. However, inside is another story completely. (Disclaimer: if your college/university features top-secret cars of the future and has a strict no camera phone policy, then this blogger apologizes for misspeaking).



While I wasn't walking into an episode of "The Jetsons," the vehicles on tap for the future were profoundly cool and I got a real sense for this aspect of the automotive process. One interesting part of my tour was learning how car models are created. Did anyone know that they make life size models out of foam??? Buellar? The best part is, you would never know it based on look or feel.

It goes without saying, but the moral of the story is that if you get a chance to gain a behind the scenes peek at a center like this - GO!!! If not, you may want to brush up on those art and design skills. Who knows - maybe one day you can take a role in crafting the future Volts of the world.

As evident by my work displayed at the beginning of the post... I'm available for lessons.