Umeå Institute of Design Degree Show 2008

Masters students at Sweden's Umeå University Institute of Design exhibited their final projects in the annual Degree Exhibition in early June. This year 38 students exhibited their work, including 7 from MA Transportation Design, 5 from MA Advanced Product Design, 6 from MA Interaction Design and a further 20 from the BA Industrial Design course.

The MA Transportation Design programme is led by Tony Catignani, with Nick Coughlan as external tutor. The graduating student projects included:

Yuri Baskakov
Alfa Romeo Quattroposti

This is a supercar with added family values. Yuri's goal was to fit four people and some luggage into a mid-engined supercar without losing any of the 'super' characteristics. The vehicle should be low, wide and should not resemble a conventional car. A central pod houses the driver and one passenger in tandem, with space for two more passengers within separate canopies each side of the driver. Driver and passengers can communicate through an intercom system. The side canopies slide back into the rear haunches when not in use.

Chia-Yi Cho
Scion MBox

The Scion brand was created by Toyota for the North American market, aimed at young people who like customization. Scion MBox is a vehicle that can be purchased in a very basic frame form at a reasonable price. Owners can buy new body parts over time, as and when they desire, to transform the vehicle in character and function to suit different stages of their life. This presents an opportunity to reduce the scrap rate of vehicles by keeping a basic platform for many years, with benefits for the environment. Developing the themes of current Scion products, the MBox features a purposeful and upright stance with expressive graphics.

Martin Ruszkowski
Mazda Flora

Mazda Flora is described as 'an intuitive energy collecting sculpture'. The model displayed showed only a glimpse of the research and design work that had gone into this project, which was made in collaboration with Mazda Germany. Supporting visuals showed the conceptual, form and material development, which merged fields of design, biology, and engineering. The form of the vehicle is dictated by its immediate surroundings. The vehicle can be used both as means of transport and as a passive self sustained organism which replenishes your energy needs and act as a filter detoxing your immediate surroundings. Concentration was put on creating the purest form possible with the fewest elements necessary to express 'the beauty of flow'.

Jung Hyun Lee
Silveriness - Vehicle for the New Silver Generation in 2030

This project addresses the reducing degree of difference in aspirations between old and young people in their choice of vehicle, except in their health condition. Elderly people also like sexy, sporty, beautiful and exciting vehicles. However physical and health issues tend to make them buy conventional minivans or sedans. This concept aims to create not only a sporty but a practical vehicle that is tailored to the needs of the 'New Silver Generation' in 2030, providing better solutions for ingress/egress, security, as well as excitement. The vehicle has hub motors in each wheel and receives electricity from a coil system in the road, so it doesn't have to carry a heavy battery or motor. The unusual and sporty proportion is inspired by the stance of animals, 'tensed, and ready to leap forward'.

Continues →

By Brett Patterson