But it is not just the Swedish rally that puts Umeå on the map. For the sixth year in a row, the School of Design at Umeå University is at the top of the “Red Dot Design Ranking,” which lists the best design educations in Europe, North, and South America. The awards over the years have made the School of Design a mecca for the world’s foremost industrial design students.
So when this year’s largest motorsport event is housed in the same city where the world’s best design students are located, the theme was a given. Inspired by the legendary days of the rally with group B cars, the first-year students in the master’s program for transport design will design an exciting visual expression for E-rally cars. The project runs for five weeks and is a close collaboration between Knightec, Visit Umeå, and the School of Design. As a proud main sponsor and partner, Knightec shares relevant knowledge and expertise in the form of several lectures where students get to meet some of the company’s foremost employees. Meetings that create interaction between all participants.
Lotta Quist, who works as a Design Advisor in Industrial Design and User Experience at Knightec, is one of the current lecturers. She has extensive experience as a designer in the automotive industry.
– Incredibly fun investment, where we at Knightec get a direct dialogue with the designers of the future. Out in the rally world, there is a lot of talk about the electrified driveline, and during these meetings, we get the opportunity to inspire and share knowledge, says Lotta.
The students have also had the opportunity to meet Robin Sandström De Wit, a Senior Consultant in Industrial design and engineering at Knightec. He also views collaboration very positively.
– Super fun that we at Knightec get to be involved and contribute our knowledge in this project. Personally, it feels essential that we as a company show our commitment to the students and their future, and I am glad that Knightec values and prioritizes collaborations of this kind, says Robin.
The project’s primary focus is design studies, where the students focus on the vehicle’s exterior design at the same time as they design and reconsider a positive vision of sustainable motorsport.
– It’s extra fun that the course highlights the ongoing transition to electrified vehicles and that motorsport and sustainability can certainly go hand in hand, says Robin.
It is a challenging task encompassing 360 degrees of vehicle design, from 2D sketches to 3D development, and will eventually land in harmonized scalable models.
– Since we at Knightec possess a deep competence in the subject and expand in the design area, it is incredibly rewarding to connect with the school and the students. Together, we are deeply engaged and curiously follow the development of this year’s exciting project, says Lotta.
The result will thus be scalable clay models that will be shown to the public during week eight. Thanks to the project’s partners, the students will present their contributions during a vernissage and the following exhibition in Utopia center in central Umeå.