The diploma project is the last phase of the two-and-half year postgraduate programme at NID. For me, it was an opportunity to work on the interiors of one of India’s most coveted vehicles, the Reva NXG. Since I had never worked on automotive interiors before, this project provided me an excellent opportunity to work in a growing industry, to be able to design for production, to understand the process followed by the industry and more.
The project was intended to redesign the NXG prototype keeping all the production constraints in mind. More importantly, it was necessary not to lose out on the character of the vehicle, which had, by then, become ‘iconic.’ People loved the car for its unique design language and the overall stance. The main idea of the project was to maintain the same design language of the vehicle on the exterior while incorporating all the necessary changes such as the A-pillar, a foldable or collapsible roof, higher mounted head lamps, etc.
The design for production detail, understanding the package, ergonomics, etc. were just the tip of the iceberg. There was a whole lot of work to be done at every step. Throughout the process, I constantly looked for inspiration, feedback, and criticism. This helped me evolve my own design process step by step, and understand the parameters that the automotive industry is based on.
The span of six months provided me an opportunity to learn and thoroughly experience the field of automotive design. There was a significant amount of learning in terms of production constraints and how I should not undermine the simplicity of any concept, because a concept, no matter how simple, can work wonders if implemented well.
