An Internship to Remember
As part of my final year of Industrial design I was lucky enough to be accepted into the BMW Group + QUT Design Academy. Seeing the work that past interns had done as well as the work of current associates I was both excited and nervous.
Our first day, meeting the team and other interns; Magnus, Ashley and Elizabeth as well as seeing the new BMW M8 and reading about the potential projects all the nerves turned into excitement. For my project I decided to complete the IW.HUB peripheral design. To me this project felt the most like a real-world Industrial Design project that I would like to work on, and the technology behind the hub is something I really wanted to learn more about.
Over the semester I worked on understanding the IW.HUB, technology, user needs and potential for design intervention. Being able to work alongside Magnus and the Academy Design Associates, Jordan, Tim and Epi was extremely helpful in moving my ideas and research into designs. As well as the interactions within the office, I was able to have several meetings with Dylan, an Industrial Designer and QUT alumnus, working at idealworks. The insights gained from him as well as the feedback from his colleagues was extremely helpful for informing my design decisions.
Working in this environment was something I really enjoyed, it felt professional but comfortable and allowed me to really focus and to strive to design something meaningful. Throughout the process, being responsible for organising meetings, and ensuring I was progressing with my project was something I really enjoyed.
Towards the end of the design process, I really wanted to push myself to learn Blender. Seeing the work Epi, Tim and Jordan had done within the program excited me to want to push my skillsets in this area. Although it was very overwhelming at first, through their guidance and tips I was able to quickly gain a reasonable understanding of the program and create not only a few renders but an animation as well (something I had never done). Working with Blender and seeing the possibilities with the program has really pushed me to explore the program further.
Overall, the experience and connections gained through interning at the BMW Group + QUT Design Academy are something I will never forget and is something I would recommend to every Industrial Design Student. You will learn so much from the experience just as I have, and it’s a huge stepping stone to moving from a student to a designer.
Thanks for reading,
Henry Gomez-Borowski
BMW Group + QUT Design Academy Intern, Semester 1 2022
