My Experiences and What’s to Come!

Hi all! This blog post is something I have been looking forward to doing for quite some time now! As Dr Rafael Gomez mentioned in the previous blog post, this post will focus on my BMW experience while exploring what drives me as a developing designer. My intent is to provide more than just inspiration, but to break down my journey in the hope that it may provide guidance for other designers. The vision for my future blog posts, and the Academy in general, is to provide a meaningful source of learning and inspiration for those interested in design, but also those passionate about digital visualisation, software skills, concept design and so on.

The drive

From my experiences thus far, it is clear that design is at its best, most fun and productive in a collaborative environment; whether it is a discord channel to share random work, or within a studio environment where everyone is ‘vibing’ off the ‘Design Force’ that flows through the air. To me, design has always been a distillery for passion and creativity, where no ‘idea’ is dismissed. As a young designer, these sorts of environments and experiences only drove me towards wanting to do bigger and greater things. During my time at QUT studying industrial design, I was fortunate enough to participate in enabling programs which helped me grow, share, and expand my own knowledge horizons. At this point, it was clear that the world can be your oyster depending on how much drive you have.

Personally, my drive comes from a few key sources including video games, the presences of other passionate designers, and enriching others' everyday experiences. To me, these three key sources constantly drive me on a day-to-day basis. To grasp a thorough understanding of how these key sources drive me, it is important to comprehend the inspirational aspects of each source. While Video Games at surface level can seem off topic, the conceptual design, stories, passion and level of detail is simply incredible. When I play video games, I can spend hours observing and admiring the design details within the world. However, being able to experience design in this form inspires new ideas and motivates me to simply learn how to do it. This theme also flows into the power of working collaboratively and how it can provide inspiration and drive as a designer. Personally, I believe that design cannot be kept to oneself, nor should it. Having the ability to share and inspire others is a core part of design. On a daily basis, I find myself conceptualising, studying existing designs, searching for inspiration and then sharing my findings with my design friends. Having a method to ‘nerd out’ is the best way to stay passionate as a designer as you are constantly embedded with the positive emotion that surrounds design. The final source of drive is having the ability to provide others with enriched experiences; or simply putting a smile on someone's face. Identifying your purpose as a designer can often be difficult. However, It is always important to remind yourself that you are improving the quality of life for all those around you, no matter what your role is as a designer. 

BMW experience

In late 2018, just before graduation, I got a message from Dr Rafael Gomez stating that I and a well synergised team of designers could have the opportunity to embark on a year's internship to BMW Group. Initially, I declined the offer multiple times as I was too afraid to step outside of my comfort zone. After some wakeup calls and consideration, I quickly accepted the offer and was on a plane to Munich where my design skills would be put to the test.

Working for BMW Group was a crazy experience but proved to be one of the most meaningful experiences in my life thus far. The internship at BMW Group was not a low key internship, but a proper job with proper consequences. There was no “leave it till tomorrow morning” or “leave it for someone else to deal with”. The office was focused on cutting edge technology and innovation, where we drove the frontier of automotive logistics through design thinking. As a fresh graduate, I was expecting a more gradual relaxed integration into the industry. However, upon arrival, we found ourselves surrounded by projects, designing workflows for the BMW Motorshow, contributing to Rolls Royce Logistics, while playing a critical part of a collaboration between Nvidia and BMW Group, focused on AI Learning. 

If I had to describe the key learning outcomes from my experience at BMW, it would have to be the ability to work under pressure and simply “make it happen”. I think the phrase “make it happen” stuck to me most while interning at BMW as it was a constant reminder that the only direction was forward. However, it’s the pressure cooker environment that really makes you become a competent individual. I think it’s appropriate to speak on behalf of Jordan here (the other Design Associate at the BMW Group + QUT Design Academy) when I say that 80% of the work we did felt like a dauntless battle of pulling together all our knowledge, skills, and determination to create some amazing work! However, it should be noted that while our supervisors pushed us, they were also supportive and guided us through some intense battles.

The last point I would like to make is how important teamwork and collaboration is. Simply, it is impossible without it. Jordan was my partner in crime while interning at BMW Group and we proved to be a great team. We constantly found ourselves problem solving, troubleshooting, designing and learning as a team - sharing the effort and the workload. I believe that with a tightly connected team, even if it’s just two, you find yourself greatly expanding your knowledge, drive and capabilities.

Parting thoughts

If you are lucky enough to study at QUT Industrial Design and considering applying for a BMW Group Internship, I would highly recommend it. The internship is all about providing significant contributions to BMW Group, while allowing you to rapidly develop as a designer - a priceless experience. In addition, it is important to stay true to your beliefs and passions as a designer because it provides not only inspiration but career guidance. We also have some amazing opportunities at the BMW Group + QUT Design Academy which I would highly recommend if you are wanting to strengthen and sharpen your design skills!

To future interns, I wish you the best of luck and always strive for greatness! 

Cheers,

Michael Williams
Design Associate