There are days when it does wear you out. That said, I am confronted at every turn to get the most out of the design, the look, the feel as well as the engineering of the Lucid Air, and when that is combined with cost and manufacturing, it's a big challenge.
Bigger car companies have evolved into big silos where all the different disciplines that go into making a car are in their own departments, and they work to some extent as adversaries. Lucid has an advantage because the design and engineering staff are more or less one team, all working under the same roof and in most cases in the same room. Often it's trying to realize the most you can from a particular design. Q: What is the most tedious thing about your current job?Ī: I don't like the term tedious, but not everything about designing cars is super-sexy. That takes up quite a bit of my time, and it's not something I would traditionally do working at Ford or GM.
LUCID SOUL DESIGNS FULL
We bring them in for a deeper dive and give them a full idea of what they can expect from their potential investment. As a start-up, you're often looking toward your next round of funding, and you need to prepare for that by sharing the company with investors who have shown preliminary interest. I'm also deeply involved in sharing the company's mission and vision with key potential investors. They will help establish what our second and third products will be.
LUCID SOUL DESIGNS SERIES
We also have a series of concepts that would come after Lucid Air that I am responsible for. I work with engineers and our marketing team to develop what features we're pushing into production, how many variants of the vehicle will be available, as well as the ongoing refinement and evolution of the the design. In addition I oversee the production development of the Lucid Air. That's typically not handled by design directors, but all that is the creative soul of the company. I work on everything aesthetic about the company: website, photography style, videos, the whole look and feel and personality of how this brand is visually represented. Beyond that I am doing a lot of strategy work like product planning and our branding efforts. My role spans all the core design disciplines with exterior and interior design, color and materials, and user experience. Q:Take me through an average day at Lucid.Ī: My average day is a little different from working at a traditional car company. We were able to develop a great working relationship during the internship, so right off the bat they said, "Hey, when you get done with school, come work for us." The internship really led to that employment. I always stress with students in design that those intern programs are critical. Most of that was based on my internships. When I came out of school, I went straight to work for Audi in Germany. Later in college, I interned at the Volkswagen studio.
LUCID SOUL DESIGNS PROFESSIONAL
That was my first exposure to a professional design studio. What was your first automotive job, and how did you get it?Ī: While I was at Art Center, I interned with Porsche for the summer at the technical and design center outside of Stuttgart. It looked pretty stock but it was the '80s so I put a big stereo in it. From when I was 14 to 16 I cleaned it up and got it painted and once I turned 16, that's what I was driving. I got it out of this guy's back yard where it had been sitting for years, filled with leaves and holes in the floor. in Huntington Beach and the Thing was the ultimate surfmobile. My father was really into baja bugs in the '70s and '80s, and I was just drawn to that kind of minimalist usability.
It's one of the most undesigned cars on the road, but I just loved it. Jenkins showing off a clay model of the luxury EV sedan Lucid Air. I spoke with Jenkins over the phone to find out how he got to be top design dog at a start-up car company and how he sees technology impacting future car design. If you like the look of the latest MX-5, thank Jenkins. from the Art Center College of Design in Transportation Design and has spent time in the design studios at Volkswagen and Mazda. As the VP of Design at Lucid Motors, Jenkins is tasked with bringing the company's first luxury EV sedan, the Lucid Air, to market by 2019. Derek Jenkins is what you would call a designer's designer.
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