Apprenticeship/Traineeship/Indenture in Boat or Yacht design

[joz]

I gather that these days that yacht design firms or ship building or boat manufactures around the globe aren’t offering any such apprenticeships/traineeships/indentures in the field of boat or yacht design. I probably gather that it would probably cost them in time and possibly money to teach someone the necessary skills, rather than the person being fully qualified at the time.

What’s are people thoughts on the subject, should there be more Apprenticeship/Traineeship/Indenture in the field of Boat or Yacht design on offer or should it be left the way it is?

Any comments.

[BrettM]

Boat & yacht design is engineering. Think this way unless you want to be a drafty...
Brett

[Zed]

To become an engineer you need to go to university. Be aware: Yacht design is engineering, not art today.

Zed

[edaydesign]

Just a thought......

In the manufacturing world, you need more than just engineering. A very well trained Industrial Designer can and will bring a project (like a yacht) from idea through production. It takes problem solving, sketching, materials knowledge, and the help of a awsome design team.

Would you like to spend alot of money on a yacht that is just designed by engineers? I think not.... You need a design team.

A successful design team is a collaboration of Industrial designers, Naval Achitects, brand strategists, Structural + electrical engineers and ergonomic spe******ts.

Designers are not just draft people that create pretty pictures......

Some good design scholols:
Royal College of Art+Design
University of Cincinnati (DAAP)
Art Center

[edaydesign]

These schools also provide the opportunity to do internships in the transportation industry, including yacht design.

I speak from personnal experience..

[Cian Groves]

A Naval Architect is an engineer who has specialized in designing structures for the marine environment so in theory they should be able to take a vessel from concept to completion, that is what they have gone to university to study.
A stylizest could be brought in for a project at the request of a client, otherwise it's the job of the Naval Architect, I suppose this is why their title has Architect in it. :D
On the other hand I have also worked in a drafting office where many of us were engineers and were there because we wanted to design not just crunch numbers.

Cheers,
Cian

p.s. Brett there is nothing wrong with Drafties, many a Engineer & Architect could learn alot from them. ;)

[Richard Petersen]

I think more boats can be sold by a very good stylist than all the best engineering in the world. There will always be beautiful DOGS stealing customers. Poor Volvo ( Ford with a Yamaha V8 engine ). Poor Saab ( GM vortec ). Great engineering but poor styling and truthfull PR . Fatal combination.

[Richard Petersen]

Do any of you who design, believe SUV's are a safe vehicle? Those who answer YES. Are PROMOTED to the PR department. With a 75 % raise!! :) Remember - we are in business to sell cars first. Then we can make them safer. No sales, no company.

[Cian Groves]

I agree a Stylist can bring alot of flair & appeal to a vessel. But to say they are at the apex of the design process, I feel is incorrect. Would you buy a vessel that was solely designed by Stylist or a Naval Architect?

Cheers,
Cian

[Richard Petersen]

I sometimes do not write well what I think.-------The stylist gets the deposit. The engineer keeps them safe and a return customer. Is that easier to understand?

[Cian Groves]

Hi Richard,
Yeah I understand & I agree with you. The reason I have voiced my opinion is that I have had some interesting experiences with some stylists.

Cheers,
Cian

[Richard Petersen]

Lets here them. :p

[Richard Petersen]

Stylists. Lets hear your side. :p

[Richard Petersen]

Any body who would like to give us a earfull. BUUT. Login again under a no name and no name pass word. Keeps the job safe. I am retired :)

[Richard Petersen]

Also set up your profile so you get no contact by email or secret messages. I have a couple of designs that went a little different. :eek:

[Cian Groves]

Hi Richard,
Sorry I didn't get back to you earlier (work time). Just an example of 1 idea a stylist that does super yachts put to me:-
design of a cat. with guest rooms in the hulls, he kept wanting to increase the length of the cabin (which backed onto the engineroom), I told him he could have as much room as he liked, we could remove the engines and the client can have a luxury floating pontoon in his backyard. :D

Cheers,
Cian

[Richard Petersen]

Thanks for the laughter. I loved it. :)

[Nels Tomlinson]

Here are two non-nautical run-ins I've had with architects.

First, an experience I heard from a student who had switched from architecture to CE: She told me that one of the Architecture profs had told her not to waste time studying structural engineering/vibrations, because ``buildings are held up by art''. Her next semester was in the CE department.

Second, a personal experience: In Valdez, Alaska (where 30 to 40 feet of snow per winter is the norm), an architect wanted to put large, fixed planters throughout the parking lot. That would make snow removal either expensive or impossible. When we told her that we'd have to close the parking lot in winter, she was unconcerned. When we told her that no one could see the planters under the snow, she grudgingly agreed that we could make them movable, and remove them in the winter. We never put them back out after the first winter, because we needed the many parking spaces they took up.

In both cases, the architects were irresponsibly neglecting real world factors, letting down their clients by making their designs less usable and more expensive.

[toidzinr]

First of all, "stylist" for the most part today, is an outdated and irrelevant title.
A designer, or more specifically, an Industrial Designer, is capable of styling, as you say- but styling is only one of an industrial designers skill sets.

Industrial designers are trained in aesthetics, visual communication, and market trends, but are also versed in the materials and manufacturing processes specific to the industry in and for which they design. Perhaps most importantly, they are skilled in critical thinking and creative problem solving (as an architect); they are challenged to develop a design "process".


They are also some of the most proficient users of design (NURBS based) and engineering (Solids) software packages. These programs are, by far and away, more complex and powerful than the ubiquitous "AutoCad" and the like. In the practice of everyday product design, it is neither practical or possible that engineeers be involved in every decision towards structure and manufacturabilty. Therefore, it becoms part of a designer's skill set to understand these issues thoroughly, and to implment this knowledge in a productive and eloquent manner. Engineering and styling become an integral practice.

Industrial designers are, in fact, the architects of mass produced items. Hence the word "industrial" in the title. Refering to Industrial Designers as "stylists" is like calling an architect by "Building Decorator". Hull design becomes a matter of technical learning, implementation of data, and use of software that any industrial designer can master.

Industrial Designers already design (from concept to production) in fiberglass, plastics, metals, and wood. Boat design is the realm of the industrial designer- along with canoes, skies, kayaks, and personal watercraft.