About Us
We are first and foremost online school in the world -a specialized place where helps you develop and acquire skills needed to be a car designer.
Our hands-on, expert-created curriculum is taught by instructors who are all professional car designers and active in the field. By giving students access to those who most talented designers in the industry as their instructors, it helps ensure that students are connected and get trained with real updated information in their respective fields.
Delivering our online programs that students can access at any time, from anywhere in the world, we find and maximize our students’ potential and make their dream come true as many as possible. That is our goal.
Three goals
Mission
- Car Design Academy provides world-class design education to all the people, who wish to learn product design, across the globe.
- Car Design Academy prepares aspiring professionals, and fosters learning environment for students being potential designers, who may herald a new era.
Principles
Providing instructions with active professionals and experts in the industry, students can access to the information relevant to ongoing needs and trends in the industry.
We believe in the equal opportunity and create a system which everyone on the globe can receive our education.
Through individual training, we find and optimize students’ potentials to become a designer, and strive to produce designers who have planning and proposal ability with creativity for a new era.
Policies
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■ Admission Policy
We accept anyone in the world who agree with our educational goals and principles.
- We accept those who work on assignments for each lesson with enthusiasm and are able to secure time for that effort.
- We accept those who respect and trust on peers.
- We accept those who are eager to develop their ability and contibute to society through designing.
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■ Curriculum Policy (Academic structure)
We construct a learning system specialized in car design and offer curriculum which utilize the qualities in each course through the internet. Our program includes annual competition which is held in the academy and support on building portfolios for students’ recruitment. “Make a difference” is our motto. We support students to being able to express themselves and develop originality in them.
- Our courses cover car sketch techniques including line drawing, painting, etc. that are necessary to communicate your design ideas.
- Students will learn design process through the lessons of concept building, idea sketches, rendering, and presentation. We help students acquire practical skills.
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■ Diploma Policy (Completion of Course)
CDA allows to students receive a certificate when they completed all assignments provided in lessons, acquired ability to express their design ideas, and built a portfolio with excellent quality at the end.
Faculty
Can Takeru
Director /Chief Instructor
Mr.Can graduated from Kuwasawa Design School, and upon his graduation, he joined NORI, inc., a car design company lead by Nori Kuwahara. He has participated mainly in car designing projects, and also automobile, other product, graphic, monumental designs. His activities range from concept proposal, idea sketch, rendering, to 3D data modeling. In 2014, he was appointed to serve as Design Director. In 2018, he was appointed to be Director of Car Design Academy.
▶A message from Principal
Nori Kurihara
Chief Advisor
Mr. Kuwahara graduated from Kuwasawa Design School. After participating in various automobile design projects at Honda, he moved to Europe to work at Italdesign under a world class designer, Giorgetto Giugiaro. Subsequently, he spent productive years at EU Ford, and went back to Japan to incorporate DCI, a car design company. He worked on numerous design projects for Europe and Japanese car manufacturers. in 2001, he founded NORI, inc.
▶A message from Mr.Nori Kurihara
Toshio Yamashita
Academic Adviser/President of Jureies,the CDA Competition
Graduating from Crafts program of Hakata Technical High School, he joined Nissan Motors as designer in 1968. Starting off from parts designing, he was promoted to design Violet 2nd generation. Thereafter, he participated in works that expressed fundamental charms of cars, such as Fairlady Z Z32, Silvia 240SX, Skyline GT−R, Infinity G35, Q45. In 2008, he was appointed as Professor at Tokyo Metropolitan University, and taught transportation design. He is a founder of Interrobang Design Collaboratives, Inc.
▶Who is Mr.Yamashita? View Detailed Page
Miki Hattori
Instructor
While he was studying at Department of engineering at Waseda University, he decided to become a car designer, and subsequently, entered renowned Art Center College of Design. (ACCD) After spending 7 years at Opel, he worked at Stile Bertone and worked on numerous projects. He currently runs his own product design company and stays active.
Takayuki Yamazaki
Academic Adviser
Graduating from Tokyo Communication Art Academy in 1995, he joined Honda Motor Co., Inc. Specialized in products targeting the young generation, he was in charge of concept and design for Ape and ZOOMER. On the side, he manages an accessory brand product_c. His recent work includes motor scooter GIORNO。The 42th Tokyo Motor Show Model ‘motor compo’ attracted attention in many countries in the world. In 2012, he left Honda and founded pdc_designworks. While teaching at TCA, he stays active working on many projects.
FAQ
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Q. How many hours in a week should I keep for the course?
A. It really depends on individuals’ sketching level and learning pace. We encourage students to secure around 10 to 20 hours a week for learning.
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Q. I’m a beginner with no experience in car design. Can I join?
A. Yes. This course is also suitable for beginners. Additionally, our school system allows students to freely ask their questions anytime. The CDA support is available to provide you all the help you might need to succeed in your car design learning. We will assist you until you get necessary skills.
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Q. Can I pick some lessons among the curriculum and focus on learning just those lessons?
A. Yes. When the course start, you will attend a video conference. You can talk about what you want to concentrate on learning at CDA and create lesson plans together with your instructor. You can also receive evaluation on your works from your instructor even if the works are created outside of lessons.
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Q. Can I attend CDA course while I am learning product design at the college?
A. Yes. There are many students who are participating in our courses while studying at other school or working. We are proud to say that our course materials are used for some companies’ employee training. You can manage both learning in CDA and current school you are going.
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Q. How are the courses conducted?
A. Review video lectures and texts available on our school system first, and work assignment as meeting the assignment requirement. Submit the assignment, and your instructor will leave video feedback on it. The feedback video is usually provided within the next business day or at least five business days. The feedback video which you received from your instructor is accessible to view from all other students.
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Q. Please tell me the difference between each plan.
A. The number of feedback video given from your instructor per a month is different. You will receive 3 feedback videos in Plan L, 2 feedback videos in Plan M, and 1 feedback video in Plan S in each month.
The Plan L is for those who want to develop their skills within a short period of time. The Plan M is better suited for those who are taking our course while going to school or working, and the Plan S is for learners who want to learn on their own time, at their own pace or want to try our program.