2019 Winner's story
Morven at McLaren
Supercars and top-secret projects have been part of normal life for Morven Fraser in her first work placement at McLaren
Based in the interior engineering team, Morven has been working on conceptual future designs for seat adjustments. So relevant is her work, that she’s under strict orders not to discuss it with outsiders.
“It’s really exciting that I can maybe say in the future that I contributed to a product,” the mechanical engineering student says.
“Having that responsibility from the get go made me feel really privileged and involved with the company.”
Morven’s tasks have included background research, grappling with coding, and learning the ropes with complex simulation programmes.
“It’s made me realise how significant the digital side of engineering is,” she explains.
“It’s been a steep learning curve, but you have to get on with it,” Morven says.
Nicole at McLaren
Nicole Agba has been with McLaren for only a month, but she felt settled at the manufacturer the moment she arrived.
“Straight away I was given really responsible tasks that will have a genuine impact on McLaren products,” she says.
Those projects have been in McLaren’s colour and materials department, working on current production programmes, as well as advanced materials research.
“The production side of things has seen me looking at thread development,” she says. “I’ve been doing colour assessment on threads, leathers and exterior paint colours, while advanced future projects have involved creating concept boards.
“I’ve been looking at advanced textiles, seeing what the future of materials and technology holds,” she says. “It plays to my strengths.
“The area of design I’m interested in is material development and manipulation and how you can incorporate technology into that. Colour is the fun bit.”
It wasn’t all hard work in the studio. Nicole managed to fit in passenger rides in the McLaren P1 and 675LT, much to the envy of her colleagues, as well as a trip to the Lineapelle leather fair in London. She even had a chance encounter with McLaren Formula 1 driver Jenson Button.
As Nicole approaches the end of her succession of work placements, she is more determined than ever to move forward and make a mark in the automotive industry.
“My ultimate goal is to use my passion for colour and materials to affect change,” she says. “Design is a powerful tool. I want to try and affect people’s lives through the way that design works.
Nicole at Toyota
In Nicole Agba’s month-long placement with Toyota, she got a chance to work with the marketing team on the upcoming launch of the hydrogen-powered Toyota Mirai.
“I was tasked with working out how to present technology and data about the vehicle to companies who will be buying the car and also to everyday consumers,” she explains.
Nicole set about designing a mobile app for the car to provide more information on hydrogen fuel cell technology using videos and images. The app would also offer more details about the car and its history, as well as locations of refuelling stations.
To present the app, her proposal was to have an envelope with a tablet device in the car’s glovebox and an electronic business card attached to it.
“The Mirai project was intimidating to start with, mainly because it’s not a design-focused task,” Nicole says. “The skills I’ve acquired through my experience in design shone through in the overall layout of the app, though.
“I was given full scope to do whatever I wanted to do, and there’s potential for Toyota to use it as a product eventually.”
Along with her Mirai project, Nicole researched other Toyota marketing schemes and created her own ideas, which she then presented to the head of marketing at Toyota. There was also time for a trip to the firm’s manufacturing plant in Derby.
“I was told that no one has ever described the factory as ‘cool’ before, but I was like a kid at Christmas,” she says.
It has been another varied and enjoyable placement for Nicole, and a month with McLaren is up next.
