The design and entrepreneurship program for the underserved youth, Sweat Equity Enterprises (SEE), has just recently teamed up with Nissan North America (NNA) to help with the design of a one-of-a-kind vehicle for young drivers. The partnership made a team of 18 high school students from New York City and Providence, RI in order to develop a concept low-cost vehicle that aims to target the young drivers in metropolitan areas. These students worked with Nissan Design America designer Bryan Thompson from February to May to perform market research, forecast upcoming trends, and create detailed and professional-quality designs for the interior elements, accessories, and exterior of the vehicle.

The students came up with six designs as they work in teams and these were presented to Nissan for competition. The Pure concept vehicle which was designed by Chris Jones, Paul Ayala, Alex Rodriguez, and Shakirra Torain was the one that Nissan chose. Because the designs were well-received, Nissan created digital animated models for all the six designs, and made a 3-foot professional model for the Pure concept vehicle. This will be revealed on November at the Los Angeles Auto Show.

The 16-year old SEE designer Chris Jones said, “The goal of the Nissan Pure is to be as iconic as the original Mini Cooper, as legendary as the Nissan Skyline and as economical and fun as the Datsun 510. The Pure gives you that classic car feel and all the right things to bring the essence of what made us fall in love with cars in the first place.”

Thompson said of the SEE designers, “It has been such an amazing experience for my colleagues and I to work with SEE. When you combine talent with opportunity, the results are magic. SEE really understands how to develop the sometimes untapped genius of our underserved youth in America. Nissan is proud to partner with such a unique and fruitful organization.”

SEE was founded in 2004 and their partnership with Nissan is already the seventh project for the organization. Over the years, participants have designed bags and outerwear for Marc Ecko, marketing and electronics for RadioShack, watches for Callanen/Timex, shoes for Skechers , skateboards for Zoo York, packaging for Dr. Miracles and graphic design for New York Cares.

SEE Co-Founder Nell Daniel said of SEE’s vision, “SEE’s vision is to invest in the limitless imaginations and entrepreneurial potential of underserved youth. We aim to build on the proven capacity of design education to give students valuable transferable skills that can be used in every area of their lives, whether professional, socio-emotional or academic. At the same time, our corporate partners gain fresh ideas and market research while enhancing their brands through sustainability and cultivating a talented and diverse workforce for the future.”

The participants of SEE gain intensive design, training in technology and entrepreneurship as they develop original graphic, apparel designs or products from concept to prototype for partner companies. The student participants were thoroughly selected through application process that requires a written essay, and they are compensated for their contribution with either a school credit or pay.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 29th, 2007 at 7:55 am and is filed under nissan news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.