GrabCAD Presents the Urbee2 Insignia Design Challenge

As the standard of living grows in countries like China and India, one of the first luxury items many individuals want to purchase is their own automobile. As more and more cars hit the road around the world, fuel consumption will increase drastically, potentially leading to fuel shortages. A couple billion cars could also propel negative environmental changes through the sheer volume of waste produced.

It seems fairly certain at this point that electric cars are part of the solution to this dilemma. The Urbee (Rapid Ready coverage) is a small, environmentally friendly vehicle being developed to address the fuel and environmental issues caused by traditional automobiles. It also happens to use additive manufacturing (AM), specifically ABS plastic, for its body. For the second iteration of the vehicle, the Urbee 2, KOR EcoLogic and GrabCAD have initiated an insignia design challenge open to anyone with a talent for design.

From the KOR EcoLogic website:

URBEE 2 will look very much like a production-ready car. And while the original Urbee’s image was that of a show car, URBEE 2 will communicate affordability and reliability, a sensible car many people would indeed buy and use every day.

As part of the drive to design and build a vehicle with customer appeal, KOR Ecologic is asking design artists to produce a logo to be displayed on steering wheels, key fobs, hood emblems, side fenders and on the rear of the car, and promotional items such as clothing, hats, pens, etc. While the Urbee name has its own graphical style, the logo will be its own design, and be used for product recognition purposes (think the Nike swoosh, or the Ferrari shield) as well as providing aesthetic appeal.

Requirements for the contest are as follows: 

• You must include:
  • STEP or IGES version
  • Rendering of your insignia design 

• The winning design will be:
  • Complementary to URBEE brand and philosophy
  • Suitable for a car of the future
  • Fresh, clean, simple, and innovative 

• You are encouraged to include:
  • Renderings of your insignia in all use cases
  • Explanation of your design and how it fits the brand
  • Vector file such as PSD format 

The winning design will be used on the production run of the Urbee 2, and will net the winner a chance to continue working with the KOR EcoLogic team, along with a grab bag of Urbee-related products. Prizes will also be presented for second through tenth place entries. The deadline for entry is November 23, 2013. You can find full details about the contest here.

KOR EcoLogic just launched an initial round of funding for the development of the Urbee 2, which it estimates will cost around $3 million. If you want to help out your fellow engineers, visit their Kickstarter page.

Below you’ll find a short video about the Urbee.

Sources: GrabCAD, KOR EcoLogic