Game recognizes game for this talented designer and the automotive startup, profiled here for Women's History Month.
on life and a job that lets her express it. Johnson is the head of design for Slate, a startup electric automaker that is developingfor those who might not otherwise be able to afford a new vehicle. That presents a huge challenge.
Johnson would have it no other way.Drawing and embracing challenge are part of Johnson’s DNA, making her current job about as perfect as it gets.Her tendencies go way back. When Johnson was 7 years old, she was sent to her room to clean it. All was quiet for a while. At some point she threw open the door and announced she had to leave everything as was because it was her creative space and she was an artist. “I’ve always been drawing, and it was really clear by that time,” Johnson said. “I remember having a big art pad on my desk, and I was just completely intrigued by the world around me and representing it through my drawing to understand what I was seeing and translate it onto paper.” Then, she said, you can envision things that aren’t in the world yet.That is a perfect frame of mind to have as a designer. Not just a designer but a car designer. “I did early on focus on cars,” she said. There was a picture in the family’s living room, a scene from the 1930s. The budding artist noticed the vehicle was the most complicated part of the drawing. That’s where her early fixation with drawing vehicles started, because it was a challenge. “I generally go for the harder stuff,” Johnson said. It is a theme she has embraced her entire life. Johnson, now 56, was a late bloomer professionally. No one in her family had gone to college, so it took a while to figure out what she wanted to do. She knew she wanted to have an impact on society, help in some way. But she had to learn how to be a student, as well. Starting with community college allowed her to study a breadth of subjects, settle into student life, and build a portfolio for what she wanted to do next.She was accepted into the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena and instantly saw car design was her path, recognizing the power of what mobility can do for people. Her thesis focused on providing affordable vehicles for a wage-earning person. She had unwittingly prepared herself to work at Slate, with its mission to provide low-cost mobility. She could relate: Her education had some stops and starts based on her ability to pay for it., which allowed her to meet the designers, show her work, and most important show how she works and contributes to a team. It led to a job offer upon graduation in 1999, fulfilling tenants her parents had taught her: know how to get a job, and get a good one with health insurance.A large chunk of Johnson’s career was spent with the Swedish automaker. The first stint was from 1999 to 2006, working in her native California. She left and returned in 2010 for another 10 years working in both California and Gothenburg, Sweden. Her touch was wide: from the 3CC electric sports car concept to car seats, and the C70, S40, V50, S80, S60, S90, and V90. Much of her work focused on interior design. She worked with notable designers such as Peter Horbury, Thomas Ingenlath, and Robin Page. Sandwiched between the Volvo gigs, she tried consultancy and worked for Herman Miller and Whirlpool. But she missed turning ideas into cars.When she heard about Slate, it embodied everything she wanted—the culmination of her experience, ideas, and thirst for challenge. “Once I learned of the Slate project, it was all I could focus on,” Johnson said. “I was convinced it was the right thing.” She joined Slate as head of design in December 2022 and could not be happier. Being a woman in what is still largely a man’s world is not an issue of gender for Johnson but rather a benefit for providing different points of view, which makes the final product better.At Slate, Johnson leads a team of about 30 with industrial and UX designers, color and material specialists, clay modelers, digital surfacing team members, and studio engineers. Although she focused on interior design for much of her career, “I love every bit of car design from A to Z,” she said. “From wheels to the key fob to the seat. I love all of it.” She is glad to be part of a passionate team at Slate, which has created a potentially revolutionary vehicle.The Slate Truck is a two-door, single-cab electric pickup with a single rear motor and an initial goal of costing as little as the mid-$20,000s . It is a bare-bones truck that comes only in slate gray, with manually adjusted cloth seats, steel wheels, a smartphone holder but no touchscreens, and crank windows.. You can add wraps for color, a cover for heated seats, and a power module for the windows. You can even buy a kit to add rear seats and bed cap to turn it into an SUV. It is packed with sustainable materials and practices, including the deletion of a paint plant because the body panels are color-injected molded parts. The sustainability aspect was another draw for Johnson.The truck goes into production later this year. Johnson said no changes had to be made over the now-higher price point with the loss of EV tax credits. The team was always focused on a truly affordable vehicle with fewer parts , which makes it more affordable to build and less costly to own. Fewer parts means fewer warranty problems. The idea of being able to transform the truck into an SUV was a north-star idea from the outset. “That is when I knew we had something really smart, remarkable,” Johnson said. “You can buy the truck and when you have the budget, add the kit to make it an SUV and continue to personalize it.”She sees it akin to her other love, motorcycles, which start as a simple idea that is easily modified. “One of the first things I always do is swap out the mirrors, which changes the visual center of gravity immediately,” she said. “That’s such a cool and inexpensive modification you can do yourself. Then I change the brake and clutch levers because they are usually set for hands bigger than mine. So I go in and choose something functionally easier to work with and looks better. Slate uses this same design approach. You can have a budget that says, ‘This is what I can do today, and when have more money, I can do more to transform and personalize it,’ so you love it.”with a modest lift and all-terrain tires—and unusual setup for that vehicle. She also has a 1979 MGB convertible and a 2020 Triumph Street Twin bike. Because of the move, she traded in her surfboard for skis. Her advice to would-be designers is the same advice she gives her 10-year-old son: If you do something you have loved since you were a kid and focus on the hardest part as an adult, in a way that is meaningful to people, you will be forever invigorated and incredibly satisfied.Get the newest car reviews, hottest auto news, and expert analysis of the latest trends delivered straight to your inbox!
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