Garrett Grainger: SCADpro as My Launchpad

Born and raised in Atlanta, John Grainger has always been fascinated by the intersection of creativity and technology. Growing up, he spent countless hours building computers and playing video games with his dad. Later, his interest in computers and video games would lead him to enroll as a user experience major at Savannah College of Art and Design . But he also had another passion: cars.

In high school, he turned his passion for cars into a business.

“My friend and I started a mobile detailing business called The Captain Detailing. We designed the logos, created ads, and it was pretty successful locally,” he says. This entrepreneurial spirit continued into his junior year of high school, when he got his first sports car, a Subaru WRX.

“That car taught me everything about modifying and working on cars,” he says.

In Savannah, he started racing his car in the local autocross club and picked up a few first-place trophies.

In his first year of college, Grainger switched majors a few times – from interactive design and game development to industrial design to graphic design to (finally) user experience design.

“I found UX through a friend who was in the car club at SCAD. He spoke to me about one of his projects, and the layout of the course sounded cool and involved so I decided to try it out and I loved it,” he says.

Grainger said his time at SCAD presented him with numerous opportunities to explore his interests and find his path. A key influence in his creative development was Professor Ascanio Colonna , a former User Experience Designer for Fiat Chrysler.

“His classes were tough, but being able to learn from a designer with as much experience as him in the automotive field had a huge impact on me and motivated me to pursue a career with cars,” Grainger says.

Grainger’s passion for cars eventually led him to sign up for a SCADpro collaboration with BMW, after his SCADpro journey began with a project for Deloitte in his senior year.

“I was the only UX designer on the project, so it was interesting working with a bunch of other disciplines,” he says. One of his biggest learnings was that different disciplines approach problems in very different ways, which pushed him to adapt and grow. This experience laid the groundwork for his SCADpro project with BMW Group .

“The BMW project was a big deal for me because it aligned with my dreams of working in automotive with my skillset,” he says.

As both art director and user experience lead, Grainger took on significant responsibility and was in charge of aligning all visuals with BMW’s guidelines and overseeing the final mobile app prototype.

One lesson from SCADpro professor SuAnne Fu has stuck with Grainger, "Always present three variations of a deliverable. The first edition is the safe option, exactly what the client asked for. The second option is a slightly improved version, and the third is something out of the box."

After the final presentation, he was invited to a portfolio review at BMW Group, where he got to know his now-manager and co-worker.

“They talked about their team, their projects, and what they’re about. Then I told them about my contribution to the BMW SCADpro project showed them some of my work and went in depth about the process.”

A few months of persistent messaging later, Grainger now works for BMW Group as an interaction designer on the innovation and emerging technologies team in Greenville, S.C.

“I followed up consistently, every few weeks, always on a Wednesday,” he says.

His dad taught him that Wednesdays are the perfect day to reach out because people aren’t too swamped like on Mondays or ready to check out like on Fridays. After months of interviews and follow-ups, Grainger’s dream of working for a car company came true.

Looking back at his time at SCAD, Grainger is reminiscent of his participation in the numerous design competitions like SCAD StartUp and SCAD FLUX 's FLUXathon.

“I am a very competitive person by nature and loved participating in these,” he says. “The pressure of coming up with a project in these short periods with a group of your close friends was so much fun to me.”

Just recently, he was given the opportunity to serve as a mentor for two teams that competed in the SCAD Startup competition this year. His advice to current SCAD students is:

Participate in as many things as you can – whether it’s competitions, SCADpros, portfolio reviews, workshops, networking events, or being a project lead. The more you try, the more you’ll learn, and the more confident you’ll become.

Written by Julia Gralki , B.F.A. Writing (2023) and M.A. Service Design (2024)