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Not often does a new car universally enamor the driving public, but the the 2027 Rivian R3 has done just that. More than a hatchback but perhaps not quite an SUV, and deeply infused with retro-futuristic rally-car cues, the R3 just looks sweet and seems destined for success when it hits the streets in a few years.
Creating a new, knockout design is an immense challenge for a startup like Rivian—it must be familiar while still evolving from starting-point aesthetics. Yet that’s exactly what Julliana Cho achieved. As a senior design manager at Rivian, she led exterior design for the R3.
We met with Cho to learn what prepared her for this vehicle and how she’s making an impact at Rivian design.
A Background With Big Names
Cho spent her childhood in Oregon before moving to Korea. Her father is a mathematician, and her mother studied fine art, so influences from those contrasting fields inspired her to find a career that could combine the two. “I knew I wanted to do something creative, but also involve engineering,” said Cho.
Car enthusiasm isn’t something Cho grew up with, but it’s part of her life now—she drives a Porsche 911 Carrera S and R1S Dune Edition, after all.
“I was interested in, maybe, too many creative fields, like fashion design, graphic design, space design, and architecture. I took all those different courses as part of my bachelor’s degree in industrial design,” she said. “But when I learned about car design, I was amazed because it combines processes of fine art with scientific approaches. I just felt like, oh, this is it.”
It led her to the Royal College of Art in London, where Cho earned a master’s degree in transportation design. Part of her attraction to the work was her outlier status: “When I was a student, I couldn’t find many female designers. I saw a lot of cool male designers, but I was surprised there weren’t more women. This is a field that’s so attractive and a process that’s so fun, so I wondered why there aren’t many women. That made think this is an area I want to challenge.”
After school, Cho moved to Germany for an internship at Porsche. Next, she got a full-time role at BMW, where she focused on the automaker’s EVs. After that, Cho spent time at Mercedes-Benz, where she was the exterior design lead for the A-Class and GLS-Class. Family matters then took her back to Korea, where Cho served as studio manager for advanced design at Kia and oversaw projects including the Futuron concept and future mobility studies.
Citing Dieter Rams as an inspiration, Cho said, “My design approach centers around extreme simplicity in overall forms, stripping away anything nonessential to arrive at the fundamental essence. I believe this focus on what’s necessary is key to creating timeless designs. I also enjoy exploring the interplay of contrasting or opposite elements, such as pairing simple, natural volumes with sheer surfaces and refined technical details.”
Designing the Rivian R3
Cho joined Rivian in early 2021, not long before production of the R1T commenced. Reporting to design chief Jeff Hammoud, Cho found an environment different from the studios she’d worked in previously.
“Every design department—interior, exterior, color, and trim—was mixed, sitting together in an open space. I realized how we sit influences how we work. At other automakers, design is more based on individual competition. There’s still competition at Rivian, but our work is based on great teamwork and supporting each other. Sitting together, we can collaborate and share opinions to make fast decisions,” she said.
“At this early stage for Rivian, individual employees can have more impact on the growth of the company, which I think is a great honor.”
As exterior design lead for the R3, Cho was responsible for making the EV that has everyone excited look the way it does.
“The R3’s silhouette and main graphics came from my original themes, but my role was also to orchestrate the overall exterior,” Cho said. “We worked as a team on different details, like the wheels or rear graphics or R3X spoiler. The R3 design represents my personal design principles, and it’s a project I’m very proud to have contributed to.”
The main difficulty in ideating the R3 was how new this form factor is for Rivian. “It’s not like designing the next S-Class, for example, where there’s a precedent. It was about creating a new segment for a new brand that already has a very strong identity but also needs time to become more established. So keeping the Rivian identity and giving it a modern interpretation into a new vehicle was extremely challenging.”
Diversity as an Inspiration
Cho cites her experience living in many different countries and curiosity of the interplay between art and engineering as integral to her process. “My background naturally influences the work that I do, with the different cultures and lifestyles I’ve experienced—that makes me open my eyes and not look at design as a single, fixed object,” she said. “Sometimes I’m a little confused with my identity, but I’m still very thankful for my background because that’s the biggest strength I have.”
Remaining open-minded and willing to experiment is vital for establishing a signature in design, according to Cho: “It’s very important to understand the target, whether that’s the customer, the country, or the lifestyle. I strongly recommend young designers and students to build up their own philosophy and identity. This work requires a lot of different skill sets, so they should work to create something unique that makes them stand out in the auto design space.”
Ready for Popularity
Cho acknowledges the R3 that’s been shown to the world is something of a concept, but what will go live will look very similar.
“Something special about Rivian is that we try to be as honest as possible, that a design we create isn’t super exaggerated and can be put into production,” she said. The team is looking at the vehicle’s every detail to make sure they’re feasible and ideal for customers, so we look forward to when the R3 arrives around 2027.
When you see them crawling all over the roads and trails, make sure to thank Julliana Cho.
