The Scout Terra sits in a grassy landscape Oct. 24, 2024. Scout Motors is developing the truck alongside the Traveler SUV. Photos courtesy of André Orta
An undergraduate English degree might not seem like the obvious gateway into vehicle design.
For Seaver alumnus André Orta (’13), learning to analyze stories at Pepperdine led him to understand how people interact with the vehicles they drive.
Today, he works in user interface and user experience design at Scout Motors, an automotive brand under Volkswagen Group. His work focuses on how drivers interact with vehicle technology — from digital applications to physical controls.
“Your products are more easily understood when you put them in the context of a story,” Orta said.
From English to Automotive Design
After graduating from Seaver College in 2013, Orta said he spent roughly a year and a half figuring out his next steps before finding work as a social media strategist in Los Angeles. He spent four years in the marketing industry, moving between companies and experiencing several layoffs.
Although marketing allowed him to work creatively, he eventually knew he wanted to help create products rather than focus on selling them.
“I would rather struggle doing something I cared about than something I didn’t,” Orta said.
Orta had long been interested in fashion, architecture and cars, but said he did not initially see how those interests could translate into a career. An art history course taught by Pepperdine Art History coordinator Cynthia Colburn helped him reconsider that assumption.
The course taught him to analyze visual art through elements such as line, form and scale. He said the process reminded him of studying literature and examining how individual choices contribute to a work’s meaning.
“I thought, ‘Oh, well, if you could look at sculpture this way, can we look at cars this way? Could you look at product design this way?’” Orta said.
After another layoff, Orta said he decided to pursue graduate school. He attended the School of Visual Arts in New York City to study product design, choosing an unfamiliar environment to challenge himself.
There, he said he discovered similarities between design education and Pepperdine’s writing and rhetoric curriculum. Students presented projects, received critiques and revised their work — an approach Orta already understood from his English classes.
“Any English major will call it a draft. Designers call it a prototype,” Orta said.
Designing for People
At Scout Motors, Orta applies his background in writing and rhetoric to the in-vehicle technology being developed for the company’s Traveler SUV and Terra truck.
His work involves choosing how people interact with digital applications and physical controls. Each decision must account for practical constraints, including safety requirements and accessibility, Orta said.
André Orta (right) stands beside a digital display in a Scout Motors meeting room. Orta said the still appeared in Scout Motors’ July 2025 short film “Forging the Future: User Experience.”
Orta described the process as “build the plane as you land it,” explaining that teams must adapt as projects develop and new information emerges.
Understanding customers is central to that work. Orta said his team creates fictional customer profiles to imagine how people might use a vehicle in their everyday life.
Scout Motors showcases its Traveler SUV in an Oct. 24, 2024 promotional image. Orta’s team designs how drivers interact with the technology inside vehicles like the Traveler.
The team also recruits users to test products and provide feedback. For Orta, storytelling helps designers consider how a product fits into someone’s life rather than treating its features as isolated components.
“Your ultimate task is trying to learn how to be understood better,” Orta said.
Advice for Pepperdine English Students
Orta encourages English majors to consider careers beyond journalism and teaching. He also cautions against assuming that every personal passion must become a profession. He said a job can provide financial stability while leaving room for meaningful pursuits outside of work.
“The answer is you try a lot of little things with whatever privilege and resources that you have over and over and over again,” Orta said.
He also recommends speaking with professionals in fields that interest students. Those conversations can help students understand potential career paths and discover where their skills might be useful.
“A more useful question to ask is, ‘How can I be of value?'” Orta said.
This story was copy edited by Haylie Ross.
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Contact Alyssa Avelar via email: alyssa.avelar@pepperdine.edu