DESIGN

Design Museum and Deutsche Bank announce the year 10 team from Cambourne Village College, Cambridge, as the winners of the 2021-2022 Design Ventura prize. This year, more than 18,000 students from 397 schools participated in the competition, out of which ‘Eco Seed’, designed by the students from Cambridge has been selected as the winning design. The design will be manufactured and sold at the Design Museum Shop for £11.99 with all profits going to Motor Neurone Association (MND), a charity of the student’s choice.

This year, students were invited to answer a live brief which was set by award-winning artist and Pentagram Partner Yuri Suzuki. Students work as a design team to develop a product concept for a target audience, considering the packaging, cost and ways to market their idea. A record 397 schools took part in this year’s Design Ventura competition. Significantly this is 9.5% of the 4,190 registered secondary schools in the UK. The overall winner was selected from a shortlist of ten schools who pitched their ideas to a panel of leading design and business experts including Yuri Suzuki, Sound Artist and Designer and Design Ventura 2021-22 brief setter; Rosa Bertoli, Design Editor at Wallpaper*; Sebastian Conran, Designer and Trustee at the Design Museum; Preena Patel, Buying and Merchandising Manager at the Design Museum; and Christoph Woermann, Chief Marketing Officer of Corporate Bank Marketing at Deutsche Bank Lareena Hilton, Global Head of Brand Communications and CSR Deutsche Bank said: ‘Deutsche Bank is proud to continue supporting Design Ventura. With the World Economic Forum listing problem solving, critical thinking and creativity amongst the top ten skills needed for work in 2025, it’s clear how the programme helps students’ readiness for their futures in work. We know from the programme’s in-depth evaluation that almost 100% of teachers see an improvement in the confidence and ambition of their students, and we are delighted that Design Ventura continues to be a springboard for the next generation of design talent.’

The students and teachers at the Design Museum with Sebastian Conran, Designer and Trustee at the Design Museum; Preena Patel, Buying and Merchandising Manager at the Design Museum; and Christoph Woermann, Chief Marketing Officer of Corporate Bank Marketing at Deutsche Bank

The Cambourne Village College team were intrigued by the idea of growing seeds with minimal resources. Using this idea as a foundation they created five prototypes until they finalised on ‘Eco Seed’. Designed as a doughnut shaped grid which floats on water, ‘Eco Seed’ keeps the seeds or plants moist, provoking them to germinate whilst allowing the user to observe the plant's growth. Once the roots have grown, the plants can be easily removed from the product and planted.

Environmentally conscious products featured heavily in this year's shortlist with several plant-based designs submitted. However, Eco Seed won out with judges praising its unique idea of letting you view the process of germination from tip to root with your naked eye and educating people about the life cycle of plants. Fiona MacDonald, Head of Learning at the Design Museum said: ‘‘Eco Seed’ brings a new perspective on the much-loved pot plant. It creates a delightful and curious way to watch a seed germinate and grow. Utilising intelligent engineering as well as elegant design, it celebrates what often happens in the soil – normally always out of sight - as much as what happens above. It is fantastic to see students thinking and designing with such environmental awareness.’

Yuri Suzuki, Sound Artist and Designer and Design Ventura 2021 Brief Setter said: ‘I was so impressed by the projects. During the selection process, we were all full of excitement. I would like to say thank you to all the emerging designers for the incredible moment.’ The Cambourne Village College student team will now be working with a professional design agency to develop and manufacture their product for sale in the Design Museum Shop from Autumn 2022 with all funds going to their selected charity Rainforest Concern. The list of shortlisted schools include:

Winners:

● 1st place - Cambourne Village College’s Eco Seed

● 2nd place - Tiffin School’s Drummable

● 3rd place - Salford City Academy’s Tongue Twister Test

Commendations:

● Commendation for best presentation - Liverpool Blue Coat School’s Designosaur

● Commendation for Ingenuity - Orleans Park School’s The Sturdy Stabiliser

● Commendation for Most Market Ready Product - South Wilts Grammar School’s Gender Jigsaw

● Commendation for Good Design Process - Ferndown Upper School’s Flip-It!

● Outstanding Finalist - Prendergast Ladywell School’s Grow Your Story

● Outstanding Finalist - The Piggott School’s Corky

● Outstanding Finalist - County Upper School’s Sunny London

Teachers are always looking for new ideas to inspire students with creative learning in the classroom. We often turn to technology for the answer, but what if there was a more collaborative and tactile way to accelerate creativity?

November saw the exhibition ‘Permission to Fail: Sketchbooks of Graphic Designers, Illustrators, and Photographers’ at The School of Design Gallery at Mount Ida College, Massachusetts. When we see exhibitions of art it's always a showcase of final, finished pieces, the highlights of an artist's body of work over a number of months or indeed years. This exhibition is interesting in that it is showing all the 'failures', the disasters, the unsuccessful pieces that went into making those final pieces.

 

When it comes to classroom design, any teacher will tell you it’s all about managing the space you’re given and adapting your teaching style to suit the room and your class size. So of course, the opportunity to completely change your classroom opens up a world of possibility, offering the chance to create a layout that’s easier to control, has better circulation and enables new, more collaborative teaching methods.

As shown in articles by the likes of Kriscia Cabral, classroom design and layout play a big part in a pupil’s learning. Melanie Laing of Innova Design Solutions gives her top ten tips on how best to innovate the classroom.

The decision to improve and modernise classrooms offers teachers the opportunity to create a space which truly meets their needs and those of their students. But where do you start? And how can you ensure the changes you make have a real impact on staff and students?

Media teachers have a plethora of technology available for use in their duties, but which tablet to use? Finham Park School’s Head of Creative Arts Mike Gunn shares why he lives and dies by the iPad when it comes to media studies.

As an advocate of BYOD, I've always talked to colleagues about the benefits of different devices and approaches within a "mixed economy" digital learning space (or "classroom where everyone's phone is different”, as it's more commonly known). Largely, what you want to do should dictate the type of device you use, and I'm quite happy to work in a multi-device environment. Until I walk into my Media classroom.

Reports of budget cuts for school building programmes have left most teachers struggling away in the same old classroom environments. Many existing classrooms do not offer the best conditions for teaching in or learning. Our stock of existing classrooms might be tired and requiring attention, but they do not need to be second-rate environments.

Whether you’re about to invest in visualisers for your classroom, or already have one and are looking for new ways to use it, here is the fourth article in our series looking at maximising the effectiveness of visualisers across different subjects.

Here we are looking at music, arts, crafts and design classes. Below you will find practical tips on using visualisers to help pupils explore their creativity:

Music lessons at KS1 and KS2

  • Record and play music in the background so the children can sing over with lyrics shown on the screen.
  • Teach the class how to read music.

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