Author: Mark

Lewis highly commended at plastics design competition

3rd year student Lewis Brown has achieved a highly commended award in the annual Design Innovation in Plastics (DIP) competition.

Left to right: Steve Blanks (HellermannTyton), Gordon Haines (Master of Horners), Lewis Brown, Mark Freary (Teesside University), Bernie Rickinson (Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining)

Lewis Brown, who studied BSc (Hons) Product Design, gained the award for his product ‘Dynamic Grip’ – a new ergonomic garden multi-tool designed to make gardening comfortable and accessible for everyone.

The product caters for people who suffer with wrist arthritis and other musculoskeletal conditions with an ergonomic handle and array of tools that eases the stress and strain from many common garden tasks.

DIP is organised by the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining and the Worshipful Company of Horners, and is one of the longest running student plastics design competitions in Europe. The brief this year for students was ‘Branching Out – Design for Garden Innovation.’

Students were asked to design an innovative product to be used in the garden, made primarily from plastics, that would better connect people with nature, enhance the pleasure of gardening or leisure activities within the garden, or help soothe mind and body after a long and stressful day.

Lewis attended a ceremony in London earlier this month where he was presented with the highly commended award. As part of the competition, Lewis has now been offered a placement with HellermannTyton, a leading supplier of products for fastening, fixing, identifying and protecting cables and their connecting components.

Lewis said: ‘To have got this far in the competition brings a great sense of pride and honour. Competitions like DIP are a great way of showing future employers that you have the right skills, and it helps to steer people down the best career path.

‘It has certainly made me think of my design from a new angle. It is easy to get carried away making a product look nice when realistically it could be impossible to manufacture. DIP makes you take a step back and consider a whole new range of factors.’

Mark Freary, Principal Lecturer in the School of Science, Engineering and Design, said: ‘This is a great achievement and recognises the three years of hard work by Lewis in developing his product design skills and technical knowledge.

‘This competition includes entries from postgraduate as well as undergraduate students, so Lewis has done exceptionally well in reaching the final six of such a prestigious competition. He has a great future ahead of him.’

Tees Made in London 2018

Last week, in the sweltering heat of London, students from product design exhibited their final project work at the New Designers Exhibition in Islington.

New Designers takes place every year at the Business Design Centre which was once the Royal Horticultural Hall. Over 3.500 graduates exhibited from institutes all across the UK.

New Designers allows students to showcase their work alongside fellow graduates from across the UK with the aim of getting themselves noticed and that first foot on the ladder, which will help shape their future.

Funding for the exhibition was raised by the students, through organized events and ‘live’ projects, and through sponsorship. Alongside the exhibition students produced postcards, mini portfolios , business cards and t-shirts to help promote themselves and their work.

This year was arguably our most successful to date with plenty of interest for all the students and potential employment opportunities. Good luck class of 2018.

 

Starpack Success – 4 years in a row

The prestigious Student Starpack Industry Awards scheme was established in 1964 and this year is the fourth year in a row where students from Teesside University have been amongst the winners.

Starpack recognises a growing demand for packaging designers – people who can design packs that are not only attractive but also functional, and that can be produced cost-effectively while considering environmental issues.

The students entered briefs in three categories: The Future Milk Bottle, Motor Oil Dispensing Pack and Luxury Gift Packaging – family range of cans for teas or coffees.

The University picked up two awards in 2015, 11 awards in 2016, four in 2017 and this year we have walked away with seven. Three golds including two sponsors awards, 2 silver and 2 highly recommended.

Winning students were:
Chris Armstrong – Silver
Declan Carter – Silver
Ralph Deloso – Gold and Sponsor Award
David Donaghue – Gold
Abul Habeeb – Highly Commended
Beth Sanderson – Gold and Sponsor Award
Chantelle Wilson – Highly Commended

Cooking up a storm…

2nd year students went to Andrew James last month to present their concept ideas for a range of kitchen utensils.

Andrew James is an award winning company specialising in kitchen equipment and gadgets. Established in 2005 they have become a major force in internet retailing.

The students are now preparing their final work for a presentation, here on campus, in the coming weeks.

Final six – Design Innovation Plastic

Final year student Lewis Brown has been shortlisted in the Design Innovation Plastics
Awards. Out of 142 entries from universities nationwide Lewis has made it to the final
six – which is a great achievement already.

The next stage is for Lewis to present his design to the panel of judges in London on
25th May.

Lewis is then invited to attend  the award ceremony on Friday 6th July at the Painters’ Hall, Trinity lane , London, when the winners will be announced.

 

Stop Press: Competition Shorlists

Just thought I would share some good news:

The following final year product design students have been shortlisted in  The  Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining Student Starpack Awards 2018.

Beth Sanderson
Arron Coffey
Abul Habeeb
Chantelle Wilson
Ralph Deloso
Chris Armstrong
Declan Carter

Briefs entered include:
The future Milk Bottle
Motor Oil Dispensing Pack
Luxury Gift Packaging – Family range of cans for teas or coffees

Fingers crossed for the next round.

Barcelona and a bit of F1 testing

Earlier this month Product Design students went on a study visit to Barcelona. Despite the weather we had a great time. One of the main visits of the trip was the F1 testing at the Circuit de Catalunya. What an amazing experience and the sounds were just awesome. Other visits included a guided tour of the Seat factory, the Museu del Disseny de Barcelona (Design Museum) and the unfinished Sagrada Familia designed by Antoni Gaudi.

Day trip to Berghaus…

Product Design students visited the Berghaus Design Centre to present their interim concepts for trail running, walking shoes.   After a tour of the facility, the students presented their work to apparel designer, Margot Gandelin and Footwear designer, Joe O’connell (pictured right)   The tour gave students a fantastic insight into Berghaus trend forecasting, design process and garment testing procedures.   We look forward to presenting the final designs to the company in early May.

 

‘Design Plumbing’: an insight into the life of Product Design alumni Matt Hulbert

Matt Hulbert; BA Hons (First Class), MSc

Having graduated from Teesside University’s prestigious Product Design course in 2010, I found myself working within the exciting world of commercial design just three months after graduation. I joined a team of like minded designers at E3Design in Newcastle, where we worked on many household products that millions of people still use daily. At E3 we considered ourselves to be ‘Design Plumbers’ – called in at any point within the design cycle to assist in which ever way we were required to do so. Every day we were met with new challenges, whether it was to re-engineer a specific type of valve for costing down purposes or the conceptualisation and production of specialist laboratory equipment, no task was too big or too small. I am a big believer that Product Design is a creative extension of problem solving, and to be successful within the industry it’s more important that you develop a plethora of skills. My time at Teesside helped me to do just that, we were encouraged not only to develop our drawing, CAD and model making skills but importantly to ask questions and constantly address problems and apply creative thinking to overcome them.

It’s this core skill set that helped me to find my place in the industry and then go on to successfully design and launch my own invention, a digital golf training aid called TALON.  In 2014 I left E3 (whom I continue to work closely with) and started Ojee Golf Ltd with my father, Paul. The last three years I’ve been fortunate enough to embark on an incredible journey, we successfully crowdfunded the TALON on Indiegogo selling 178 TALON units to 20 different countries. We’ve raised more than £150K in funding and were invited to Orlando and Shanghai to help promote UK business.

One of my greatest achievements to date has been realigning with Teesside University on the very course that I graduated from just seven short years ago, only this time as a part-time lecturer. I owe a great deal of gratitude to the University, the course and the lecturers so it feels good to play a part in the future of the course. If I can help to instil the same design values in today’s students that I learnt during my years on the course than it will give them everything they need to help pave their way into a successful design career.

All aboard at Cannes

Product Design graduate Mārtiņš Ēlerts, who now works for Dixon Yacht Design in Southampton, has just got back from the Cannes Yachting Festival where the new Sealine C430 motor boat was unveiled.

“This is not the first boat that I have worked on to hit the water, but it is the first project where I had the privilege to see the entire development process. From the beginning, the very first sketch, initial CAD model, all the way to a finished boat moored up at the Cannes Yachting Festival. My main role in this project was to build the exterior CAD model, which was then further developed by our team of engineers and naval architects.”

 

It’s a fairly rapid design process, as most of the fine design features are created on the go. Some quick dirty 20 second sketch might happen every now and then, but usually all the different ideas are quickly modelled in 3D and agreed on, or dismissed, without ever touching a piece of paper or pencil. The main advantage is the ability to see and evaluate every idea from all angles in the correct proportions in the actual environment. Might not sound like the traditional design process, but it’s the reality of working in a small team, with short deadlines.”

 

“Now just have to wait for the chance to go on sea trials with the team.”

And here is a video of it on water
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1usynPl_zc