Designers for the future

18 Year 11 and 12 students from Kings Academy joined us last Wednesday as part of a mentoring programme with our 3rd year students. This was the 1st of three visits over the course of the year. The product design students are acting as clients giving support, advice and direction on a range of projects undertaken by the students from Kings. Project briefs include kettles, interior car parts and lighting.

Mentor_01 Mentor_02 Mentor_03.

As part of the visit they were also given a flavour of what it is like to be a student at Teesside University during a tour of the University campus by our 2nd year student Ambassadors.

 

The ‘Wright’ stuff

2nd Year Product Design Student Owen Wright was selected by judges from the Design Museum to take part in the exclusive Design Factory Symposium 2014.

The challenging brief was to:

Design something that communicates, provoked reflection on, or tells a story about a cultural identity and how can visual design culture be both global and modern whilst also having a strong cultural identity and ‘dialogic’, or conversational, two-way, relationship to society?

 In answer to the brief, after months of research and development, Owen created the concept of Night Owls – a sustainable and energy efficient form of street lighting.

Owen’s concept was selected as one of the forty winners from the 1000’s of entries received.

Light-05 Light-04 light-01

The following is Owen’s own account of the Design Factory Symposium which took place on 19th May this year at the Design Museum, London.

I got to the design museum for 10 o’clock and we were taken to a workshop room on the first floor of the design museum that overlooked the river Thames. After brief refreshments we were introduced to the day by the Deputy Head of Learning, Catherine Ritman-Smith. After this introduction we were given a talk by Designer of the Year 2014 architectural nominee, Alison Brook. Alison explained the way in which she designed and how she and her team came to create innovative designs through research and development. After this talk we were split into groups of about 5 students to develop and create a concept for a welcoming entry to a home using a mixture of design disciplines. The groups included students studying graphics, product and fashion which allowed us to understand how to work in a multi-disciplinary group.

After this exercise we had lunch and an opportunity to walk around the Design of the year exhibit with an employee of the Design Museum so we could ask questions. The final exercise of the afternoon had us helping MA fashion design students, to evaluate and critique their work. In the exercise we had the opportunity to express our thoughts about their work and what we thought could be different or what we thought was good. At the end of the day we had the opportunity to express our thoughts about the day and how it influenced our thoughts on the design process.

Overall the whole experience of the competition brief, from designing my concept, to being chosen as a winner, visiting London and spending a day at the Design Museum, was one I will never forget.”

03 02

 

Creative Teesside

8449 VIP Creative Teesside A5 INVITE-1

8449 VIP Creative Teesside A5 INVITE-2

The School of Arts & Media is hosting the annual “Creative Teesside” event from Tuesday 27 – Friday 30 May 2014 to celebrate the hard work, dedication and achievements of the final year students.

This year the event is being opened by Honorary Graduate and former Product Design student Marek Reichman, Design Director for Aston Martin, on Tuesday 27 May 2014 in the Athena Building and we would be delighted if you would join us for the opening, starting at 5.30pm.

To confirm your attendance or for any questions please do not hesitate to contact Francesca Angus, School of Arts & Media, on 01642 738649, F.Angus@tees.ac.uk

The School of Arts & Media is incredibly excited about the opening event and we look forward to welcoming you to Creative Teesside.

For further information please visit http://www.tees.ac.uk/creativeteesside/

Ich bin ein Berliner…

Last week 1st and 2nd year Product Design students could be found in the German capital, Berlin. The main part of the study visit was a day trip to the truly wonderful VW Autostadt in Wolfsburg, probably the world’s first automobile theme park, with its beautifully designed pavilions and of course the cars.

P1100412

Other visits included the Reichstag, with the large glass dome designed by British Architect Norman Foster, the Bauhaus Archive Museum of Design, with its extensive collection art pieces relating to one of the most influential art and design schools of the 20th century and the magnificent 368m tall Fernsehturm Tower with its incredible views of the whole city.

DSCF0437 DSCF0486 P1100323 Overall it was an excellent few days with lots to see and do. Watch out for more posts from the trip.P1100460

Careers in Packaging Design

You may remember reading an earlier post about Abigail Holden.   Abi secured a Silver Award in this year’s Student Starpack Awards.   Well…, to update you on her progress…, Abi went on to develop a retail trolley packing system for her major project.   She exhibited this at the New Designers Exhibition in London during July and caught the eye of Tescos.   Subsequently she was invited to Tescos head office to present her concept.

These projects undoubtedly helped Abi secure her first job in the design profession.   Abi has joined international packaging company Chesapeake as a packaging designer, initially being based in Bradford.

Abi is joining another Teesside Alumni, Richard Turnock, a structural packaging designer who will be helping her to settle into her new role.   We, in Product Design have worked with Chesapeake for many years including through live student projects and Carol Hammond, Head of New Product Design (Pharmaceuticals) gave an inspirational talk at the university last year.   The packaging industry offers some great opportunities for design graduates.   It is sometimes an overlooked area when graduates are seeking employment but Design at Teesside has a long history of success in this area

We are so pleased that Chesapeake selected a “Teessider” for this new post and send Abi our very best wishes.    Don’t forget to keep in touch Abi! 

P1090176 

 

Surely, this must be the best job in design!

 == STOP PRESS! ==

A date for your diaries!   We are delighted to be kicking off the new academic year in style with a very special lecture on 3rd October 2013.

Marek Reichman, Director of Design at Aston Martin and one of our prestigious Alumni will be talking about his career and designing for the “coolest car brand in the world”   Marek is a great friend to the course and it is always a pleasure to welcome him back to Teesside.

image11[3]

This talk will be open to all current Teesside Product Design students and external invited guests.   We will have more details shortly but, in the meantime, keep this date clear!

If you are not currently a student at Teesside but would like to attend, please send a request to Peter Reid – p.reid@tees.ac.uk (non Teesside University attendees are limited and subject to availability)

image6[1]

New Designers Showreel 2013

The above showreel showcases the student work that was on display at this year’s New Designers Exhibition in London.  The exhibiton was a great opportunity for our students to get their work in front of 100’s of professionals from the design and manufacturing industries. A record breaking 18,265 visitors came along to see the exhibition  – the highest footfall in it’s 28 year history.

A Launch Pad to the World of Work!

Img148038

Creative Arts Week is the culmination of 3 years of study for our students in the School of Arts and Media.   This year we were honoured to have Alan Davey, Chief Executive of the Arts Council launching the event and we were pleased to see so many friends at the opening night, joining the proud families of our graduating students in celebrating their hard work and achievements.

Product Design students, as ever, put on a great show with projects ranging from hydroponics to furniture and from vehicles to supermarket trolleys.   I think that the individualism of Teesside graduates makes Design at Teesside stand out from the crowd.   On the night we were joined by many of our business partners and I was pleased to receive so many compliments on the high quality of the work and the refreshing variety of projects on offer.    It is always good to hear such comments from employers particularly when compared favourably against courses with a “predictable” house style.

If you did not catch the show then all is not lost.   We will be exhibiting in London between 3rd – 6th July at the New Designers Exhibition, The Business Design Centre, Islington, London.   New Designers is a fantastic national platform for us and our students.   It’s a venue where leading companies “shop” for their new design talent and they will certainly find that on the Teesside stand.   If you are in London, come and say hello.    You’ll be in good company!

P1090177

P1090179

P1090224

Img148056

P1090174