Mrs T Papp, Design Technology Department

The Exhibition Through Student Eyes

As part of our Year 10 DT trip, we went to the Business Design Centre in Islington to see the Designers’ Exhibition, where we got the opportunity to see many new and innovative products, and even talk to some of the designers. We are currently in the process of developing our NEA (Non-Examination Assessment), so this was also an opportunity to take inspiration from these designs and help us with creating our own.

One of the first pieces that we saw was a portable, flat-pack grill for camping, where we got to speak with the designer and discuss his design process; he told us about his research into existing, portable grills and his dislikes with them, his initial design ideas, and even the history of grills and BBQs. His process was very similar to what we are currently doing in our NEA, and our conversation helped give us some ideas and inspiration about what our own products could be, especially as, for some of us, our chosen theme for the NEA is ‘eating away from home’. We particularly liked how the bag was designed to keep the parts of the grill separate and clean, with a smooth, silicone-like material inside to prevent stains.

Another great design we saw was a camping bag. It was a good example of containers for our brief ‘Eating away from home’, and was very versatile. It could be collapsed into a small rucksack for things where you only need a packed lunch or something, or could be expanded to become a bag for larger things such as a sleeping bag or a tent. It was good to see that as a part of eating away from home counts as camping, and so allowed for some extra thought to that area.  

INCLUSIVE DESIGN

We also came across a design called Footer by Rebecca Brown, which is a sensory kit aimed at neurodivergent individuals to help reduce stress and anxiety. The designer sought to support people with stress, depression, autism, and ADHD by encouraging safe stimming behaviours. The sensory kit is customisable, can spin, and includes various sensory textures. It's also portable, allowing those with anxiety or stress to have something to fiddle with on the go, and really inspired us as another theme some people chose for our NEA was “Educational toys and games”, and helped us consider fidget toys as a possible design.

There were so many other amazing designs that we saw that couldn’t fit into this article, but overall, we all really enjoyed this experience, as we got the opportunity to see so many creative and unique designs to take inspiration from, and talked to a lot of aspiring designers who gave us some amazing advice for when we will also be designing our own products. It was really inspiring to see these designers talk about their creations with true passion for their work, and we would really like to visit another one of these exhibitions in our own time in the future.

Lucy, Alex, Elin & Jessica 

We appreciate your time and effort.  You can view Israel’s video by clicking on the link below

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifmYvqaibmo

Thank you!

Mrs Soyinka, DT Department

During the first lockdown, the students completed the Design Ventura mini challenge, a live brief set by the Design Museum.  For this challenge, student’s had to pick one of three user groups and design a product for them that could potentially be sold in the Design Museum shop.  They also completed a problem-solving task for which students were sent components through the post, in order to create a simple circuit for an LED light.  Their task was to design the enclosure with the needs of a specific client in mind.

Communication of design is one of the key components of study for Design & Technology GCSE.  It is also a fundamental building block for designers to bring their ideas to life.  As such, we began the course looking at each one of the main techniques that designers use so that throughout the course, the students would have the tools to communicate their own ideas.  Some techniques the students developed were:

• Freehand sketching
• Isometric and perspective drawing for 3D design
• Orthographic drawing for planning
• Enhancing designs using shading, texture and weight of line

For the ergonomics project, student’s had to identify a suitable client and conduct primary and secondary research to learn more about the client’s needs and what products are currently available commercially.  We decided to focus on the redesign of the popular STAM IKEA pizza cutter.  They analysed the existing product to discover it’s pro’s and con’s, and then they had to apply their mathematical skills through the application of anthropometric data collected from a range of stakeholders, which allowed them to design and model a more user-friendly, ergonomic handle for the cutter.  It also meant they could personalise the previously standardised design to their client’s tastes.

Once we returned to school after Easter, I wanted to give the students the much-needed access to tools and machinery in the workshop, to allow them to develop their practical skills as well as knowledge and understanding of those processes.  We started by spending time cutting and finishing timbers, one of the students key material groups within the GCSE specification.  They enjoyed this immensely as they were allowed to use a number of different tools and machines to create a set of different traditional wood joints.  This type of work requires precision and accuracy to create successful joints. The application of knowledge and skills will underpin and support both their practical work and exam revision in Year 11.

I am so proud of this group.  Their work ethic, their enthusiasm and resilience throughout their first GCSE year has been inspirational.  I am very excited to see what they will design and make in their final GCSE year at BGS!

Miss Milbank, DT Department