Royal Society of Arts Student Design Awards 2017 – building on our success
3D Design students at the University of Northampton have exceptional success in the internationally prestigious RSA Student Design Awards. http://sda.thersa.org
Building on the winning successes of the last two years design student Antonia Lowe has won, in answer to the Beyond Borders brief, the Marketing Trust Award of £2,000 with her Culture Connects board game. http://sda.thersa.org/en/blog/designing-our-futures-announcing-the-2017-rsa-student-design-award-winners
The RSA Student Design Awards challenge emerging designers around the world to tackle pressing social, environmental and economic issues through design thinking. Founded in 1924, it is the longest-running student competition in the world. The RSA competition is offered to all third year students in both Product Design and Interior Design for their Minor Project module. The competition briefs address complex and esoteric situations requiring a careful balance between ‘blue sky’ ideation, user empathy and practical design solutions.
The judging panel was extremely impressed by the standard of Antonia’s design work and by her professional attitude. They commented in particular on her fantastic research process, user testing and the outstanding attention to detail demonstrated in the interview. They also commended on her impressive prototypes and excellent presentation and really admired the initiative and commercial awareness showed through her consideration of the competitive environment and potential for licensing. Overall, they said it was a ‘brilliant solution’ and they loved the fact that ‘Culture Tower’ is both educational and fun!
Ben Ibrahim and Jianing Zhang (Sophia) were shortlisted for their entries. Both are students graduating from BSc Product Design. Ben was shortlisted for his submission of a customisable wheelchair design
for the #HackOnWheels project sponsored by the Global Disability Innovation Hub. Sophia was shortlisted for her business plan proposal to reuse redundant office filling cabinets as domestic furniture in response to the Rework brief sponsored by RBS.
We are very proud of our student’s achievements in this competitive and highly recognized competition and will continue to nurture and develop both empathetic and creative graduates who will be future leaders in the industry.
