Sorrell Foundation challenge day
University College Falmouth press release 05.12.2006
University College Falmouth played host to a Challenge Day in November as part of The Sorrell Foundation's pioneering Young Design Programme. The Sorrell Foundation was set up by Frances and John Sorrell with the aim of inspiring creativity in young people and improving the quality of life through good design.
The Challenge Day involved second-year students from the College's BA(Hons) degrees in Spatial Design, Graphic Design, Photography and Broadcasting collaborating with primary and secondary school pupils from across Cornwall to enhance their learning environments through design and help develop their life skills.
The Young Design Programme has been developed from the Sorrell Foundation's joinedupdesignforschools initiative, which has identified common issues that pupils have about their schools: issues of colour, communication, dinner halls/canteens, learning spaces, reception areas, reputation and identity, security, sixth-form spaces, social spaces, storage, toilets, pathways, uniform and whole school plans.
Through the Young Design Programme, client teams of pupils are challenged to identify a practical improvement that could be made to their schools. They then create a brief and present it to their appointed University College Falmouth student design team. BA(Hons) Broadcasting and Photography students are assigned to each design team to document their projects as they progress.
The client team then has a series of meetings with the student design team over a three-month 'conversation' period, and they visit inspirational buildings and spaces. The pupils then consider the design team's ideas, accept a final concept and then present it to the staff, pupils, governors and parents of their school.
The work produced by students on the Programme is then assessed as part of their course work and represents a live project for their portfolios.
The Challenge Day began with an inspiring presentation from John Sorrell entitled 'What is Design?'. Pupils from Launceston College and Falmouth School VI Forms, Penryn College and Bosvigo Primary School were then joined by University College Falmouth students to discuss the design issues that needed resolving at each school.
"One secondary school pupil said: 'I tackled team working situations that I never knew would arise, which has opened my eyes to real life,' while a primary school pupil thought that 'working with the designers was really good' and her idea of design is now totally different," reported the College's Widening Participation Officer, Hannah Partington.
Throughout the spring term, pupil and design teams will meet regularly to discuss the designers' ideas. Once the participating University College Falmouth students have presented their final designs back to their pupil clients, teachers and governors, the Programme will end with a grand celebration event in June 2007.
"This is a really exciting and prestigious project for Falmouth to be involved in," explained University College Falmouth's Director of Design, John Miller. "From my perspective, giving pupils the opportunity to spend time at our campuses and work alongside our students on a live brief will hopefully inspire many of them to consider Higher Education as a real and useful future choice," he added. "Our students will also learn a great deal from working with pupils and will get a fabulous live brief to put in their CVs."
For further information about Design at Falmouth, visit www.falmouth.ac.uk/design.
For further information about The Sorrell Foundation Young Design Programme, visit www.thesorrellfoundation.com