Although we can’t offer them quite all the perks of the state school category (which is specifically intended to lower barriers of access to hands-on design learning), we appreciate everyone of our independent and international – or “I&I” – Design Ventura participants. Just like the main state schools category, we shortlist and pick a winner every year, and make sure to celebrate our top nominees with a celebration.

This year’s top 3 all happened to be UK-based, so we were able to welcome them to the Design Museum in person on Wednesday for an I&I Prize Day. After breaking the ice with some tea and biscuits, we dove straight into the main activity: a dynamic graphic design workshop focused on creating protest posters.

Led by Joe – one of our long-time facilitators across not just Design Ventura but also the general museum Schools programme and holiday Design Camps – students first considered graphic design in its appearances across book covers, leaflets, packaging, and signage. Using all they had learned and discussed, and drawing additional inspiration from Shepard Fairey’s iconic HOPE poster created for Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign – which holds a special place in the Design Museum’s own collection! – they created their very own protest posters.

Each student chose their own topic, ranging from preventing the polar ice caps melting to improving access to books and reading. Although an unexpected fire alarm added an impromptu adventure to our day, students and teachers alike took it all in good stride and in the end it only added to the day’s sense of camaraderie. We couldn’t have asked for a more easygoing set of young designers.

Following the workshop and peer presentations, we moved into the two moments everyone was waiting for: lunch and the awards ceremony.

The Design Museum’s Head of Learning, Stella Fong, joined us to announce the winners…

• Highly commended: most fun idea!
  Kew House School with Chore Challengers.
• Highly commended: best presentation and branding
  Halcyon London International School with the MicroBloom Greenhouse by Little Leaf Labs.
• Overall winner
  The King’s School with Scrap’n’Save.

But the fun didn’t end there. All teams headed upstairs to our newly opened, free Design Researchers in Residence display, where they were personally welcomed by one of our current residents, Christie Swallow. Christie was also one of our Speed Networkers for the wider Celebration Event, and we and all our visiting students just love their warmth and sheer enthusiasm for learning and design – and parakeets.

Students then visited the rest of our free displays featuring the work of multidisciplinary artist and designer Bethan Laura Wood and this year’s Saltzman Prize winner, rounding out their museum experience with exposure to contemporary design practice, before the day concluded with our current exhibition, Splash! A Century of Swimming and Style – just the thing to get everyone excited for the summer holidays and warming temperatures here in England.

Watching these young designers engaging with different facets of design as they moved through the museum has reinforced why Design Ventura continues to be such a vital programme, and their curiosity and creativity as always reminds us of the reach and impact of design education. We’re grateful to all of our participants, from every corner of the UK and beyond, for their participation this year.

A huge congratulations to all three finalist teams for their outstanding work, and to the teachers who continue to nurture the next generation of design thinkers. Until next time!

The Design Ventura team.

The post International & Independent Category Prize Day: Design Ventura 2024-25 appeared first on Design Ventura.

On Wednesday 23 April 2025, welcomed the top ten shortlisted schools who submitted this year to the Design Museum for a day of celebration. We also unveiled the Design Ventura 2024-25 display on the mezzanine – make sure you come and visit while it’s up.

Our students kicked off the day by exploring our current exhibitions, The World of Tim Burton and Splash! A Century of Swimming and Style, to give them a chance to get to know each other and settle in to the museum. We followed this with our favourite activity every Celebration Day: Design Speed Networking. Students met professionals from all across the design and creative industries and varying career paths – find out more about them below.

Speed networking mentors

Anna Bullus, founder of Gumdrop Ltd, has a knack for sustainable problem-solving with popular appeal. Her bright pink Gumdrop bins are made from Gum-tec®, a groundbreaking circular-system material recycled from the chewing gum the bins collect. Legoland Windsor were one of the first to sign up, followed by others including Mars, Royal Mail, various local councils and us – our 2017 winner was made entirely from Gum-tec®!

Christie Swallow, is an artist, researcher, and designer who crafts new stories from old ideas. Through their practice they engage with topics of ecology, technoscience and heterodoxy through sound, installation, textiles, collaborative drawing, and archival research. Currently they’re a Design Researcher in Residence at the Design Museum, working on a project revolving around the urban parakeet and more-than-human music!

Cordula Kastner is passionate about fostering collaboration and emerging talent across the creative sector. She’s a culture chameleon who’s worked with institutions, artists, festivals, companies and more across events, PR and marketing, curation, and community engagement. Currently she works as the Resident Programme Coordinator at Somerset House, alongside continuing to engage with smaller institutions and creatives across Austria and the UK.

Federico Fasce is a cross-disciplinary researcher, game designer and lecturer, who’s fascinated by why and how humans play and create meaning and feeling in game spaces. His work includes Forest Daydream, set to a soundscape which blends familiar game bloops and bleeps with field recordings from the Amazonas home of the indigenous Wampí people; and Songbird, which uses recordings from the now-extinct ʻōʻō bird.

Hani Salih is a researcher, writer, and curator who connects the dots across disciplines to challenge conventional division, drawing on naturally occurring complexity to model the positive power of collective alliances. Hani’s studies at the London School of Economics combined with his architectural foundation in critical spatial thinking form the foundation for his fascination with the systems and infrastructures that shape our lives across natural, built, and social environments.

Jung Hyun Lee is a London-based design strategist with over 10 years of experience in brand strategy, design innovation, creative direction. She has worked with global brands including LG, Audi, and John Lewis, shaping insight-led, data-driven campaigns that connect design with business impact. Jung also supports Research Cluster 5 of the Architectural Design MArch (B-Pro) at The Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London.

Margherita Dosi Delfini is Assistant Curator at the Design Museum, currently working on the forthcoming show ‘More than Human’ following her first exhibition at the museum, dedicated to Italian postwar designer Enzo Mari. Prior to joining the Design Museum, Margherita had already worked for the Royal College of Art’s 2023 Postgraduate Show, contemporary arts patron and collector Nicoletta Fiorucci, the Barbican Art Gallery, and V.O Curations.

Milagros Pérez is Senior Learning Partnerships Manager at the Design Museum, where she runs the Design Museum Academy and oversees learning partnerships, working closely with designers and facilitators from across the industry to produce practical learning programmes. Mila first trained as an architect before continuing her studies in museums and architectural history. Through her work, she seeks to bring people closer to all forms of design and culture.

Naomi Zaragoza is Assistant Curator of Public Programming at the Design Museum. She has a particular interest in the restorative and radical possibilities of design, public practice and community collaboration, and she’s also a trained horticulturalist! Over the last year she’s combined all of these in one by becoming a driving force behind our design and horticulture project ‘Growing Together’.

Winners, commendations, and runners-up

The Design Museum’s Director of Audiences, Josephine Chanter, welcomed all the schools and guests to the museum, followed by CEO and Director Tim Marlow and Christoph Woermann, Chief Marketing Officer of Corporate Bank Marketing at Deutsche Bank. And then, finally, it was the moment everyone was waiting for – the awards announcement!

Outstanding finalists:

St Clement Danes School with Flip It

Outwood Academy Haydock with Sprout Cards

Hinchingbrooke School with Recyclosketch

Commendation for most inclusive design:

Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School with Design!

Commendation for good design process:

Ravens Wood Boys School with Passive Speaker

Commendation for best presentation:

Haggerston School with Motivational Monkey

Commendation for most market ready product:

Outwood Academy Haydock with Sprout Cards

Third place:

Beechen Cliff School with The Design Odyssey

Second place:

Beaminster School with Nature’s Palette

First place:

Cambourne Village College with Loopy Loom – you’ll be seeing more of this one as we move into development and production ready for retail in the Design Museum Shop this winter!

Following the award ceremony, we unveiled our mezzanine display of all student-made prototypes from the top ten teams this year and capped the day off with everyone running downstairs to see their hard work on exhibition. They’ll stay there on display until mid-June – find out more about visiting here.

A massive thank you to all who attended this very special event celebrating the achievements of these finalists, to our various judges over the course of this process, to our Design Museum workshop facilitators, and as always thank you most of all – and well done – to the students and to the teachers who continue to make Design Ventura so special.

All photos © Richard Heald Photography / the Design Museum

The post Celebration Event: Design Ventura 2024-25 appeared first on Design Ventura.

Shortlisting judges

Joshua Armitage
Alongside being a practicing artist, Josh works as an associate lecturer in illustration at Goldsmiths University. Working primarily in drawing and painting from his South London studio, Josh explores how architecture and place intertwine with spirituality, memory, and emotion. Teaching is an integral part of his practice, expanding beyond working within institutions to the public realm.

Malay Nagda
An award-winning designer whose diverse portfolio spans across products including peer-to-peer payment system, an intuitive trading platform, and an online market place, Malay now heads the design team at a major financial institution. He’s been a mentor for our Speed Networking events in the past – shown in action here! – and beyond design, he finds artistic expression in the intricate details of origami models.

Hani Salih
Hani aims to bridge gaps between different contexts through his research, curation, writing and programming, by underpinning the importance of collective alliances to bring about positive social change. His interests in policy innovation, health and wellbeing, placemaking, and systems and infrastructure are informed by his background in architecture.

Juliana Caviedes Tello
Juliana came to London from Bogotá, ColColombia to study Performance Design & Practice at Central Saint Martins. She has since worked across theatre and screen – including The Nevers, Heartstopper, and the Fast & Furious franchise – and even the circus (the wardrobe department of Cirque du Soleil’s touring ‘Circus 1903’)!

After much debate – taking a little longer than we expected! – the final top ten state school entries and top three schools in the International and Independent Category have indeed been selected! You can find the full shortlist below, but first we’ll cover what’s next.

What happens next?

All schools who have submitted an entry for Design Ventura should by now have received feedback from our judges – please let us know if this is not the case. You will also be sent participation certificates for all of your students by post at a later date.

The shortlisted schools have been contacted with further details about the Pitching event, taking place Tuesday 25 March, and the final winner will be announced at a Celebration Day taking place at the Design Museum in April.

Shortlisted entries – state schools (alphabetical order)

Beaminster School – Nature’s Palette
A fun, multilingual, recyclable stencil set which aims to connect children to the natural world and encourage creativity through mixing and matching tree species throughout the seasons.

Beechen Cliff School – The Design Odyssey
A product which inspires users to learn from design history to change today’s world, by undertaking 100 daily challenges drawing on real world issues such as the climate crisis.

Cambourne Village College – Loopy Loom
A family-friendly weaving tool that transforms old clothing into new household items, combating fast fashion waste while creating quality time to make memories – and material – together while eradicating waste.

Haggerston School – Motivational Monkey
A task management system for families. Complete challenges so your ‘motivational monkey’ can climb its tree! Tasks/chores/challenges can be written in dry-erase pen to evolve with your family’s needs as children grow.

Hinchingbrooke School – Recyclosketch
A sustainable drawing tool made from recycled bottles. It transforms waste into a fun, educational souvenir, by challenging students to practice isometric sketching during or after their visit to the Design Museum.

John Hampden Grammar School – Climate Cards
An educational card game that teaches young people about the climate crisis, aiming to create an engaging learning experience while encouraging environmental responsibility.

Outwood Academy Haydock – Sprout Cards
Biodegradable postcards made from recycled, all-natural seed paper. Simply write, send, plant, and enjoy the magic of growing memories. Choose Sprout Cards for a greener way to connect and plant a message that grows with time!

Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School – Design!
Challenge stereotypes by exploring diverse designers across different eras, backgrounds, and identities through this card game similar to Snap! It aims to be an engaging, reusable learning resource for families and schools alike, and a souvenir of the Design Museum.

Ravens Wood Boys School – Passive Speaker
An all-analogue phone amplifier. Its directional sound design amplifies without disturbing those around you, and its hard, recycled plastic material combinines environmental responsibility with practical functionality.

St Clement Danes School – Flip It
Portable cutlery depicting different endangered animals when opened or closed. Eat your packed lunch in style, while learning about how and why you should support endangered wildlife!

Shortlisted entries – international and independent schools (alphabetical order)

Halcyon London International School – MicroBloom Greenhouse

A mini-greenhouse which transforms conventional farming into a sustainable, space-efficient model on a tiny scale – isn’t that where everything needs to start? Plant microgreens and create a green garden in your home.

Kew House School – Chore Challengers

An interactive card game designed to help engage young people in chores around the house. Every day there is a new chore to prioritise, with friendly monster characters to help you stay motivated.

The King’s School Canterbury – Scrap’n’Save

A playful but informative card game which aims to educate the whole family on correct waste disposal and recycling.

The post Design Ventura 2024-25: this year’s shortlist (and our shortlisting judges) appeared first on Design Ventura.

We hope you’re all back into the groove of things after half-term. We’re just finding time now to tell you about our last teacher CPD, which took place in-person at the Design Museum on Friday 1 November. First of all, thank you so much to everyone who came, choosing to spend a half-day of their holiday with us! We talked about how we can better embed sustainability in both design and teaching – a vital, critical, hopeful conversation which we found really valuable and hope you did too.

We were joined by Joseph from A New Field, creators of sustainable craft kits made and packaged using biodegradable or otherwise more sustainable materials and processes. You can see all the materials they use in their kits here, along with several manufacturers who may provide a good starting point for this year’s student teams. Their craft kits ask the user to source some of the raw materials themselves, by going out and foraging for pine needles before chopping and mixing them together with the provided natural ingredients. The result is a mouldable, bakeable putty.

We’ve actually had several Design Ventura teams over the years include an activity or ‘DIY’ component like this in their submitted product designs. It’s a great way of potentially making your product stand out by being more sustainable and customisable. However, it can be tricky to strike a balance between engaging and satisfying your user.

A New Field’s way of striking this balance might help inspire your own students if they’re thinking of making a product with any ‘activity’ component. Most materials are provided in the kit, with one carefully chosen component – importantly one which is fun, not too arduous or inaccessible – given to the user. Information is provided on how to go about obtaining this component both in the kits and in the ‘Foraging’ section of their website FAQ, so the user doesn’t feel abandoned! All this helps ensure that the ‘DIY’ component is a positive part of the product offer rather than making it a chore.

After hearing from Joseph about how A New Field got started – and having a go at making our own craft kits! – we had a whistle-stop tour of the museum’s second-floor public display Tomorrow’s Wardrobe. This display looks at sustainability innovations at all levels of the fashion and textile industries in the UK. It shows how sustainability can be embedded in design at every stage of the product life-cycle: raw materials and manufacturing, supply chain and retail, usage and maintenance of the product, and end-of-life or disposal. Name brands, grassroots manufacturers, and independent designers are featured including Ahluwalia, Phoebe English, Ponda, Ranra, Salomon, Stella McCartney, and Vivobarefoot.

You can find out more about Tomorrow’s Wardrobe on the Future Observatory website – and there will be teacher notes for it up on the Design Museum website very soon – but we’d especially like to highlight a special commission made for this exhibition which we feel could be a useful teaching tool. The Garment Lifecycle Map is an online resource which can be used by anyone anywhere in the world, on both desktop and mobile devices. Just pick a garment type, then click through the segments to find out more about the different stages of its life-cycle.

You can find some more useful links to handy resources including activities, videos, and more on sustainability and sustainable design here.

If you’d like to join us for events like this in future, remember that the best way to stay up-to-date is by signing up for our newsletter and following us on our social media: we’re @Design_Ventura on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter/X.

All photos © Richard Heald Photography / the Design Museum

The post What we got up to over half-term: Sustainability CPD at the Design Museum appeared first on Design Ventura.

On Thursday 25 April 2024, welcomed the top ten shortlisted schools who submitted this year to the Design Museum for a day of celebration. We also unveiled the Design Ventura 2023-24 display on the mezzanine – make sure you come and visit while it’s up.

Elysia Thorpe, Programme Manager for Design Ventura, kicked us off by inviting our industry insights speakers – Laura Lebeau, industrial designer at Map Project Office, and Neil Onions, founding director of Beyond the Box – to join her onstage and offer our student teams some guidance and encouragement drawn from their own experiences in the design industry. Students and teachers had the opportunity to ask Laura and Neil questions, before everyone took a break for some soft drinks, tea, and cake!

Next up, student teams were mixed together to take part in Sustainable Design workshops run by our expert Design Museum workshop facilitators, Anna Fearon and Cathy Meese. Sustainable Design workshops are available to book as part of our year-round schools offering and draw on a handling collection unique to the Design Museum, including materials displayed in our bestselling Waste Age: What can design do? exhibition.

Everyone took a break for lunch and explored the exhibitions, catching SKATEBOARD in its last weeks before closing as well as Enzo Mari, which opened the month before. After this came a Design Ventura favourite, speed networking. Students met professionals from all across the design and creative industries and varying career paths – find out more about them below.

Speed networking mentors

Avni Patel. Programme Manager for Young People at the Design Museum as well as Project Manager at Design Can.

Callie Tedder-Hares. Founding partner and Creative Director at Volume Creative and its bespoke waste solutions start-up, Spared.

Eliza Collin. MA Material Futures Grad and current Design Researcher in Residence 2023-24 with Future Observatory at the Design Museum.

Isabel Lea, former Design Researcher in Residence 2022-23 with Future Observatory. Works as a designer, creative director, and socio-cultural researcher.

Joel Phillimore. In-house designer at Alive and Kicking alongside his freelance work as a digital creative.

Josh Armitage. Artist, aiming to merge sensory experiences with diverse drawing and painting techniques, and lecturer.

Larry Botchway, co-founder of the POoR Collective. Trained as an architect, also works as a tutor and engagement specialist.

Malay Nagda. Head of UX/UI for Risk and Compliance at Deutsche Bank, with 15 years of experience in  UX and design.

Sheana Yu. Social entrepreneur, mentor, and founder of Aergo Health.

Taran Wilkhu. Photographer with a particular focus on exploring the interaction between people and space in the built environment.

In the evening, the Design Museum opened its doors to the shortlisted school teams’ family and friends as well as Deutsche Bank employees, more design industry experts, the museum’s Learning team past and present, and other special VIP guests to celebrate the success of another year of Design Ventura.

The Awards

The Design Museum’s Director of Audiences, Josephine Chanter, welcomed all the schools and guests to the museum, followed by CEO and Director Tim Marlow and Christoph Woermann, Chief Marketing Officer of Corporate Bank Marketing at Deutsche Bank.

We were then joined by our judges from the Design Ventura Pitching Day in March, who took it in turn to announce the Design Ventura awards. This included Christoph as well as the Design Museum’s Senior Buying Manager Preena Patel; designer and entrepreneur Sebastian Conran; and of course our brief-setter for the year, textile and print designer Kangan Arora.

Outstanding Finalists
St Joseph’s Catholic High School with Emergency Cache
Dover Grammar School for Girls with OUTFITY
Comberton Village College with the Creative Colour Box

Commendation for packaging and visuals
Ferndown Upper School with Bouncy Buddies

Commendation for ingenuity of design
Manor CE Academy with S-C-R-A-P

Commendation for best presentation

Heathcote School with the Study Buddy

Commendation for most market-ready product
Christ the King Voluntary Catholic Academy with Road to Go

Third Place
Haggerston School with their Braille Calendar

Second Place
Upper Shirley High School with Dish of the Day

First Place
Piggott School with Colour Countdown – you’ll be seeing more of this one as we move into development and production ready for retail in the Design Museum Shop this winter!

Following the award ceremony, we unveiled our mezzanine display of all student-made prototypes from the top ten teams this year, alongside last year’s winning product Stack It! by The Piggott School (a different team of students, don’t worry!) as sold in the Design Museum Shop right now. The exhibition will run from until late June 2024 – find out more about visiting here.

A massive thank you to all judges and guests for attending for this very special event celebrating the achievements of the Design Ventura 2023-24 finalists, and as always thank you and well done to the students and to the teachers who continue to make Design Ventura special year after year.

All photos © Richard Heald Photography / the Design Museum

The post Celebration Event: Design Ventura 2023-24 appeared first on Design Ventura.

A warm thank you to all the teachers and students who have worked so hard on this year’s project. We had over 16,000 of you involved, and shortlisting was not an easy task! Another thank you to our shortlisting panel.

After much debate, we have selected our top ten state school entries and top three schools in the International and Independent Category. Please see a full list in alphabetical order below.

All schools that have submitted an entry for Design Ventura have received feedback from our judges and will be sent participation certificates for their students by post – we will send these soon.

The top ten state shortlisted schools took place in a Pitching Event on Tuesday 19 March at Deutsche Bank’s headquarters at Winchester House. The final winner will be announced at the Celebration Day at the Design Museum, in April.

DESIGN VENTURA SHORTLIST 2023-24

Christ the King Voluntary Catholic Academy
Road to Go
A bag with a twist! Intended for families on the go, combining their child’s favourite toys with a versatile backdrop in one easily portable package.

Comberton Village College
The Creative Colour Box
A lamp you can make your own, offering you prompts and colourful triangles to create shapes and animals and watch them light up.

Dover Grammar School
OUTFITY
A tool to help you simplify your wardrobe and decide what outfit to wear, whether it’s day-to-day or a special occasion.

Ferndown Upper School
Bouncy Buddies
Fun, colourful, and of course bouncy collectible figures of your favourite designers, to show off on your desk or in your car. Include facts about design and design history.

Haggerston School
Braille Calendar
A calendar for visually impaired users, incorporating braille as well as auditory cues such as clicks when you have successfully changed the date.

Heathcote School
Study Buddy
A self-assembly, flat-packed revision organiser made from a single sheet of sustainable material.

Manor CE Academy
SCRAP
It stands for Safety-Conscious-Reflect-and-Protect! Increase your visibility at night while providing a waste solution for synthetic hi-vis textiles.

Piggott School
Colour Countdown
A game inspired by I Spy, but based around colours. Race the clock and engage with the environment around you.

St Joseph’s Catholic High School
Emergency Cache
A compact solution for carrying small necessities on the go: maybe a trolley coin, reusable shopping bag, and some hairpins.

Upper Shirley High School
Dish of the Day
A super-versatile board game focusing on communities in London and the dishes they share.

INTERNATIONAL AND INDEPENDENT CATEGORY

King’s School Canterbury
Buzz Off!
A sustainable, visually appealing fly-removal solution! A biomimicry design based on nature’s own fly-removal solution, the carnivorous plant.

St John’s School
Losing Conetrol
The washable, reusable multi-fit ice cream drip catcher you’ve always wished for.

Tudor Hall School
Feel ELEAT
A pencil case to help young people express themselves and their needs, using emojis they can swap out on the outside to let others know how they’re feeling that day.

The post Shortlist and Pitching Day: Design Ventura 2023-24 appeared first on Design Ventura.

In front of a live audience including our panel of expert judges from across the design and business world, shortlisted state schools will each present their product and have a live Q&A session, and the top schools in our Independent & International category will submit a 3-minute pitch film. Teams will have the opportunity to receive feedback personally from individuals with real-world experience and understanding of successful product design.

Meet our judging panel, starting of course with this year’s brief-setter…

Kangan Arora
A designer specialising in print and pattern design, particularly textiles. Kangan lectures in Jewellery and Textile Design at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design alongside her work with a variety of brands such as TATE, Heal’s, Floor_Story, and IKEA. She constantly collects and experiments with different pigments and print processes to apply new visual language and techniques to products ranging from soft furnishings to acoustic panels, and is passionate about sharing inspiration across communities.

Sebastian Conran
An aspiring inventor even as a child, Sebastian studied Industrial Design Engineering at Central St. Martins, where he designed record sleeves and posters for The Clash. Since then he’s led hard-goods development at Mothercare, taught furniture design at the Royal College of Art, and founded Sebastian Conran Associates design studio in 1986. Today he is a trustee of the Design Museum, chair of the Conran Foundation and Conran + Partners, Visiting Professor of Design & Innovation at Bristol Robotics Lab, and Designer in Residence at the University of Sheffield engineering facility.

Max Fraser
Editorial director of Dezeen. Max has worked as a design commentator across digital and print media (including the Financial Times, Wallpaper, Surface, and London’s Evening Standard) as well as exhibitions and events, aiming to broaden the conversation around contemporary design and architecture. He is the author of multiple design books including Designers On Design, which he co-wrote with Sir Terence Conran. More recent titles include the London Design Guide series. He’s got experience as a judge, too – prior to taking on his current role, Max has judged on the Dezeen Awards several times!

Preena Patel
Senior Buying and Product Development Manager of the Design Museum Shop‘s in-store and online range. Preena is an advocate for sustainability as standard in retail, with over a decade of experience in retail positioning, licensing, brand buying and product development. Her creative and commercial approach is aided by her training in fashion design, and an obsessive passion for product. Alongside her role at the museum, for the past 3 years Preena has worked as a freelance retail consultant and product developer/strategist for multi-disciplinary artist and designer Yinka Ilori.

Christoph Woermann
Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) for Deutsche Bank’s Corporate Bank division. The Corporate Bank comprises commercial client banking business with transaction banking products and services for both; corporates and financial institutions, including domestic and cross-border payments, risk mitigation and financing international trade; and the provision of trust, agency, depositary, custody and related services. 

The post Pitching Day coming up! appeared first on Design Ventura.

This year’s Design Ventura Mini Challenge is open to students in years 7-11. The theme for this year’s mini challenge is ‘community’, inspired by the Design Museum’s REBEL: 30 Years of London Fashion exhibition and our main challenge brief of ‘colour and community’.

Students are asked to come up with an idea for a new product for the Design Museum Shop that connects to community (e.g. communication, group games, getting to know your neighbours, sharing and taking pride in our different local communities). You can see a shortlist of last year’s winning ideas around the theme of ‘wellbeing’ here.

The Mini Challenge prizes student creativity, and ideas do not need to be fully realised or fully realisable. However, participants are welcome to further develop submitted ideas to submit to the main competition, which makes this an ideal ‘taster’ or introduction to Design Ventura if you aren’t sure you’re ready to commit to the full challenge. The Mini Challenge emulates the main competition in asking students to:

• Generate ideas
• Think about materials and sustainability.
• Respond to a brief  
• Pitching ideas

Students are asked to submit an image of their product idea and complete a short form. Winners are announced fortnightly on Instagram from October 2023 until February 2024 and winning students are sent a prize in the post.

A post shared by Design Ventura (@design_ventura)

Round 1: ‘The Sport Spinner’ by Emilia, from Europa School.
A colourful spinner with 8 different activities on it, to do with others and help build friendships while being physically active.

A post shared by Design Ventura (@design_ventura)

Round 2: ‘Lolyshare’ by Eden, also from Europa School!

A keyring which can be used to cut a lollipop into equal pieces for sharing, encouraging children (and all eaters of lollipops) to be kind and care for others.

A post shared by Design Ventura (@design_ventura)

Round 3: ‘Handy Soap’ by Lexee, from Bishop Challoner Catholic School.

Soap to make your hands soft, paired with an app so you can keep yourself and those around you safe while connecting with one another.

A post shared by Design Ventura (@design_ventura)

Round 4: ‘Sip Switcher’ by Mathieu, from Salford City Academy.

Combine boring old drinks in new and random ways to share and taste something new with friends and family.

A post shared by Design Ventura (@design_ventura)

Round 5: ‘Unity Canvas’ by Pravena, from Newstead Wood School.

A kit with 6 blank canvases and some inspiring prompts for a group to fill in and bring together, creating a unique and collaborative work of art.

The post “Community” Mini Challenge Winners appeared first on Design Ventura.

Webinar 1 with Sophie Puffett.

Webinar 2 with Rob Earl-Ocran.

Webinar 3 with Loki Xu.

Webinar 4 with Rachel Glinsman.

The post Design Ventura 2023-24 Webinars appeared first on Design Ventura.

Kangan works with and is inspired by communities across the world, from her students and colleagues at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, to her fellow creatives and design experts with whom she staged an exhibition in Japan in 2020. Her favourite source of inspiration is the rainbow of colours, geometries, and pattern applications of the Indian visual vernacular.

While her patterns are often abstract, Kangan is a designer, so her work is rooted in the practical – she constantly collects and experiments with different pigments and print processes. With so much to draw on it’s no surprise that she has designed a huge range of products including soft furnishings, acoustic panels, and socks. She has also worked with a variety of brands and institutions including TATE, Heal’s, Floor_Story, and IKEA.

Two things are central to Kangan Arora’s work: colour and community. That’s why this year’s Design Ventura brief asks you to draw on one or both of these themes when designing your product for the competition. Watch the video below to find out more about Kangan’s work and the Design Ventura brief:

Even though Kangan’s work covers a huge range of product types, she always has a unique and identifiable personal style. We suggest that for your own project, you start by thinking about how colour and community are present in your own life – this will ensure that your ideas are grounded and original. From here, we encourage you to unleash your creativity. Seek out other designers who incorporate colour and community in their work. You might be surprised how many different ways these themes can be incorporated!

Don’t forget to think about all aspects of your product: how it looks, feels, and functions. You could take inspiration from Kangan Arora’s portfolio of packaging and branding designs for ideas on how to present your product as it deserves, in a way that will appeal to your chosen target market.

Kangan is a lecturer at Central Saint Martins, which is part of the University of London, so she knows how to help students get creative. Watch the video below for some of her top tips when producing your design, from idea generation to final pitch:

We are thrilled to welcome Kangan Arora to Design Ventura this year. As well as setting your brief, she will be one of our expert judges, helping to choose this year’s winning idea at the Pitching Day in March 2024. We can’t wait to see your ideas!

The post Brief Setter for 2023-24: Kangan Arora appeared first on Design Ventura.