Dove Bunting nearing completion

The production of Dove Bunting the winning product of the 2010-11 Design Ventura competition has finally got underway and will be in the Design Museum Shop in August.  Check out the last meeting the team had with our design mentor Nicky from Build where they made final decisions on samples that Nicky had sourced.  We are very excited about seeing the final product!

Top tips from lead teacher of the 2010 winning team

Initially advertising for year 9 pupils to enter Design Ventura, Miss King, Head of Design and Technology, offered to “inspire them about the world of design and increase their interest in the subject”. Having sustained an enthusiastic response, the competition kick-started with some off-timetable sessions and a few meetings squeezed in over lunchtimes, nourished with plenty of biscuits and juice to help get the ideas flowing.

“Overall the students were very engaged in the project and with the visiting experts who came in to the school for the Hothouse sessions. They worked with the teams and explained about the finance, marketing and design elements.” By encouraging the pupils to consider themselves as both young designers and the target market, the students quickly began to develop ideas about what would sell in the Design Museum Shop.

Miss King had a difficult choice to make deciding which idea would progress in the competition, “I really had to consider what we were able to produce in school with the resources that we had available to us”. Taking into account the variety of products already available in the Design Museum Shop, it was concluded that the final submission must be “the most suitable product” and would show careful consideration of the target market, in addition to the issues of affordability and sustainability. Dove Bunting was eventually chosen as the winning product as it held “appeal to a range of ages” and was a memorable item. The Dove Bunting also had a unique selling point, a DIY element that “enabled the person buying it to make it personal to them”, this showed the young designers has shown consideration for the target market and researched current consumer trends. The “simple but very eye catching” packaging fitted well with the sustainability issues within the original design brief.

With a successful and professional performance at the Pitching Event in January Dove Bunting scooped the overall prize and is now in the initial stages of production in preparation for being stocked in the Design Museum shop this August.

“We were really delighted that the product was chosen as the winner of Design Ventura, and the team are now involved with developing the product for production and to sell in the museum shop. The school is very proud of the girls’ success and is celebrating their achievement in assemblies.”

News from the Pitching Event 2010

Thank you and congratulations to the 10 teams who presented their ideas at the Design Ventura pitching event on Tuesday 7 December. The schools represented at the pitching event participated in a series of 3 workshops as part of the Design Ventura project.  Our expert judges Sebastian Conran, Chris Ruse from Deutsche Bank and Alice Marsh, Head of Retail at the Design Museum Shop, face a very difficult task in choosing the over all winner as the standard of ideas and presentations were exceptionally high.   Well done to teachers and students for your incredible effort and amazing achievements on this project.

Virtual Ventura

Our panel of judges also selected winning ideas from Virtual Ventura submissions, and again were really impressed with the standard of ideas.  They found originality and marketability in the many competition entries they reviewed.

2010 Winners talk through production plans with Build

The winning team of four girls from Haberdashers’ Aske’s Hatcham College have just been for their first meeting with Nicky from Build – the design studio selected to firm up the brief and help bring Dove Bunting into production. With the aim of being on shelves in the Design Museum Shop by August, Love Planet are benefiting from Build’s expert advice, accumulated over 10 years running a successful design studio.

The product, Dove Bunting, had moved on since the competition and the young designers presented Nicky with the latest developments including finer details such as pattern ideas, materials, and packaging design.

The young people suggested re-designing the packaging to convey the story behind the product – essentially to explain their journey from original designs to winning the competition and moving into production. Nicky was keen on this idea as it adds incentive to purchase for potential customers in the Shop.

Nicky then discussed the process of designing and advised the girls to start with an ideal manifestation but be prepared to be flexible and adaptable as the realities of manufacturing process and cost come into play. These factors can affect the size, surface decoration and materials of the final product. The young designers have now adapted their plan to include printed wood instead of vintage fabrics as original fabrics can be too costly.

The design team also agreed to re-consider their branding before the next meeting, planning to utilise their creative entrepreneurial skills to match up their product with existing lines in the Design Museum range, ensuring it gains maximum appeal.

The meeting concluded with Nicky and the girls settled on some action points to work towards including sourcing sustainable ribbon samples, finalising dove designs and contacting the charity of their choice to have profits donated to.

Winning Product 2010 – Dove Bunting

Our winners for the 2010 Design Ventura competition were Haberdashers’ Aske’s Hatcham College, Lewisham.  The brief asked them to design a product for the Design Museum shop to be sold for around £10.

The team designed a kit to make cardboard bunting in the shape of a bird (which was the Design Museum Shop logo at the time), some of which would be blank so that you could get creative and decorate your own.

Here is their submitted entry:

The team then attended the Design Ventura pitching day and presented their idea to the panel of judges.

On 27 January 2011 the team were presented with the top prize at the Celebration Event (see above), they went on to work with design practice Build to develop Dove Bunting into a market ready item.

In July it all came together in a production line to package the product ready for sale in the Design Museum Shop:

At the 2011 Celebration Event the team came back and presented a cheque for £1141.00, the profits from the sale of their product, to a representative from their chosen charity, Greenpeace.

First mentoring meeting for Dove Bunting

A quick snap shot of Love Planet’s first meeting with their new Design Museum mentors, Steven Preston the Retail Operations Manager, and Alice Marsh, Head of Retail.

On 15 February, the girls from Haberdashers’ Aske’s met at the Design Museum to begin planning the production of Dove Bunting. Having won first place in the Design Ventura competition in January, team Love Planet have been granted a £1000 bursary to put their designs into production and will be sold in the Design Museum Shop from August this year.

Watch this space to follow their progress.