Charity creates own show to educate kids

Design, science and technology education charity The Making Place is launching an exhibition to teach primary school children about design.

Design Process 2001, part of the Design Council’s Design in Education Week from 2-6 April, aims to address the lack of design training of primary school teachers and inspire children with reallife examples of how designers work and solve problems.

Exhibitions will range from examples of initial sketchy ideas and working drawings to prototypes and finished products from manufacturers, including Hasbro Toys and Aquapac International. Aquapac makes waterproof covers for products such as cameras andmobile phones. It will also showcase design engineer Sir Alex Moulton’s bicycle.

Graphics signage, designed by The Making Place in-house designer Victoria Jones, will attempt to explain the concepts around design such as branding and marketing. Jones is also curating the exhibition.

Children learn design as part of the National Curriculum, but teachers usually lack any formal design education and tend to have art backgrounds, says The Making Place centre manager Sue Brumpton. “Seven-year-olds have to generate product ideas, such as playground models, puppets and packaging, and think about who they are aimed at as well as their aesthetic qualities. The exhibition is designed to show them the whole process,” she adds.

The exhibition is part-funded by the Design Council and the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers, the teachers’ organisation.

A website, www. design-process.co.uk, designed by Netaphor launches at the same time.