The Sorrell Foundation was set up in 1999 to inspire creativity among young people and to improve the quality of their lives though good design.
The foundation’s Young Design Programme puts school children in the driving seat as ‘clients’, and invites university art and design students to act as the ‘consultants’, taking a brief from the pupils and receiving mentoring from professional designers. The idea is that both pupils and students learn essential skills such as teamwork, problem-solving and communication.
For the second year running, Leeds College of Art have participated in The Young Design Programme. Thirty seven school students from year 3 up to year 12 attending Bankside Primary School, City of Leeds High School, Benton Park School and Notre Dame Catholic Sixth Form College, took on the roles of clients in identifying aspects of their school which could be improved through good design. Second year undergraduates from Visual Communications, Interior Architecture and Design, and Art and Design (Interdisciplinary) responded to their clients’ briefs with imagination and vision. Designs included a brand new playground for Bankside Primary School, a courtyard and a new canteen for City of Leeds High School, ‘home from home’ inspired common rooms for Notre Dame Sixth Form College and a redesign of the sixth form block at Benton Park School.
Each design team was allocated mentors from the design industry. The support and encouragement from some of Leeds’ leading graphic designers, architects and creative consultants has given each project a solid footing without sacrificing opportunities for risk taking and innovation. 'Stop saying ‘but!’ Simon Smithson from Carey Jones admonished his design team. We are particularly grateful to all our mentors, in particular, graphic designer - Andy Edwards, Jill Kelly from Beam, Simon Smithson from Carey Jones, and Jon Stubley from Elmwood for their patience and generosity in sharing their knowledge and vision with our students, and for helping to make this step into the creative industry so meaningful.
The design solutions that deal with creating distinctive identities and inspiring environments are on show in London from June 12th at The Sorrell Foundation Young Design Centre at Somerset House, along with work from students form the University of the Arts London, University College Falmouth, Kingston University, New College Nottingham and Plymouth School of Art.
Sir John and Lady Frances Sorrell will be presenting awards to the client teams at Leeds College of Art on Tuesday 24th June.
Helen Thorpe the lead teacher from Benton Park School commented, "I am bowled over by the quality of the design process, research content and the students’ presentation of this excellent project."
Ruth Morley wrote in her evaluation, that, after delivering their final presentation at Bankside Primary School, "the best quote from one member of the client team was ‘are you going to come back and do this project with us every year?’ which I think summarises how effective the project was, and how much they enjoyed it
and were inspired and influenced by it."
One of our undergraduate designers, Gabriella Radi pointed out, "this project underlined my belief that as interior designers we are not just creating layouts and colour schemes but we can create a better environment where people feel more productive, inspired and generally happier, ..this has an effect on their
everyday lives."
Fran Smith, sixth form student from Benton Park School said, "I didn’t know what to expect and how designers worked. The finished product was literally amazing."