The Design Ventura competition is a designing competition for students from schools across the UK (including international schools) run by the Design Museum. The criteria are to create a product that can be produced under £5 and sold for £10. It must fit the aesthetic of the Design Museum Gift Shop and the winning product will be sold in the shop.

My group consisted of Anjali (UIVM), Sanna (UIVX), Yasmin (UIVX) and myself Emma (UIVX). We started by assigning the role of each member of our group. I was in charge of the financial sector, and ensured that our ideas fitted the price range. One of the main issues we encountered, was finding a high quality product that fitted the £5 budget.

After brainstorming and producing prototypes, we decided to go with the idea of a scratch-off design fact calendar. Our original format of having one page per day compromised our price budget and further harmed the environment. We chose to go with a weekly layout on each page, where each page would have a scratch-off section where underneath there would be a design fact, incorporating a unique element for our product that matched the criteria of the Design Museum Gift Shop.

After being shortlisted, we were offered the opportunity to visit the Design Museum in London. Firstly, we had a talk by Peter Ayres from Beep Studio, who recounted his experiences in the design world and outlined some of his previous designs. This was an extremely interesting and engaging talk, that inspired us all in how we can get involved. After the award ceremony, in which were awarded second place, we attended a designing workshop where we came up with innovative ideas on how to present our product. We were then given the chance to explore the exhibitions on display, my favourite was one with an array of chairs which were made of lots of different types of materials and were different shapes. There was also an exhibition that was a bed, that had relaxing music and different coloured lights in the room to comfort your mood. Overall I think that this was a great experience which has inspired me to get involved in the world of design.

By Emma (UIVX)