Tim Weston, Head of Design and Technology at Oakham School, has teamed up with black+blum to launch a NEW national product design competition for children aged 11–14. As well as having the chance to win an iPad, pupils who take part will also be able to develop their design-thinking skills – which are hugely in demand in tomorrow’s job market!
“We want to encourage and inspire the next generation of British product designers and engineers,” says Tim, who together with Dan Black, Co-Founder & Lead Designer at black+blum, created the competition. “Dan and I believe passionately in giving children the opportunity to think about product design and to foster design-thinking from an early age and we hope this competition will go some way to achieving this.”
The competition challenges children aged 11–14 to make food and drink ‘on-the-go’ products for their peers – to come up with solutions for how black+blum could expand its adult lunch range into the teen market. It encourages pupils to develop their consumer research skills, test their creativity and to create a mood board of their unique product idea. The competition also provides an opportunity for teenagers to really think about healthy eating and ways to reduce food and packaging waste – two things that are central to black+blum’s philosophy.
Oakham School’s renowned Design Technology Department regularly holds competitions for its pupils, to encourage and inspire pupils to design products. Having already successfully run a similar competition earlier this year for pupils at Oakham, Tim and Dan honed the idea further, to launch it onto a national stage and to enable as many pupils aged 11–14 to take part.
The competition ends on 30 April 2021 and there is a first prize of an iPad and runner up prizes of black+blum lunch boxes and water bottles. The design brief can be found here – which we hope you will share widely – so that many pupils across the country can benefit from taking part.
