Design in Action

GCSE and A Level Design & Technology students enjoyed a series of inspiring lectures at a product design in action day.

Pupils took part in an engaging and interactive day, from an in-depth exploration of different materials to discovering how designs develop through sketches, modelling and CAD.  Among the speakers were Wayne Hemmingway (designer, founder of Red or Dead and Hemmingway Design), Anna Ploszajski (materials engineer) and Bibi Nelson (entrepreneur and founder of Bare Conductive).

Other speakers included design consultant and lecturer Pascal Anson, who led an activity whereby the whole auditorium contributed one balloon to create a giant, single structure. Creative director Daniel Charny spoke about social design and making with a purpose; the designer and founder of Fixperts spoke to the girls after his talk, as our Sixth Formers are currently working on a Fixperts project – an innovative learning programme which challenges our pupils to use their imagination and practical skills to create solutions to everyday problems for a real person.

South Hampstead was one of the first schools to take on the Fixperts challenge, which is usually only run in universities. South Hampstead’s Design & Technology teacher, Mrs Claridge, developed the programme, Fixperts for Schools, which was awarded runner-up in the Design Education Initiative Award at the Core77 Design Awards 2018. The initiative also featured on the BBC Radio 4 programme, How do our kids beat the robots?