1) Design Ventura is a design and enterprise project run by the Design Museum in partnership with Deutsche Bank that has engaged over 10,000 young people since 2010.
2) It challenges school students aged 13-16 to answer a live design brief set by a leading designer and provides experience of the design industry through workshops at the Design Museum and in schools.
3) An evaluation found it increased students' creative skills and confidence, and 84% of teachers wanted to participate again due to the value of working on a real design brief.
2. Introduction
Inspiring and equipping young people to
reach their full potential is central to both
Deutsche Banks six year partnership
with the Design Museum and our wider
commitment to education. Design Venturas
participants, similar to our business
approach, achieve success through
combining innovation, agile-mindedness
and entrepreneurial thinking within a
framework of team collaboration. It is this
fit which means our support, both financial
and through the involvement of expert
business mentors, is a model for
partnership working for the next generation.
Lareena Hilton
Global Head of Brand and Visual Identity,
UK Head of Communications and CSR
Deutsche Bank
As designers it is vital we invest time,
energy and knowledge in the future of our
industry and give young people meaningful
and insightful experience in the world
of design. Design Ventura challenges
schoolchildren to answer real briefs set by
professional designers and work toward
real solutions. It has never been more
important to inspire and empower young
people and give them direct experience
of how design works and its importance
to the economy.
Sir Terence Conran
Ventura pitching day 2012
Young people see things differently to
adults; they dont have the baggage
of experience...Their imagination,
creativity and innovation is inspiring.
Sebastian Conran, Designer
3. Overview
Since 2010, over 10000 young people have
participated in Design Ventura, a design
and enterprise project run by the Design
Museum in partnership with Deutsche Bank.
The project champions real world
learning and makes use of the Design
Museum as a hub for design, business,
culture and learning. It places design
skills in a real world context, developing
creativity, holistic thinking, team work
and enterprise capabilities.
The Ventura project challenges school
students aged 1316 to answer a live brief
set with a leading designer and provides
a taste of life within the design industry.
Each year up to 40 London state schools
participate through a programme of
facilitated Design Ventura workshops.
Other schools in London and across the
UK can access the project through Virtual
Ventura, an online resource which includes
workshop plans, films and materials for
students. Participating schools compete
against each to see their products exhibited
at the Design Museum or on sale in the
Design Museum shop.
Aims
Design Ventura aims to:
Increase the design skills and confidence
of learners through engagement with
inspiring role models and design experts.
Raise the motivation of learners
and raise aspirations by enabling
them to discover their creative
entrepreneurial talent.
Fire a passion for design amongst young
people and connect this to practical next
steps that relate to achievement in future
careers and education.
Build lasting relationships with teachers
and schools.
Identify new pedagogic approaches to
enterprise education within a museum
context that will support the development
of learning at the Design Museum in the
longer term.
Clockwise from top right:
Designer, Designer explores
materials; Badoiiing being
assembled; Bird Bank by Mount
Carmel RC School; Ventura trophies;
Pitching event 2012; Designer
provides advice to students
of teachers rated the Ventura
project good or very good.
96
%
Clockwise from top right: Badoiiing
by Walworth Academy, Dove
Bunting Christmas Card 2011,
London Idols by Norbury Manor
Business and Enterprise College
for Girls
4. The process
Design Ventura brings together partners
from the real world of business and design
to provide a rich learning experience for
students. The project is underpinned by
a sound pedagogical approach, rooted
in curriculum requirements, and it is
supported by teachers, practicing
designers and Deutsche Bank staff who
offer their business expertise to students.
1. Annual Continuing Professional
Development for teachers and preparation
briefings for volunteers from the business
and design sector.
2. Brief set with a leading designer.
3. Launch workshops at the Design
Museum are supported by business
volunteers from Deutsche Bank. Each year
these sessions are available to 40 London
state schools and to Virtual Ventura
participants as capacity allows. The
workshops kick-start the creative process
of designing, and support students to think
about the business aspects of the brief.
4. Follow-up workshops in London state
school classrooms are led by museum
educators and supported by volunteers
from the design sector who provide real
world experience and a wealth of creative
approaches to young people.
5. Following in-school selection, the top
teams pitch to a judging panel in person
(London state schools) or by video (Virtual
Ventura participants)
6. Celebration, awards and public exhibition
share outcomes with all participants.
7. One winning idea is made and sold in the
Design Museum shop. Profits from the sale
of the products are donated to a charity of
the students choice.
Clockwise from top right:
Chelsea Academy visit
the museum; student discusses
ideas; teachers present ideas;
teacher CPD event
Left to right:
Designer provides advice
to students; Winners of Design
Ventura 2010; Product launch
at Design Museum shop, 2012
Taking part in
Design Ventura
was a lifetime
opportunity.
Student
5. Winning ideasThe judges
Design Ventura judging panels bring
together leading figures from the design
and business sectors. The varied expertise
on the panel provides a unique opportunity
for young people to present their ideas
and gain valuable feedback.
Judges since 2010
Anya Hindmarch MBE
Fashion Designer and Trustee
of Design Museum.
Alice Marsh Amanda Pearlman
Head of Retail at Design Museum.
Chris Ruse
Director of Capital Markets Treasury
Solutions at Deutsche Bank.
Christoph Woermann
Managing Director, Head of Marketing
Communications GTB at Deutsche Bank
Naomi Cleaver
Designer, Writer and Broadcaster.
Sebastian Conran
Product Designer and Trustee of
Design Museum.
As a judge I have been impressed with
the integrity of the student ideas they
have presented interesting products
that make a good business case but
also show creative design thinking.
Chris Ruse
201011
Theme of brief: Young people.
Brief set with Sebastian Conran
Design Ventura
Dove Bunting
Dove-shaped bunting made from
recycled card.
Haberdashers Askes Hatcham College
Virtual Ventura
Dish Dash
A lunch box that folds out into a plate.
Globe Academy
201112
Theme of brief: Play.
Brief set with Naomi Cleaver
Design Ventura
BaDoiiing!
A travel game packaged in an
Oyster Card wallet.
Walworth Academy
Virtual Ventura
Plyano
A finger piano made of plywood.
Simon Langton Grammar School
201213
Theme of brief: Journeys.
Brief set with Anya Hindmarch
Design Ventura
Pics Pins
Badge set with images of segments of
famous landmarks that can be interchanged
in the style of the game consequences.
Trinity School
Virtual Ventura
Go Gloves
Glove-light for cyclists to improve safety
when indicating to turn.
Brentwood School
Dove Bunting BaDoiiing! Pics Pins
6. Over three years, the impact of Design
Ventura has been evaluated by the
Centre for Education in Industry (CEI) at
the University of Warwick. The partnership
with CEI aimed to assess changes in
perceptions of skills, confidence and
ambition amongst teachers and students
participating in the project.
Impact
Over three years
6432
students from
156
schools across the UK have
participated in Virtual Ventura. This
strand of the project offers professional
development training to teachers
and supports schools to deliver the
project in their own way using materials
accessed from the Ventura website.
3679
students from
112
London state schools participated
in Design Ventura workshops delivered
at the Design Museum and in schools.
Fiftyfive
staff from Deutsche Bank
provided support and
expertise to students taking
part in enterprise education
activities as part of
Design Ventura
110 design workshops in classrooms
across the Capital
70practicing designers
supported
7. As well as a strong concentration of
state schools in London, a wide range of
participants including some independent
schools stretched from Cornwall to
Scotland. In 2012 we were also delighted
to welcome our first international schools
from Italy and China.
Whats next?
Design Ventura is the Design Museums
flagship learning project. It has influenced
the thinking of the museum at a variety
of levels, from strategic planning through
to delivery and teaching practice. The
partnership with Deutsche Bank represents
an exemplar that is shared with a range
of stakeholders.
The Design Museums new home on
Kensington High Street will give it three
times more space in which to show a wider
range of exhibitions, engage twice as
many visitors over 500,000 per year
and extend its well respected learning
programmes to work with 60,000 young
people each year.
Design Ventura will continue to be an
important part of the Learning programme
as we prepare to move to our new location.
We hope to reach many more young people
with engaging learning experiences that
demonstrate the potential of their ideas
in the real world. We will achieve this by
pioneering new approaches to digital
learning, virtually taking the museum
into classrooms all over the UK. Through
Design Ventura we will continue to
demonstrate the importance of design
in our economy and society.
70
%
of students feel that participation
in Design Ventura has increased
their ability to respond creatively
to a design brief.
of teachers participating in
Virtual Ventura believe the
project has improved the design
skills and enterprise capabilities
of their students.84
%
of teachers completing
our survey said theyd like
to be part of DesignVentura
again and rated the value
of working to a real brief
very highly.97
%
By taking part in
Design Ventura
I was able to feel
like a kid again.
Sato Hisao, Designer
Design Ventura
(London state schools)
Virtual Ventura
(UK wide)
8. Thank you
Our thanks go to everyone who has
supported Design Ventura since 2010.
The project could not have happened
without the dedication of hundreds of
teachers, the energy of thousands of
school students and the support of our
community of volunteers from the design
sector and from Deutsche Bank.
Deutsche Bank
Lareena Hilton, Nicole Lovett,
Kerry McNally, Chris Ruse,
Rosie Towe, Christoph Woermann
Designers
Naomi Cleaver, Sebastian Conran,
Anya Hindmarch
Design Museum
Emilie Harrak, Komal Khetia,
Jane McCarthy, Sam Morley,
Amanda Pearlman, Steven Preston
Centre for Education in Industry,
University of Warwick
Susan Goodlad, Julian Stanley
Photography
Richard Heald
Contact
Catherine Ritman Smith
Deputy Head of Learning
Design Museum
Shad Thames, London SE1 2YD
T 020 7940 8768
E ventura@designmuseum.org
W ventura.designmuseum.org
The experience of live projects is
great for students; web chats,links
with industry, being exposed to
financial restriction etc is all good.
The extra time required to organise
this type of activity is worth it.
Virtual Ventura Teacher