March 17, 2020
Senior Designer at Fresh Hull, Rachael Henriksen, has been working
with the South Hunsley School A level students on a mentoring and design
programme. Here, she explains what goes into the programme and some of
the longer-term planning.
We set a project brief for the class, but with the aim of
personalising to each individual depending on their favoured area of
design. These being Textiles, engineering, product design, graphic
design, architecture, set design.
Once the students have chosen their
option we mentor them through all stages of the project. From the
initial ideas stage to presenting 6 months later. The finished
presentation needs to include drawings, research and a model - obviously
with a slight variant dependent on which subject matter they choose.
My
role is to encourage, help individuals find their flare, give them a
good understanding of design. The how’s and the why’s behind it all! But
it also to recognise the students struggling - to inspire the - helps
them get the best marks possible. The talent we see needs pushing
further not to be complacent - get some great portfolio work.
At
first, when I meet the students it can be a bit daunting to them - we
are giving them a taste of the real-world, setting deadlines, teaching
them how to present projects - even down to dressing correctly for the
final presentations.
Its a great feeling to watch the students grow
and develop, of course, whilst being guided by the teachers. Each year
we see some great talent emerging, we see students realise what they
want to do and actually it also helps them realise what they don’t want
to do!
We also get involved with the careers mentoring scheme. Kris
Jones, Architect at Fresh, talks to the students who are interested in
pursuing a career in Architecture and I talk to the students that are
interested in a career in all design roles. No projects are set it's
purely discussing, answering questions, showing our work helping them to
have a really good insight from someone who can speak from experience.
It's
a fantastic opportunity to do something completely different whilst
really making a difference to those all-important A-level results.
Having Rachael Henriksen from Fresh Design come into school and work with the students has been an excellent experience for them. They have gained an insight into how a designer works as well as benefiting from her expertise. The design work Rachael set gave them scope to be creative but also made them think about the constraints involved. Rachael’s feedback was exceptionally positive as well as being constructive, this building the student’s confidence in what they were doing.
The end result was the student’s completed branding for their own companies which looked professional and was developed a long way from their starting points
- Mrs Myers Teacher South Hunsley School
Contact us to find out how your school can be involved in our design and mentoring programme
