The resources help pupils understand design issues and can act as a basis for project or class work.
Designers into Schools Week gave secondary school pupils in England the chance to work with professional designers who visited their schools. In 2007 a regional version will be taking place in the North East as part of Designs of the time (Dott). A pdf containing useful information for schools interested in taking part can be found below.
To support Designers into Schools Week, the Design Council created a suite of learning materials to stimulate project work on particular design methods. One of these resources focused on user research - it can be used by all schools and is available to download as a pdf.
www.designersintoschools.org.uk
PDF of Designers into Schools Week overview (45KB)
PDF of User research activity (442KB)
In Channel 4's TV series, Better by Design, consultants Richard Seymour and Dick Powell were given the challenge of taking six everyday products - kitchen bin, razor, burglar alarm, shopping trolley, life-jacket and airline seat - and coming up with not just different, but fundamentally better, versions.
Working with six major manufacturers, Seymour Powell embarked on a complex, compelling and sometimes painful process, which said as much about our attitudes to design as the designs themselves. This website features learning materials, including general information sources, useful websites and books, articles and magazines. Teachers can also download ideas for projects in response to the ideas and issues raised by the programmes.
www.designcouncil.info/betterbydesign/
Big Zipper is a teaching tool aimed at pupils studying Design and Technology at Key Stages 3 and 4 and Business Studies at GCSE. The pack contains a set of posters explaining the design process which can be displayed independently somewhere prominent within the school or can be used in conjunction with the additional activities within the pack.
The aim is to encourage creativity and independent thinking and the pack can also be used in subject areas such as English, Art and Drama. Although we can no longer supply the original teaching tool, pdfs of the posters and the activity packs are available to download below - please note that pdf of the posters is 7MB and may take some time to download.
PDF of Big Zipper posters (7MB)
PDF of Big Zipper - Design and Technology support pack (115KB)
PDF of Big Zipper - Business Studies support pack (298KB)
PDF of Big Zipper - case studies and additional material (94KB)
This is a set of five cases studies telling the story of the development of some outstandingly innovative products. The products were all chosen from the Design Council's list of Millennium Products (an initiative running from 1997-1999). Each case study looks at particular design issues faced by the manufacturers, including use of materials, sustainability, branding and research.
Also included in this collection are many tasks. They are grouped by case study and range from a practical activity that will need significant resources and to be led by a teacher, to some quick tasks that are really just a bit of fun.
www.designcouncil.info/educationresources/studies/index.html
Millennium Products were innovative, forward-thinking, problem-solving challengers of convention. And behind each product there was an inspiring story to be told. These product profiles allow pupils to get inside the mind of the designer and gain an appreciation of how those responsible for developing products work.
Included with the profiles is a teachers' guide to using the profiles as an information resource and to spark projects across the design & technology curriculum.
www.designcouncil.info/educationresources/profiles.html
Design Against Crime is a programme of research and policy initiatives that aims to improve design's effectiveness in reducing crime. Whether you're learning design at school, college or university, commissioning design for industry and commerce, working as a professional designer or involved in crime reduction – you will find a wealth of useful information on the Design Against Crime website.
The website provides access to research, case studies, educational materials, information for designers and a showcase of the best design against crime. Design Against Crime is run jointly by Sheffield Hallam University and the University of Salford.
www.designagainstcrime.org/