Drop in pupils studying design ‘could see subject wiped out’

The fall in the number of pupils taking Design & Technology GCSEs represents a ‘dire picture’ for the subject, according to experts.

Source: Comedy_Nose

Richard Green, chief executive of the D&T Association, warns that the drop in the number of pupils taking design subjects could lead to design teaching being wiped out from many schools the UK.
He says, ‘Twenty-five years ago Britain became the first country in the world to enshrine Design And Technology in the National Curriculum.
‘Today, as booming economies in the Far East look to copy the model Britain pioneered, we face the very real prospect that Design and Technology could disappear entirely from many schools within the next five years.’
The Design & Technology Association says that this year there has been a 3 per cent fall in the number of students taking D&T at GCSE – more than 6000 fewer than last year.
The DTA says this drop is likely to be a reaction to the rise in single sciences and the promotion of languages and humanities as part of the Ebacc school ranking system.
Green says the drop ‘paints a dire picture for the subject, but the reality is likely to get far, far worse.’
Green adds, ‘The English Baccalaureate (EBacc), which schools are now judged on, marginalises creative and practical subjects in favour of a very narrow set of academic measures.
‘UK creative industries contribute over £71 billion to the UK economy, but the constraints EBacc places on schools is squeezing the life out of the very subjects upon which Britain’s future as a global creative powerhouse is built.’
The reduction in the number of GCSE D&T candidates follows a drop in the number of students taking D&T A-Levels.
The D&T Association says that just over 13,500 students took specialist D&T A-Level this year, a fall of more than 25 per cent from 2006.

(Thu, 21 Aug 2014 | By Angus Montgomery)

Digital designers go back to school to promote industry

The British Interactive Media Association is urging digital agencies to sign up for Digital Day, a nationwide initiative which aims to bridge the gap between young people and the digital industry.

Pupils taking part in the 2013 BIMA D-Day

Digital Day (D-Day) will take place on 8 October and will see professionals from digital agencies go back to school to give students an insight into life in the industry. Using special resources they run workshops on digital design, mobile apps, social media and web development.
The ideas developed in the sessions are entered into a nationwide Digital Day competition, with the winning team crowned as Digital Day Grand Prix winners.
BIMA says the event is run in a bid to combat ‘a growing digital skills shortage in the UK’. It cites a report commissioned by O2 last year that estimates that the UK will need 750,000 more digitally-skilled workers in its economy by 2017, to capitalise on an estimated £12 billion opportunity.
Agencies including iCrossing, DigitasLBi, Zone, Freestyle Interactive and e3 are already signed up to take part in this year’s D-Day, but BIMA says it is still looking for more agencies to be matched up with schools, particularly those based in London, the North West and the Midlands.
Agencies and schools who are interested in participating should sign up via the BIMA D-Day website. BIMA will match agencies with schools in the same area and provide resources and guidance.

(Wed, 20 Aug 2014 | By Angus Montgomery)

More able pupils ‘discouraged’ from studying design, teachers say

The majority of senior school staff fail to see the value of art and design education and ‘more able’ students are frequently discouraged from studying the subject, according to a new survey of teachers.

Source: Editor B

The study, by the National Society for Art and Education in Design, shows that just 32 per cent of teachers believe that art, craft and design is highly valued by senior managers of governers.
One art and design teacher says in the survey, ‘Staff are paid extra to provide revision classes for core subjects in holiday periods, whereas I voluntarily provided exam prep, holiday periods and weekends.’
The survey also shows that just 27 per cent of teachers say pupils are being encouraged to take art-based options.
One teacher said, ‘More able students are discouraged from taking art-based subjects even if they show a particular interest or talent for the subject. Students are “put” into art groups because it is deemed “easy enough” for them.’
The report shows the effect of performance measures such as the English Baccalaureate on art and design teaching. A total of 52 per cent of all heads of department surveyed said that Ebacc had played an important role in the teaching of art, craft and design at their schools.
One respondent said Ebacc had resulted in ‘a reduction of student choice, [with] higher ability students discouraged from practical subjects’.
Many teachers also reported a decrease in the amount of time for teaching art and design and the numbers of trained staff.
Just 36 per cent said their staff levels had remained the same over the last three years, while 35 per cent disagreed or strongly disagreed that time allocated for art, craft and design had remained constant over the past three years.
The survey was carried out in May across 172 NSEAD members and supporters.

(Mon, 4 Aug 2014 | By Angus Montgomery)

Paper Cut, The Exhibition

Following the publication of his stunning Paper Cut book, illustrator Owen Gildersleeve is rather fittingly taking the 2D images from the book and presenting them in all their 3D glory at a forthcoming exhibition.

Owen Gildersleeve

Just as the paper craft the book illustrates is the result of a meticulous transformation of paper illustrations into paper sculpture; so the show will bring to life the work of the illustrates celebrated in Gildersleeve’s lovely tome.

Zim Zou

The show, which opens at east London’s Proud Archivist gallery at the end of next month, will present more than 50 works by 25 paper craft illustrators.

Jeff Nishinaka

Paper sculptures will be shown alongside original artworks and prints, helping show  the process as well as the final works of what the gallery terms ‘this burgeoning and otherworldly field of illustration.’

Helen Friel

Running alongside the exhibition will be a series of talks and workshops, letting visitors put scalpel to paper themselves.

Fideli Sundqvist

Featured artists range from well-known paper crafters such as Rob Ryan to lesser-known practitioners including Bianca Chang, who is showing her Comparative Form in White series.

Ciara Phelan

Paper Cut, The Exhibition runs from 28 August – 25 September at The Proud Archivist, 2-10 Hertford Road, London N1 5ET

Eiko Ojala

 

(Tue, 29 Jul 2014 | By Emily Gosling, Design Week) 

Stranger Than Fiction at the Science Museum

The Science Museum has opened the doors on Stranger Than Fiction, a photographic exhibition by Joan Fontcuberta, which looks at the murky intersection between fact, fiction, science and art.

Cercophitecus Icarocornu from the Fauna series by Joan Fontcuberta and Pere Formiguera, 1985 © Joan Fontcuberta and Pere Formiguera

It manages to be mind-bogglingly surreal, yet has one foot placed firmly  in what we might perceive to be true, and although Fontcuberta’s work is self-consciously elaborate, it does raise wider questions about believing everything we see on film.

Centaurus Neandertalensis from the Fauna series by Joan Fontcuberta and Pere Formiguera, 1987 © Joan Fontcuberta and Pere Formiguera

Fontcuberta says, ‘Photography is a tool to negotiate our idea of reality. Thus it is the responsibility of photographers to not contribute with anaesthetic images but rather to provide images that shake consciousness.’

Source: Kate Elliot

The exhibition has been designed by Drinkall Dean and will be presented in the Media Space designed by Ben Kelly.
Drinkall Dean has been tasked with designing the first three exhibitions in the space. It has already designed Only in England but Stranger Than Fiction is a separate tender meaning that there are still two more to follow from the consultancy.

Mullerpolis Plunfis from the Herbarium series by Joan Fontcuberta, 1983 © Joan Fontcuberta

Stranger Than Fiction is devised by six themes split across three rooms – zoology, botany, paleontology, geography, astrology and religion, which are presented as separate narratives.
Drinkall Dean partner Angela Dean says, ‘The premise of Joan Fontcuberta’s work is to question the truth of photography. He creates these studies as if he’s a journalist; they’re very detailed and have a lot of text so we wanted to keep the exhibition simple and not overwhelm the content in anyway.’

Source: Kate Elliot

Dean says the flora and fauna sections explored in the first two rooms ‘have the feel of a old museum’, says Drinkall who adds, ‘Lit objects and old-fashioned graphics that we worked on with the museum help create this effect.’
3D objects, taxidermy and ephemera have been used by Fontcuberta to create the illusion that we are looking at real specimens.

Source: Kate Elliot

The middle room has the feel of ‘a more traditional art gallery’ and the final room that of ‘a provincial museum,’ says Dean.

Orogenesis: Watkins, 2004 from the Orogenesis series by Joan Fontcuberta © Joan Fontcuberta

At the end of the exhibition there is an explanatory film, which sheds some light on Fontcuberta’s reasoning.

Source: Kate Elliot

Dean says, ‘After the film you walk back through the gallery knowing what he has said, which forces you to look at everything differently.’

The Miracle of Dolphin-Surfing, Joan Fontcuberta © Joan Fontcuberta from Karelia, Miracles & Co, 2002

The overall design gives the visitor ‘a sense of exploration’ says Dean who wants visitors ‘to get a little bit lost, and to get lots in his world.’

Alopex Stultus from the Fauna series by Joan Fontcuberta and Pere Formiguera, 1987© Joan Fontcuberta and Pere Formiguera

She says, ‘You’ll have to find things and they’re not where you’ll expect them to be.’

Hydropithecus of Cerro de San Vicente, 2006 from the Sirens series by Joan Fontcuberta © Joan Fontcuberta

Joan Fontcuberta’s Stranger Than Fiction runs until 9 November at the Science Museum, Exhibition Rd, London SW7 2DD

(Thu, 24 Jul 2014 | By Tom Banks, Design Week) 

Yorkshire Sculpture Park named 'Museum of the Year'

Yorkshire Sculpture Park has been named Museum of the Year, scooping the £100,000 Art Fund Prize.

Source: Courtesy Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Photo Jonty Wilde.

Ai Weiwei, Iron Tree, 2013

The prize recognises excellence in museum and gallery exhibition design and refurbishment completed in the previous year.
The shortlisted museums included The Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft  in East Sussex – which is dedicated to the work of Eric Gill and other craftspeople.
The other finalists were the Hayward Gallery, London; The Mary Rose Museum, Portsmouth; Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich and Tate Britain, London.
Yorkshire Sculpture Park was chosen as the winner for the restoration of its 18^th century chapel, and 2013 exhibitions including the Yinka Shonibare show and the installation of Roger Hiorns’ Seizure 2008/2013, a piece which saw Hiorns transform an empty council flat in Southwark, London, into ‘a sparkling blue environment of copper sulphate crystals’, says Yorkshire Sculpture Park, using 75,000 litres of liquid copper sulphate. It was moved to the park in May last year.

Source: Courtesy the artist. Photo Jonty Wilde

Yinka Shonibare MBE, Wind Sculpture, 2013.

Art Fund director and chair of the judging panel Stephen Deuchar says, ‘A perfect fusion of art and landscape, the Yorkshire Sculpture Park has gone from modest beginning to one of the finest outdoor museums one might ever imagine.
‘In 2013 it really came of age – with art projects such as Yinka Shonibare’s extraordinary exhibition; the fruits of the expansion and consolidation of the landscape on both sides of the lake; and with the conversion of the chapel to house (as its inaugural exhibition) a major new work by Ai Weiwei’.

(Thu, 10 Jul 2014 | By Emily Gosling, Design Week) 

Ico Design creates 'discerning' and 'fun' identity for Biju bubble tea

Ico Design has developed the branding for new start-up Biju bubble tea, creating a series of Op art-inspired patterns.

Biju logo

The consultancy was appointed to the work around five months ago having been approached by the brand’s founder, Nick Phan, on the strength of its work for frozen yogurt brand Snog.
Russell Holmes, creative strategy partner at Ico Design, says, ‘[The founder] wanted the brand to have a similar level of execution and ambition [to Snog]. Bubble tea is a bit of a novelty in the UK, so it’s an opportunity to build a bigger brand that would outlast the novelty’.

Source: Brand photography by Nick Thompson

Biju tea

Gundry & Ducker is working on the interiors for the first branch, which will open in Soho’s Old Compton Street later this month.
Holmes says, ‘We wanted to engage an interior design team who’d be sympathetic to it. It was about creating something a bit more discerning and grown up, but retain fun and adventurousness. A lot of bubble tea brands mostly appeal to a South East Asian market’.

Source: Brand photography by Nick Thompson

Happiness is a Warm Milk Tea

The Biju branding uses a redrawn serif font all styled in lower case, with bright colours to reference some of the ingredients used in the tea – all of which are natural, with tea brewed fresh for each customer on the premises, according to Holmes.

Source: Brand photography by Nick Thompson

Biju packaging

‘We wanted to do keep it bright and colourful as the drinks are quite bright and colourful’, he says. ‘The colours from the ingredients are more sophisticated colours but we needed something more pop’.
The patterns are ‘inspired by the idea of doing something different’, and use Op art-inspired designs that run throughout the branding.
The branding is used across all touchpoints including interior graphics, the website, packaging, interior signage and a digital menu board.

Biju website

A hoarding in place outside the Old Compton Street site allows visitors to take a picture and follow the brand on Instagram, which they can exchange for a free tea on Biju’s opening.

Biju hoarding

(Wed, 9 Jul 2014 | By Emily Gosling, Design Week)