Bringing design insights into local schools

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

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