Design students are award winners at New Designers 2020

Two Industrial Design & Technology students win awards at New Designers 2020. The virtual award ceremony which took place via Facebook Live was hosted by Sally Bent, New Designers Event Director, and also joined by Luke Pearson from Pearson Lloyd who delivered a keynote speech.

Tara Janes was awarded the Mojo Nation prize for the Toy Design Award. Their brief invited the designers to create the toy industry’s next smash-hit surprise/reveal collectible range. Tara's product, Collectimals, is a blind-box surprise reveal toy that teaches children about endangered animals in a light-hearted way. There are multiple unboxing stages relevant to each of the three habitats: sea, snow and rainforest, and the more endangered an animal, the rarer the toy is.

Tara Janes's Collectimals

The judges commented that:

"Tara’s Collectimals is a smart idea, boasting serious parent-pester potential and featuring three different fun unboxing processes and a timely, on-trend theme."

As a result of winning the award, Tara has been presented with free tickets to the Mojo Pitch; this is a virtual pitching event taking place in September that allows you to pitch your concept directly to product acquisitions execs from over 30 of the world’s biggest toy and game companies, each looking to license great new ideas. As the overall winning student, Tara will also get 12 one-hour virtual one-on-one mentorship sessions with some of the industry’s top designers.

Speaking of her award, Tara explains that:

"It was amazing to have Collectimals selected as the winning project; Co-vid lockdown was tough and I felt demotivated at first but the brief Mojo Nation set inspired me and I'm proud that I managed to create something of value in such a crazy time. It feels great to get recognition for one of the first projects I worked on after graduating from university, as was getting a chance to apply the skills I learnt while on placement at Lego. Career-wise this experience will help me greatly; I have the opportunity to pitch my concept to toy companies and maybe see it on shelves! Part of my prize is mentoring sessions with top toy inventors, this opportunity to pick their brains and network with them will be invaluable to my career progression as a new graduate."

Fellow Industrial Design & Technology student, Joe Slatter was awarded the Cambridge Consultants Breakthrough Design Award. Their brief offered an open call to all Product, Industrial & Spatial Design students. Joe's product, Oto, is an ear examination medical device with AI camera attachment. Allowing health care professionals to record and upload media onto electronic health records. Oto’s attachment has AI diagnostic support should the user need assistance in determining the results. The AI camera attachment encourages patient interaction as well as providing an accurate recording function, sharing capabilities and diagnostic support, all whilst keeping a social distance from the patient.

An illustration of the Oto device

The judges commented that:

"An accomplished project in which the problem space and stakeholders involved were well understood, the design process was clearly articulated, and the presentation and product styling was refined to a very high standard."

Joe has been presented with an invitation to visit Cambridge Consultants and spend a day with their design teams in both the Medical Technology division and the Industrial, Consumer and Energy (ICE) division. In addition, Joe has also received a £500 cash prize to support the development of his design career.

When asked about winning the award, Joe said that:

"I am delighted to have won the Cambridge Consultants Breakthrough Design Award. With the New Designers exhibition not being on this year, it was a great opportunity to still be able to enter the awards and being recognised by Cambridge Consultants has meant the hard work has paid off."