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In 2014, Cape Town, South Africa held the title of World Design Capital, which they showcased with a variety of projects demonstrating the city's dedication to beautiful, useful and community-changing design. Youth Design Studio - a collaboration between Imagine More and one of our most esteemed colleagues, a researcher and PhD candidate at Stockholm University - was one of these projects: a sustainable design course for high school students in Cape Town's underserved communities.
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The Youth Design Studio Journey
When we found out that Cape Town was awarded the World Design Capital title for 2014, we knew we wanted to be a part of it - but as we thought about possible design projects, we noticed that "design" often feels closed off to non-professionals. We wanted to help people realize that anyone can be a designer; and more than anything, we wanted to make sure that young people would have a voice and presence in the event. In this spirit, we created Youth Design Studio: Creating for Communities in Cape Town, South Africa.
Overall, we had three objectives for Youth Design Studio: 1. To empower students and teach them useful skills; 2. To offer students an opportunity to work with and learn from a diverse group of people that they probably wouldn't meet otherwise; 3. To assist students in creating a project that would have lasting benefit for their community. In the first half of the course, students learned principles of design; sustainability; social research; and project creation and idea testing. In the second half, they put these skills to use: armed with the research they'd done, students created prototypes for a project that would benefit their community. The class also involved a mentorship component: on many class days, local professionals in various fields came to advise students, work with them, and share about themselves and their jobs. The materials used in the class were almost entirely found, recycled, and upcycled. Over the course of the World Design Capital year, the YDS team of Imagine More members, colleagues, and in-country collaborators successfully proposed, crowdfunded, created and taught Youth Design Studio in two high schools in low-income areas of Cape Town. We also taught a number of classes and workshops to local teachers, designers, and marketers. These covered topics such as how to use design thinking to address day-to-day challenges; how to teach design thinking to students; and how to conduct human-centered research. |
