Founded in 1754 by William Shipley, the founding aim of the Royal Society of the Arts was “to embolden enterprise, enlarge science, refine arts, improve our manufactures and extend our commerce”. Members of the Society are called Fellows and are from a diverse background, but share a commitment to civic innovation and social progress. The RSA Student Design Awards is a global curriculum and competition for emerging designers. Winners are rewarded with cash prizes, paid industry placements, complementary RSA Fellowship and a range of other benefits to kick-start their careers
So we are very excited to make public that Year 3 student, Hanna Pimanava, one of the three Lincoln Graphic Design students shortlisted this year, has won the coveted RSA Student Award Competition for her entry “Early Parental Plan” in which she developed a social design solution that resolved a means to allow both parents to take the full entitlement of days for Shared Parental Leave (SPL) without them having to worry about their finances. This effort was in response to the “Take Leave” Brief which required that students design a system, service or campaign to encourage or enable parents, employers or society more widely to embrace Shared Parental Leave.
Hanna writes that, “I’m really pleased that the concept proved to be successful. Partaking in the RSA has not only given me the confidence in both design and conceptualisation but demonstrated the value of first-hand research. I was really excited to meet other winners and learn more about their innovative solutions at the awards ceremony! ”
The RSA Student Design Awards is a very prestigious win for us. Each year the Awards challenge emerging designers to tackle a range of design briefs focused on pressing social, environmental and economic issues.
This year it is estimated that there were around 1800 entries, so this is a significant win for us, which builds upon our department’s success with this competition over the years. The tutors overseeing the project were Rowan Gatfield and Sinclar Ashman. Professor Anne Chick was also kind enough to give a guest talk and sat in on the shortlisted student’s mock presentations.
A second award, given to Bethany Richardson was ‘Highly Commended’ for her project ‘Flock Radio’.
FLOCK is a radio station for agricultural workers which provides company, help and aims to start conversations about mental health in agriculture. Beth writes that “throughout my research I found that mental health is a massive problem in the industry, but also the biggest taboo. I wanted to create a simple solution which would make a difference. ‘
