INDEX: DESIGN CHALLENGE 2010

School equipment serving developing countries can be as elegant as furniture in the developed world. Elephant Walk Desk is a school desk that could easily fit in any design shop, but it is a design targeted to enhance learning environments for primary school children in Nepal, and is made from local materials using an elegant process of production. The Elephant Walk Desk is one of seven finalists in the design competition "INDEX: Design Challenge 2010" that has been developed in collaboration between the Danish not-for-profit organization INDEX and UNICEF.

In June 2010, UNICEF together with INDEX formulated four main design challenges and an open innovation challenge that students could respond to over the fall semester.

The design briefs included designing equipment and services for education in developing countries and disaster-affected areas where UNICEF works to provide improved conditions for learning, ensuring equal access to education for boys and girls, and to improve hygiene in schools.

Primary education for all is the second of the UN's 2015-target, but currently 72 million children are still not in school. Proper equipment in these areas inhibits children's learning capacities and basic necessities such as flat surfaces to sit and write on is often a challenge to deliver in diverse regions and therefore affects attendance and learning.

More than 1000 students from 29 countries across the globe joined the competition which resulted in 115 submitted design solutions.

FINALISTS



Akshara- Learn As You Play - Sayantani Dasgupta and Meghma Mitra, Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology (IN)

The Akshara – Learn As You Play is a fresh perspective on the traditional alphabet book in the form of a toy, like a jigsaw puzzle, which helps children assimilate language better through tactile experience as well as developing motor skills which are also very important for children at a primary school level. The point of this is to make the concept of an alphabet book more effective through a do-it-yourself process because studies in child psychology show that children assimilate more by doing rather than learning by rote.
The Jury praised the design team for ‘creating a system where learning unconsciously melts into play’ and for a ‘poetic and stimulating tool’ that can be extendable to other alphabets, languages and geographies.

Elephant Walk Desk – Stephen Pennington, University of Notre Dame (US)

The Elephant Walk Desk is a school desk that focuses on creating a locally manufactured and sustainable furniture solution which targets primary school-aged children to create a more collaborative and engaging classroom environment.
The Jury commended the designer for creating ‘an appealing and joyful design, applicable to developing and Western countries’ and ‘inspirational for young imaginations’.

Lily Pad – Shiny Lam and Joey Loi, Ryerson University (CA)

The Lily Pad is a water lily-shaped mat made of hemp fiber, which ensures a comfortable and flexible seating option in schools with uneven surfaces. Lily Pad is a contemporary design that addresses the problem of uncomfortable learning environments whilst responding to the natural environment through the use of green sustainable materials.
The Jury praised the design team for ‘its highly creative and elegant design for under-privileged children’ and could see this idea working in different contexts ‘from store to field’.

padBack – Cansu Akarsu, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KR), Istanbul Technical University (TR)

padBACK is a sanitary protection method for rural areas in Africa. The aim of the project is to ensure that girls do not drop out of school due to stigmatization of their menstrual cycle. The padBack is a self-maintaining system and the pads are made of papyrus and biodegradable non-woven fabric.
The Jury felt the designer constructed ‘very well thought opportunities for local procurement and distribution and job creation for papyrus farmers, jobs for production workers and health for women’ and the design focuses on a ‘whole system and not only on a product to a very important and stigmatized issue’.

Reach & Match - Lau Shuk Man, Monash University (AU)

Reach & Match is designed to create an educational and playful kit in assisting the emotional, communicative and cognitive development for young children with visual impairments. It provides children (3-6years old) with visual impairments a unique bridge and interesting path to Braille literacy. The design can provide tactile strategy and hearing pleasure through the sensory exploration and can build motor development, special awareness and logical intelligence in the sensory play of design.
The Jury commended the designer for ‘addressing a huge ignored population which UNICEF currently has no product catering for this group’.

Soap Shish - Cansu Akarsu and Eun Jung Lee, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KR), Istanbul Technical University (TR)

The Soap Shish is inspired by an abacus and uses the colorful and slippery features of soap and thereby attracting kids to play with it, whilst at the same time clean their hands. It aims to provide hygiene to schools at all times, preventing the soap bars from being removed or melted.
The Jury praised the designer for ‘an interesting design that solves a problem while involving the local community in the soap production process.’

Teddy Bag - François Verez and Ane Eguiguren, Université Technologique the Compiegne (UTC) and Elisava School of Design (FR & ES)

Teddy Bag is a school bag that turns into a desk. It allows children to carry all they need to study; in school or at home. It is made from cardboard and therefore it is light. The simple production process makes it possible to be produced easily in developing countries.
The Jury was encouraged by the design team’s ‘intelligent, simple yet elegant and powerful design’ and praised the ‘reusability for disaster affected areas, as well as creating learning environments at home’.

HONORABLE MENTIONS
Agents of Change - Aajwanthi.K.Baradwaj, Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology (IN)
‘Agents of Change’ is a project aimed to bring about behavioral change through community participation.
The Jury praised this interesting ‘systems and methodologies design with engagement of the community at the heart’.

Vole - James Connors, Oscar Salguero, Reid Schlegel, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University (US)
Vole is to provide a system in which local factories and Haitian citizens produce shoes for empowering local economies, developing technical skill sets and providing opportunities for children to attend school.
The Jury was impressed ‘by the great use of discarded materials’ in a ‘clearly visualized concept’.

Lady Bird – Sophie Smyth, Enmore Design Centre (AU)
The Ladybird is a self-contained, reusable, compactable and self-inflating temporary school building for use in areas affected by environmental disasters, war zones and other emergencies.
The Jury praised the designer for ‘an appealing design for fulfilling essential needs for children in times of emergency, catastrophes or conflict’.