Press release - 20 April 2017 07:57

Design students visualise children’s ideas for a disconnected future

What kind of communication devices are needed in a world where all electronic communication is out of order? Twelve ten year old children from Hällsbo school, a special school in Umeå, gave students at Umeå Institute of Design this task. On Monday 24 April the students present their results.

Umeå Institute of Design, UID, has just completed a collaboration project with Kulturverket in Umeå Municipality and Hällsbo School. The short activity was part of Kulturverket’s long running project ”Kids Tell Pros What To Do”, in which selected children from schools in Umeå get their creative ideas reinterpreted by professional in different fields.

This year a class of twelve kids from Hällsbo School, specialised in children with difficulties to communicate, was tasked with the challenge to create message-carrying vehicles for a hypothetical context in which all other means of communication would be out of order.

The 10-year-old kids drew, modelled and described their vehicle creations and this material was then distributed among twelve international master students attending the Transportation Design programme at UID.

As part of their Storytelling in Design course, each master student was asked to create a short narrative inspired by one of the vehicles. Fundamentals of storytelling theory were applied and each narrative was then visualised in the form of storyboards. The last step of the assignment was to choose a key moment of the story and visualise it by including key elements like characters, environment, and naturally – the advanced vehicles needed to carry out quite special communication tasks.

On April 24 09.00-10.00 the children from Hällsbo School will visit Umeå Institute of Design to see the result of the exercise and meet the students who worked in the creative assignment.

“It will be quite an emotional moment”, says programme director Demian Horst, who was responsible for the course. “Our students were really looking forward to this activity, had an enjoyable time working on the assignments and the results express how engaging the pedagogical format really is. Now we hope that the Hällsbo kids will also enjoy the outcome as much as we do”.

Time: Monday 24 April 09.00-10.00
Location: Umeå Institute of Design, Umeå Arts campus, Östra Strandgatan 30, Umeå.

For more information, please contact:

Demian Horst, programme director, Master’s programme in transportation design, Umeå Institute of Design
Phone: +46907869782
E-mail: demian.horst@umu.se

Anna Parry, Kulturverket
Phone: +46706779809
E-mail: anna@thegoodisgood.com

Topics

Education

Umeå University
Umeå University is one of Sweden's largest institutions of higher learning with over 32,000 students and 4,200 employees. We have a well-established international research profile and a broad range of study options. Our campus constitutes an inspiring environment that encourages interdisciplinary meetings - between students, researchers, teachers and external stakeholders. Through collaboration with other members of society, we contribute to the development and strengthen the quality of our research and education.

Contacts

General Press Inquiries

Press contact Press Officer press@umu.se +46 90 786 50 89

Marie Oskarsson

Press contact Kommunikatör Lärarhögskolan, Umeå universitet marie.oskarsson@umu.se 0909-786 69 47

Umeå University

Umeå University is one of Sweden's largest universities with over 37,000 students and 4,300 employees. The university is home to a wide range of education programmes and world-class research in a number of fields. Umeå University was also where the gene-editing tool CRISPR-Cas9 was discovered – a revolution in gene-technology that was awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Founded in 1965, Umeå University is characterised by tradition and stability as well as innovation and change. Education and research on a high international level contributes to new knowledge of global importance, inspired, among other things, by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The university houses creative and innovative people that take on societal challenges. Through long-term collaboration with organisations, trade and industry, and other universities, Umeå University continues to develop northern Sweden as a knowledge region.

The international atmosphere at the university and its unified campus encourages academic meetings, an exchange of ideas and interdisciplinary co-operation. The cohesive environment enables a strong sense of community and a dynamic and open culture in which students and staff rejoice in the success of others.

Campus Umeå and Umeå Arts Campus are only a stone's throw away from Umeå town centre and are situated next to one of Sweden's largest and most well-renowned university hospitals. The university also has campuses in the neighbouring towns Skellefteå and Örnsköldsvik.

At Umeå University, you will also find the highly-ranked Umeå Institute of Design, the environmentally certified Umeå School of Business, Economics and Statistics and the only architectural school with an artistic orientation – Umeå School of Architecture. The university also hosts a contemporary art museum Bildmuseet and Umeå's science centre – Curiosum. Umeå University is one of Sweden's five national sports universities and hosts an internationally recognised Arctic Research Centre.