YESTERDAY. TODAY. YOU. – School students develop projects for tomorrow’s world
Knowledge of historical and current developments in design becomes a springboard: Young people between the ages of 13 and 16 can design products for a self-determined future. The workshop weeks of the German Design Museum Foundation are sponsored by the PwC Foundation for Youth - Education - Culture.
YESTERDAY. TODAY. YOU. Understanding the past, shaping the future: based on current design developments and their roots in the 20th century, school students take part in a workshop project focused on teaching the aesthetic and theoretical principles of product design.
By comparing iconic consumer products from different eras, such as cassette players and MP3 players, the students become familiar with the essential elements of design, such as form, material and function. With the guidance of a professional designer, they also discuss the individual benefits of different products, as well as brand-specific symbols and features that establish identity. Insights into the economic, social and technical influences that contribute to the form of each product serve as a creative springboard, inspiring the students to come up with their own ideas for creative new products – and to forecast how we will live and interact with these products in the future.
Participants give a final team presentation to the rest of the school, enabling the school community as a whole to connect with the results from the workshop.
The concept for the workshop on product design has a practical focus, and aims to develop the students’ own judgement and encourage them to form their own critical analysis of consumer and brand images. For the first time in this schools project, the German Design Museum Foundation is able to provide unique examples drawn from the historic photo archives of the German Design Council, a wealth of footage from the everyday life and consumer world of the 1950s through to the 1990s.