Design Directions

Design Directions 2009 focuses on ageing and prisons

 
The 2009 Design Directions student award scheme went online at www.rsadesigndirections.org with a set of projects that will challenge the most ambitious design student.
 
For the first time this year, a new concept called Design Directions Plus is included, offering two major projects focused on key aspects of important contemporary issues of our time: ageing and prisons.
 
Action for Age addresses some of the complex challenges presented by an ageing population, focusing on how older people can become isolated and marginalised. The project asks: what are the opportunities for design to make a difference?
 
The second project, The Visit, examines some of the difficult issues associated with visiting prisons and, more broadly, how design-led strategies can support the maintenance of family ties, which is an important factor in reducing a prisoner’s risk of re‑offending. 
 
Students who are shortlisted for either of these projects will then have the opportunity to work with key stakeholders in each project area to develop their ideas. Working with a number of new sponsors and project supporters – including the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Kalyx, Forum for the Future and Engine Service Design – the scheme aims to be the leading student programme for socially focused design.