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Two Product Design students from ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ have picked up awards at the show in London. Another two students came away with commendations for their products which formed part of their final year degree projects. 

They were among 3000 talented design graduates from around the country who exhibited their products at the Business Design Centre in Islington between 28th June and 8th July.

The students were recognised for designing new products to address real world problems around sustainability, helping people live better and supporting marginalised communities.

Jake Leach-Perry won the Brilliantly Useful Design award, sponsored by Joseph Joseph, for his product Tundra which can be used in alpine environments to melt, filter and store snow.

Typically, to get water in alpine activities, people have to use a stove, pan and water bottle. Tundra incorporates all these into one neat, compact package, even including a scoop to collect snow. It is faster, more fuel efficient and more compact than any competitors.

Jake also received a commendation in the DCA Futures award category.

After receiving his award, he said "It still feels a bit surreal, but winning the Joseph Joseph award is a huge honour! To be recognised by such a massive company feels great, it makes the year of hard work all worth it. It was a pleasure talking to the guys at DCA as well, and I'm really pleased with the shortlist award they gave me. Overall New Designers has been an overwhelmingly positive experience which has revealed some exciting new avenues for me to explore!"

Amy Baker picked up the Creative Conscience - Best in Show for social and environmental impact award for her product Portia, a menstrual cup cleaner designed for convenient and discreet cleaning on the go. Amy came up with the design after her research found that uneasiness of emptying and cleaning menstrual cups in public toilets was a major factor in stopping women using them.

Portia includes a thumb compartment with bristles that allow the cup to be emptied and cleaned without leaving the toilet cubicle.

Amy said “What an exciting opportunity New Designers has been to round off the end of a great few years at university. Receiving recognition from Creative Conscience for social and environmental impact has been an excellent morale booster that will encourage me to continue doing my best work in sustainable design.''

Two BU students came away with commendations for the Anglepoise Abandon Darkness awards for products with sustainability at their heart.

Marcus Dyson’s product Aura aims to improve cyclist safety by encouraging drivers to give a safe distance when overtaking. A quarter of serious collisions between cyclists and vehicles occur because of the vehicle overtaking too closely. Aura aims to reduce this by attaching to the seat post of the bike and projecting a laser onto the road to indicate a safe passing distance.

Zander McKay’s design WeatherWise aims to tackle the huge loss of life on Lake Victoria, Tanzania, where up to five people drown a day because of a lack of awareness of weather forecasts.

The device can be placed in central locations and warn local communities of adverse weather conditions. It receives forecasts from an existing SMS based system and depicts the information using colours and symbols that can be understood by anyone, regardless of their literacy levels or languages that they speak.

Rebecca Webb was shortlisted for the CMS Future Design Star Award for designing Petra the Pebble, which allows young children to report their emotions to their teachers easily. Tim Elmer was also shortlisted for Pulse, a video gaming headset to improve the experience for people with single-sided-deafness.

The New Designers Show took place just after BU’s Festival and Design and Engineering where final year students from across the Engineering and Design courses demonstrated their solutions to real world problems. 

Abi Batley, a Demonstrator in Prototyping who helped the students create their products in BU’s workshops, said “Following on from our New Designers success last year, this cohort had a hard act to follow, but they once again excelled and produced a fantastic New Designers show from ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½. I am confident they will all go on to have successful careers which I will follow with interest."