The Art of Effectiveness Project

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What a difference a day makes…

…as the song goes, 24 little hours. In March 2011, our chairman Jonathan Sands OBE set a 24-hour design challenge to students at the University of Huddersfield‘s School of Art, Design and Architecture. Worth staying up for? Definitely. Not only for the fast-paced collaborations, but also for the cash prize we offered the top three teams.

There were five briefs to choose from. The idea was to improve the quality of life for people in Huddersfield with creative ideas on sprucing up the town centre, making interesting use of its spaces and general environment, and encouraging people to use litter bins. The point? To engage hearts and minds, instil a sense of pride and open people’s eyes to their town’s beauty and potential.

Students worked through the night in cross-discipline teams to meet the 24-hour time limit and pitched their responses to Jonathan Sands, Lynda Relph-Knight, editor of Design Week, Emma Hunt, the Dean of The School of Art, Design and Architecture, Richard Ward, President of Huddersfield Civic Society, and Professor Andrew Ball, the University’s Pro-Vice Chancellor Research.

The winning team came up with dramatic designs for new street bins. As well as drilling underground to increase the bins’ holding capacity, users would be ‘rewarded’ with appropriate noises as soon as the litter touched the bins, such as a metallic crunch for a tin can. The same team also came up with an entertaining solution to the chewing gum problem. Why not use it for road markings?

The Huddersfield Examiner covered the run-up to the day, along with judge Lynda Relph-Knight on the Design Week blog. Pictures from the day and the winning work can be seen to the right.

Jonathan was thrilled by the event’s success, “I thought it was truly fantastic and I’ve written an open letter to all the students saying how genuinely impressed I was.” The prizes were donated by Elmwood: £100 each for the winning team, £50 each for second place and £25 each for the third placed outfit. And because Jonathan was so impressed by the standard, he made sure that all participants went away with at least £10 each.

The briefs:

• Could bins be made more attractive and effective, so that fewer people dropped rubbish or chewing gum in the street?
• Could boring walls, walkways or staircases be made more beautiful and interesting?
• Can people be persuaded to look more closely at the beauties of Huddersfield, therefore encouraging tourism and investment?
• Could the town’s numerous paved open spaces be put to better use all the year round?
• How can public transport journeys in and around Huddersfield be made more interesting and educational?

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