The RSA Student Design Awards are an annual, international design competition that challenges students to address social, environmental, and economic issues through innovative solutions. During my second year at The University of Bristol, myself and 5 other students came together to address the Ellen Macarth Foundation brief surrounding circular fashion.

01 // Our roles

The team: Our interdisciplinary team was made up of innovation students from a mix of backgrounds including Geography, Theatre and Management. Each team member contributed equally toward the research and ideation while bringing unique experience and skills from their core discipline.

Myself: Contributing as an innovation consultant, leading on technical feasibility due to my background in Computer Science.

02 // Our approach

 

We adopted a tailored design process inspired by methods and principles within design thinking and an agile methodology. A key element across these approaches was a non-linear cycle of reflection and iteration. Aside from interviewing key stakeholders, we also explored everyday habits of users who participated in our daily diary cultural probe. One ket insight we uncovered, which informed further design opportunities, was that many attitudes towards second-hand fashion enforced a stigma that is wholly unsustainable.

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03 // The outcome

While we did not receive any formal recognition from The RSA for our work, we were able to deliver a unique, innovative solution that addressess the issues surrounding fast fashion all the while demonstrating desirability and viability in our solution.

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