London Met will compete against University of Sussex and Brunel London University for the inaugural Inventors Workshop New Designers Award.
Date: 18 September 2015
Students from London Metropolitan University have been invited to pitch new toy designs to industry experts including LEGO, Hasbro and Argos at the Inventors Workshop on 22 September.
Six students, led by Fiona French, Course Leader at London Met, will travel to Whittlebury Hall in Northampton to take part in the day long toy hack-fest.
The students involved are Winter Milek, Quoc Luu, Zion Siton, George Anderson, Robyn Sarah Andrews and Dimitri Xitas. “The selected students are a combination of programmers and artists,” said Fiona.
“They all have amazing creative skills and have demonstrated their ability to innovate and produce working prototypes in class. I am delighted that they now have an opportunity to collaborate on a brief for a real company.”
The team will compete against fellow design students from the University of Sussex and Brunel University London to create a brand new toy concept.
Winter, Quoc and Robyn study BSc Games Modelling Animation and Effects. George and Zion graduated this summer with first class honours degree in BSc Computer Games Programming. Dimitri is a current Computer Games Programming student.
The teams will pitch their ideas to execs from global toy manufacturers, high street retailers, investors and successful designers at the end of the conference and the winning team will be presented with the inaugural Inventors Workshop New Designers Award.
“London Met games students combine advanced technical skills with teamwork and concept development,” added Fiona.
“Each year, they have a dedicated module that requires them to create a new game or toy, moving from paper prototyping to digital media and physical systems with embedded technology.
“We run two degrees - BSc Computer Games Programming and BSc Games Modelling, Animation and Effects. Our game and toy development modules are very popular and produce outstanding work that is presented at the annual Faculty Summer Show.
”The chance to participate in the Inventors Workshop Conference and meet professionals in the toy industry is very exciting - we hope this collaboration will help students understand the challenges of developing new play products and springboard some of our graduates into design and technology roles.”
Billy Langsworthy, Inventors Workshop conference director, said: “Innovation is the lifeblood of the toy industry. Without innovation, it would stagnate and we would have no new toys.
“It’s so important for industry, the government and academia to support our new designers; to make it possible for them to study in the first place and to ease their path into employment and future success.”
To learn more about our BSc Computer Games Programming and BSc Games Modelling, Animation and Effects programmes, click here.
