On Tuesday, the CEO and several members of PARTY, a design innovation company with offices in Tokyo and New York, held a workshop on campus for our G11s! The workshop, which focused on design ideation, execution and prototyping, allowed our students to better understand the processes behind product conception, such as how an idea moves from its initial stages through team brainstorming and trial and error, to actual prototyping, whether it be a sketch prototype or a mock application. Students also learnt about advertising and marketing to varied audiences. For example, they were shown how a bird might be drawn differently in various contexts, depending on the type of market the product is being sold to. Further to that, students were presented with several projects that PARTY had conceptualized for their clients, which allowed them to see how these lessons applied in the real-life.
After the crash course presentation, students were put into teams and challenged to come up with an idea within 45-minutes that they would have to present to the PARTY representatives and the rest of their peers. For Kaion (G11, Japan), whose team came up with the winning idea of using a reciprocal point system to create a less stressful meal environment, the time limit “seemed quite short”, but he felt that it really forced them to “focus … and try to create an interesting presentation”. Similarly for Futatsu (G11, Japan), his takeaway was “getting things effectively done” since the workshop was “too concise”.
On the whole, Sofia (G11, Portugal) found the workshop to be “an amazing introduction to what a company is and the process of creating a product”. She says, “It allowed me to develop some key skills, like time management and also learn concepts that I believe I will take with me to other areas and projects. […] Some great ideas were presented, ranging from apps to shopping bags. For me, this was an incredible experience and I am most definitely looking forward to the next workshop since most of us are thinking about actually going forward with some of the ideas!”
We would like to express our gratitude to all the members of PARTY for taking time out of their busy schedules to spend their afternoon with our students!
