The Emerging Designers

Iceworks Design a Brisbane based multi-disciplinary design and build company have taken the lead on providing industry-based training in the production design field. The Emerging Designers Program is built to provide an immersive experience within a busy production design team to gain real industry experience.

The program runs twice a year with each intake offering positions for 3 designers. The paid program runs for 4 weeks taking the team through a complete design process.

To apply for the program the designers visit www.theemergingdesigners.com to register their interest. From there they need to put together “Who am I” resume. These resumes are focused on the person they are not the work they have done.

Jason Raft, Iceworks owner and Emerging Designers founder commented, “We are constantly approached with portfolios showing generic work from university projects with no indication of who the designer is. As a creative team we want to see what excites them, what inspires them, how they see the world around them. In managing a design team over the last 16 years the one lesson I have learned is that technical skills can be learned but confidence in who you are as a designer is pivotal to your success.”

Once selected through an interview process the 3 designers are provided a project brief that they then need to interpret and commence building concepts. Mentored by our design and build team. The project focuses on providing the team with experience across the entire scope of commercial production design. From initial brief, concept work ups, research and build methodologies through to construction plans, pricing and presentation.

Our aim is to showcase these Emerging Designers, to support them as they take their first steps into our industry. At the same time, we will be presenting them with challenges to encourage creative thinking, not just about design but collaboration, time management and communication as well. These core skills are fundamental to working in our environment and we want these Emerging Designers to be equipped with the right tools for the job.

PROGRAM OVERVIEW

WEEK 1

RESEARCH & CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT

The designers start the program by studying the brief developed by the Iceworks Design team. Pulling it apart and breaking it down to research and concept development tasks to solve the brief. They must collaborate, learning the strengths and weaknesses of each other to accurately assess and schedule their time whilst developing a project management methodology for their project.

WEEK 2

DRAFT CONCEPT

Designers will work on developing their initial concepts further. The Iceworks team will help assess the concepts and guide ‘The Emerging Designers’ in a direction that answers the brief.

WEEK 3

CONSTRUCTION

With the concepts in development the designers will meet with a construction manager that will assess their design and offer advice on build, materials and labour.

WEEK 4

FINAL DESIGN & PRESENTATION

The designers will finalise their design and present to the team at Iceworks. The design will be reviewed, and industry feedback will be offered to emulate a real-world scenario.

Our first intake in April 2019 was extremely successful with the design team of Jane Burfitt, Brianna Schoemaker and Bethany Heidenreich setting a high standard for programs to come.

The three designers came from very different backgrounds but given the opportunity to collaborate and with the guidance on the Iceworks team their final design presentation not only met the brief but also exceeded our expectations. So much so that their design is being built and will be having its first outing for a client in the second half of 2019.

With our second intake currently going through the application process we are very excited to see we are very excited to see where the programs take us next. If you know someone that has an interest in production design point them in the direction of ‘The Emerging Designers Program’!