Joanna Choukeir picks four up-and-coming designers to join our Ones to Watch

We asked Joanna Choukier – Head of Design at uscreates and LCC lecturer – to help us in our mission to find 70 Ones to Watch to showcase as part of our 70th anniversary celebrations.

Joanna joined us at the Creative Conscience Awards to help pick four up-and-coming designers with vision, innovation and ambition to join our 70 Ones to Watch.

Q. How would you sum-up the work you saw at the Creative Conscience Awards?

The projects covered a huge range of issues, from mental health and environmental sustainability, to education and domestic violence. It’s great to see designers drawing on their specialist skills to address a social challenge.

Joanna Choukeir with our latest Ones to Watch Claire Jefferies and Adam Radi

Q. What do you want to see more of?

I’d love to see more designers thinking about the long-term impact of their design solutions. Many designers proposed short-lived campaigns, which work well to raise awareness, but lack a vision of how the concept could support long-term social change.

I’d love to see more designers thinking about the long-term impact of their design solutions

Q. What did you see that could be a game-changer in years to come?

The entrepreneurial skills some of the designers demonstrated in their submissions could be a game-changer for sure.

For example, Dear Friend by Adam Radi and Mathias Trads is based on a partnership with greetings card company Moonpig making the campaign more financially sustainable.

Similarly designer Matthew Thompson conducted a cost analysis of prosthetics and has developed a solution at a fraction of the cost, improving their financial accessibility.

Q. Who did you choose to join our Ones to Watch?

Adam Radi & Mathias Trads

School of Communication Arts 2.0

Dear Friend is a campaign concept for greeting card retailer Moonpig to send message love and kindness to decision makers, in the hope of affecting real change to policies, laws and lives. The cards focus on places where self-expression is restricted, for example taking on the issue of gay rights in Russia.

Dear Friend is a simple concept that draws on existing technology to make powerful advocacy campaigns accessible to everyone.

Matthew Thompson

University of Derby

Matthew has created concepts and prototypes for amazing low-cost, low-noise, lightweight prostheses with improved battery life.

Matthew’s rigorous research identified a clear gap in the market - with thorough prototyping and feasibility studies he’s paved the way to producing these very promising low-cost prosthetics.

Claire Jefferies

Nottingham Trent University

First Aid Fred is a smartphone app that aims to teach the basics of first aid to 8-14 year olds in an engaging, fun and interactive way.

First Aid Fred brings together problem solving, user understanding, user experience, gamification and humour to increase first aid knowledge and skills among children. Claire’s empathetic communication design skills make her One to Watch.

Could you become one of our 70 Ones to Watch?

Our team of scouts can’t reach every talented up-and-coming designer out there – so we’d encourage you to nominate yourself online to make sure your work gets seen by our Ones to Watch judges. You can apply online until 1 October 2014.