UNSW Student Design Competition: Fostering Innovation in Industrial Design

Street Furniture Australia has a long history of design and research collaborations with the University of NSW. Francis McArdle, our Head of Product Design is a Casual Tutor at UNSW – a role which is valuable in maintaining strong ties between our industry and the University.

Most recently the Industrial Design teaching staff together with Francis ran a competition for a group of 2nd year students. StreetChat asked Francis to tell us all about it.

How did this Street Furniture Australia/UNSW collaboration come about?
The competition was held during Term 1 this year, with students from Industrial Design Studio 2A, which I was a casual tutor in supporting the course convenor. Their Studio project was centred on “Design for Public Space,” with students asked to design a new bike rack. Mariano Ramirez, Senior Lecturer and Discipline Director for Industrial Design at UNSW, had suggested the competition, and we saw it as a great opportunity for Street Furniture Australia and UNSW to build on our previous collaborations (which have included the Flower Chair project, and ChillOUT Hubs).

Who participated?
All students enrolled in the Industrial Design Studio 2A were offered to participate as part of their course requirements. Street Furniture Australia agreed to sponsor the project, offering cash prizes for top submissions and the chance for winners to present their concepts to the design team and tour the factory. There were around 40 eligible entries.

How did the competition fit with course objectives?
These were second-year students, and part of the course objective was for them to start understanding how to design for manufacture—creating functional objects that can also be mass-produced. They also had to generate production drawings, which was new for them. We started with a rapid research phase, where Mitchell Brown (course convenor) and I pushed the students to apply design thinking methods to underpin their designs before putting pen to paper.

The students had to balance creating manufacturable designs with pushing boundaries… Those who prototyped, iterated, and used their research best generated the most effective solutions, reaffirming the
fundamentals of industrial design.”

Francis McArdle – Head of Product Design

What was new/interesting about what students are doing in 2024? We saw lots of interesting ideas, such as multifunctional bike stands, innovative forms, and ways to address the changing micro-transport realm. The students had to balance creating manufacturable designs whilst pushing the creative boundaries. We observed new trends in their ways of working; although none used AI extensively, we discussed how to use these tools and communicate those methods as part of the process.

Students utilised online presentation tools like Canva for dynamic presentations. Those who prototyped, iterated, and used their research best generated the most effective solutions, reaffirming the fundamentals of industrial design.

Tell us about the winning project(s) and why they won.
We shortlisted nine students. The Street Furniture Australia design team then assessed these submissions and selected a winner and two runner-ups:

Winner: Eugenia Cheung for “LeafLock”
Runner-Ups: Adriano Sturla and Andrew Nguyen

Eugenia’s winning “LeafLock” bike rack addressed a common issue with existing racks – holding bikes upright. It also had a pleasing form. Multi-bike parking areas can often look messy, and her design helped address that issue. The shape and colour choices added an element of fun, and these design intentions were beautifully expressed in her models and renders. Eugenia successfully explored tubular steel with a design that is immediately recognisable as a bike stand, but with a twist, executed in a way that makes it highly manufacturable.

How can competitions like this help students in their career?
These competitions are invaluable for students as they help kick-start their careers. It’s challenging for industrial design students to prove their skills and experience before being given opportunities by employers. These competitions become important portfolio pieces that provide credentials directly from the industry, assisting students at this crucial stage. SFA provided a factory tour and the opportunity to present to our design team, giving students insight into professional designers’ work life and
opportunities to develop ongoing relationships.

Below: ‘Leaflock’, the winning entry by Eugenia Cheung.

Below: Bike rack by Andrew Nguyen

Below: Bike rack by Adriano Sturla