Young designers wanted for Dinostar exhibition

STRIKING: Lily Duffill of the Junior Design Factory and Dinostar owner Steve Plater with the new shop front design

By Angus Young

Designers of the future are set to help create artefacts to be displayed in a new exhibition at a popular Hull visitor attraction.

Families are being invited to sign up to take part in digital design workshops run by community interest arts and education company Creative Briefs during the February half-term.

The workshops follow a recent project involving youngsters from the company’s Junior Design Factory programme who helped transform the appearance of Dinostar, the dinosaur-themed museum in Humber Street. 

After recently celebrating Dinostar’s 21st anniversary, owner Steve Plater decided it was time for a new look, so he turned to youngsters from the programme to get the job done.

The Junior Design Factory gives children from across the UK the chance to take on real-life design briefs from clients, giving them hands-on work experience of delivering a project from start to finish. 

The museum is now adorned with a striking new design featuring a giant Tyrannosaurus Rex courtesy of Junior Design Factory, including Hull-based members Joe Stuckey and Lily Duffill.

A delighted Mr Plater said: “It looks terrific.”

POPULAR: Dinostar in Humber Street

Dinostar’s latest link-up with Creative Briefs comes exactly a decade since their first collaboration when children taking part in workshops run by the company helped create a new exhibition space inside the attraction.

Later this month during the half-term holidays youngsters are invited to take part in digital design workshops organised by Creative Briefs to design new exhibits for Dinostar, which are being funded through a KCOM Digital Inclusion grant.

Creative Briefs founder Jason Bowers said the Junior Design Factory members had all contributed to something special.

“The outside of the museum looks fantastic,” he said. “The young designers chose colours, fonts, stock imagery suitable for large print format and produced drawings showing their ideas.

“They then worked with Rebecca Shipham, an exhibition designer also based in Hull, who helped bring everything together into a detailed document for approval, costing and installation.

“The project has provided invaluable experience with a real outcome for the young designers to walk past and say: ‘I did that’, and now we are looking forward to welcoming more young people to work on the designs for the new interior exhibit.”

For more information about taking part in the half-term digital design workshops visit: www.creativebriefs.co.uk/dino