An Experience Haus Design Day Like No Other
Young people and the police often have a negative relationship. Reputations differ on both sides and it often harms this particular relationship – it’s a complex challenge to address.
On Saturday 24th September, Experience Haus invited 50 students (16 – 21) from across London to join an inspirational and challenging one day event in our Shoreditch studio.
The task? To work alongside Experience Haus design alumni, as well as the City of London Police and Metropolitan Police, to create a series of digital and service concepts that will determine this relationship between young people and the police. The ultimate goal for this event was to build young people’s trust and confidence in the police.
Experience Haus designers spent time asking both students and members of the police a range of questions to help them shape ideas around ways to improve relations between the two. The experts provided advice and guided the process to ensure the end solution was viable and technically possible.
Similar to previous hackathons, this design day was conceived and hosted in our Experience Haus studios, and we were lucky enough to be supported by a fantastic host of companies. The entire event was led by Digital Skills Consulting and sponsored by Amazon Web Services (AWS). Other organisations taking part included Barking & Dagenham College, Activate Learning, Hackney Youth Parliament, The Crib, The Wickers, Women’s Inclusive Team and the Osmani Trust.
The workshop gave these young people a fantastic opportunity for them to explore future careers in design, tech and the police force. They met with mentors, employers, business and government leaders, and other students, helping to develop their communication, teamwork, creativity and networking skills.
Following the success of this event, future workshops have been planned with the students to develop their concepts, and business and personal skills.
Commenting on the event, Experience Haus’ Creative Director, Amit Patel said:
“It’s important to us that every voice is heard during the design of important products and services, especially when we are talking about tackling challenges that have social impact.
Experience Haus is proud to play a pivotal role in this, and days like today bring together our growing design community, as well as inspiring the future creatives of tomorrow.
It’s been enjoyable watching the empathy, storytelling and collaboration unfold between everyone involved, throughout the day.”
Chief Inspector Ray Marskell from the City of London Police said:
“This exciting event allowed us to engage with young adults from across London. We understand how important it is to maximise opportunities to meet and get to know the communities we serve better. We are grateful to AWS for their support, along with partners from the Metropolitan Police Service. It was an enlightening experience to hear the group’s ideas about how we can improve our relationship with younger people, and we are committed to building on their solutions and bringing them to life where possible.”
Chief Inspector Lucky Singh from the Metropolitan Police said:
“This was an amazing event that allowed the Metropolitan (Met) and City of London Police (CoLP) to focus and actively engage with young people, especially from underrepresented groups and females.
We are extremely grateful to Experience Haus for hosting the event. There were many great ideas, suggestions and possible solutions put forward that we are confident will help build better relations between young people and the Police services. The Met and CoLP will continue working alongside AWS and Digital Skills Consulting to deliver these workshops”
Amazon Web Services, Head of Justice and Public Safety, John Pittaway said:
“This was an inspiring event that gave young people the opportunity to have their voices heard by City of London Police (CoLP) and Metropolitan Police (Met) and be involved in designing solutions that will help to improve relations between young people and police. We look forward to continuing the partnership with CoLP, Met and young people from London to address these important topics.”
Digital Skills Consulting develops projects with the private sector, working with FE colleges, Institutes of Technology and charities to provide students with real-world challenges and experience. Director Julia Von Klonowski said:
“It has been amazing to see these young people confronting real-world, social issues that affect them in their daily lives and working closely with representatives from law enforcement and the technology sector. “These students have shown tremendous courage, ingenuity and a sense of community. Some really interesting and exciting ideas were shared. We are extremely grateful to our sponsor AWS and all the stakeholders who gave their time to make the event such a success. We look forward to seeing how these ideas are developed.”
