10th March 2017 admin

Scottish Baby Box Design

Today the winner of the national competition to design the external surface of the Scottish Baby Box was announced. I had the pleasure of being involved in the judging of this historic competition. It was great to see the range of designs, all of which were underpinned by interesting ideas. Special congratulations to Leanne Young, whose design will go into production this summer.

Winning the competition is a huge achievement, as it offers the opportunity to creatively shape something that may very well be the first designed object in which a child comes into contact. The winning design was conceptually clever, distinctively Scottish and pragmatic from the point of view of printing cost.

The panel discussed all the entries at length and I would like to congratulate all the shortlisted entrants for coming so far in the competition.

Baby Box

Shortlisted students display their entries

Baby Box

Minister Mark McDonald, Childcare and Early Years and Philip Long, Director of V&A Dundee with the shortlisted students at the Scottish Parliament

 

Background to the Scottish Baby Box Competition

The notion of a Scottish Baby Box was inspired by a system that has been running in Finland since 1938.
The competition to design the external surface graphics, was launched at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design and has been organised by V&A Dundee. The competition was open to design students across Scotland.
A pilot project was launched on New Year’s Day in both Orkney and Clackmannanshire.

 

 

“There are over 50,000 babies born in Scotland each year so the winning design will receive fantastic exposure throughout the country. We want these boxes to become a key part of the lives of parents and children so the design needs to be bold and inspirational.”
Minister Mark McDonald – Childcare and Early Years

 

The Scottish Baby Box Design Competition Shortlisted Entrants

  • Grace Brown, North East Scotland College
  • Marwa Ebrahim, Glasgow School of Art
  • Ruth Hamilton, Edinburgh College of Art
  • Lena Sakura, Edinburgh College
  • Monika Stachowiak, North East Scotland College
  • Leanne Young, Edinburgh Napier University

Details on the competition – Scottish Government, V&A Dundee and BBC

See each of the shortlisted entries.

Hear Philip Long, Director of the V&A Dundee and I discussing the Baby Box Design Competition on BBC Radio Scotland (towards the end of the show)- BBC Radio Scotland