People tell us that one of the things that makes Think Up stand out is our ability to propose groundbreaking – and sometimes quite audacious – educational initiatives, and then to deliver them.
If this is true, then it is probably because we allow our thinking to be unconstrained at the start of concept development, confident that we can draw upon the resources of the Useful Simple Trust to find a practical way to deliver our plans.
This concept development always starts in response to a clearly defined brief, usually as a result of initial work with clients to identify strategic educational needs. For instance, we identified with the Institution of Civil Engineers the need to create an attention-grabbing experience to inspire sixth-formers to sign up to study civil engineering at university.
Our response was to propose Build Camp, a four-day residential course in which young people would design, build and ride their own section of railway. To turn an audacious concept like this requires civil engineering expertise, experience of working running educational events on site, and also the ability to create a strong visual identity to attract, excite and hold the event together.
For the engineering expertise, we work with our sister company Expedition who were instrumental in setting up the Constructionarium. Their early work on helping students to work on site underpins much of our thinking on how to create high-impact construction education.
For the visual identity elements, we work with our sister company Thomas Matthews. Their early work on projects helps to make our ideas feel more real, and is an important part of helping to bring on board stakeholders and funding.
Between us we have over fifteen years experience of proposing unusual education initiatives and then delivering them, which is probably why our clients have confidence in us when we say to them, “Hang on, we’ve got an idea.”