ATI Sandbox

📣 We have big news! And it's not just our new cool Sandbox t-shirts - it's that we now offer a 𝐦𝐢𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞 here at the Institute of Computer Science. It is a perfect way to get well acquainted with the world of digital product design while not cutting too much into your busy schedules. Read more (in Estonian) at: https://cs.ut.ee/et/sisu/digitoodete-juhtimine

Don't hesitate to ask us about the microdegree programme!

Aaaaaand of course - our friends .space welcomed us in Mannheim. 🧡

2nd day of the tour of Germany. Today we’re in Pforzheim!

If you've missed our open events but still wonder what exactly Sandbox looks like, then the UT Virtual Tour is the perfect chance to do just that!

Check Sandbox out here: https://virtualtour.ut.ee/en/delta-sandbox?i=sg24

Last week we had our 5th Birthday Pizza and Prototyping event. If you missed it but want to see what crazy contraptions we came up with, check out the gallery below!

This April marks the birthday of our Sandbox, which turns five years old! To celebrate, we invite all students to participate in a prototyping party on April 27th. Sandbox always seeks to cross the bridge between idea and ex*****on and prototyping is a vital element of it. After all, everyone loves to see their work actually pay off!

However, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, so we’ll be serving pizza and drinks in a free schedule event that takes place from 16:00-18:00. It’s an ideal way to get to know Sandbox better and spend a nice relaxed spring afternoon in the Delta building. To keep things from getting too laid-back, we also have a secret Lego challenge for participants.

To know how much pizza and drinks we need, we ask you to register beforehand at https://forms.gle/qP2Utsy6XWidTftt5

🏖 The summer is coming closer and that means that it is time to sign up for the UT International Summer University! This year, Sandbox will host one hands-on workshop course - Practical Training In Design Thinking. The deadline for registration is April 30th.

❕ Read more and apply for the course at: https://ut.ee/en/content/training-digital-product-management-and-design-thinking

🎙 Heads up! Here's our Sandboss Maria sharing her experiences at the Coaches Training in Barcelona: https://sandbox.cs.ut.ee/maria-speaks-coaches-training-in-barcelona/

🔎 What are our students up to in our Digital Product Management Industry Project? One team took it upon themselves to look into the challenges and opportunities of digitizing the game "Eesti rahva sada valikut" for the University of Tartu Centre for Ethics. Check out our showcase to find out more: https://sandbox.cs.ut.ee/partner-company-centre-for-ethics/

Our Sanboss is spending rhis week in Barcelona and their design factory Fusion Point. Together with Scarlett from Design Factory Stuttgard & they are conducting a training for student team couches! 😍

Be sure to check out a spotlight article in the Universitas Tartuensis magazine, where Maria and Yana give the low-down on what Sandbox is and does! You can also read it online (in Estonian) at https://www.ajakiri.ut.ee/artikkel/4402

🎉 Last week was super busy for team Sandbox, but we knew how to end it with style at our Sandbox birthday party! With happy guests and greetings from our DFGN friends all around the world, it was a great sendoff to another fun year of Sandbox. Now onward to many more!

Maria is laying down some gold nuggets of truth on the Refresh stage!

Here we are at , let's gooo! If you are at Refresh Conference today as well, be sure to come and say hi!

🎉 Last week, the Final Gala of this semester's GDIP took place. We shared our experiences with inno.space - Design Factory Mannheim and handed out certificates to those who managed to complete their course successfully! Thanks to all who took part!

Be sure to read more on GDIP at our blog - https://sandbox.cs.ut.ee/fixing-the-world-via-gdip

🏘 A fun and successful semester with the Tartu linn city government has concluded. Through a series of service design oriented workshops the participants got a feel for more empathetic and efficient design of public services.

Delta Sandbox is partnering up with Refresh Conference! 🤩

Refresh is a product, UX-design, and front-end conference that provides fresh inspiration for creating better products on the web. After 4 years of hiatus, Refresh is going to take place at the Estonian National Museum in Tartu on 26–27 January 2023.

Since 2015, Refresh has been rocking the stage with fascinating speakers who present in-depth studies and share valuable experiences. It's a glimpse into the latest trends and best practices. It's a fresh perspective on everything front-end on the web.

Refresh is not just a conference, it's a festival of like-minded people, where the inspiring discussions supercharge you to renew your passion for making the web even more awesome!

Learn more: https://refresh.rocks/
Get your tickets: https://refresh.rocks/tickets

Delta Sandbox will be there, we hope to see you too! 😊

🎉 Happy New Year! To those for whom Sandbox might also still be new, we have another Sandbox in a Nutshell info event coming up - the perfect place to learn more about the various courses and opportunities that Sandbox offers. And if Sandbox isn't new for you, come anyway! The event takes place February 2nd at - where else? - our Sandbox! Read more at https://cs.ut.ee/en/node/141454

What is this mythical GDIP course that Sandbox offers? What can students accomplish there? Well, our student Volodymyr and his team are making the world a better place one small step at a time.

Read their thoughts here: https://sandbox.cs.ut.ee/fixing-the-world-via-gdip/

And the glue that holds us all together - Maria, the Sandboss!

𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐛𝐨𝐱 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭?/𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐛𝐨𝐱 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭?

I feel like it was my destiny :smile: My background is in graphic design. I had worked in my own design studio for more than 10 years and to be honest I was quite tired of “making the logo bigger”. I was looking for new challenges and one day my friend asked me to lunch. We had sushi and she showed me this awesome program in they were developing. All the pieces fell into place - design, teaching, project management and developing a new awesome community. And now, three years later - here I am - loving my job.

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐛𝐨𝐱?
I like the relaxed atmosphere. Most of the time I don’t even feel like working. We have an awesome fun team, the room itself is amazing and I can do things that I actually believe make the world a better place. User centric design is something that should not even be mentioned as “user centric”. ALL design should be like that! And Sandbox is here to spread the word.

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐛𝐨𝐱?
A lot of things. I guess the first thing is my experience in the design field. Working with people in different organisations and various domains. My experience in teaching and team leading, project management, organising events and of course our happy dog

It is time to learn more about our experienced Associate Professor, Antti Ainamo!

𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐛𝐨𝐱 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭?

I joined beginning of 2022. It was clear that, at the Institute of Computer Science (CS), I was to work in and around the Sandbox. Reason why I was hired is that I have worked quite a lot in and around similar "design factories" as Sandbox, around the word: I have worked at Stanford University's Center for Design Research, Gothenburg University's Business Design Lab, Tongji University's Sino-Finnish Center, for example. I am quite cross-disciplinary and have at Aalto University worked at four out of the six faculties or schools that there are. Another thing is that I also have background in working with and doing research on startups, as well as entrepreneurship, more generally -- important here in Tartu.

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐛𝐨𝐱?

My favourite thing about Sandbox is the easy and collegial atmosphere at Delta. Not many "Great Pretenders" here, but friends.

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐛𝐨𝐱?

What I bring Into Sandbox is my experience with working in and across different countries, as well as across university and industry, and across creative industries and more "boring" industries than creative ones. What we are now working on is documenting and developing scientific and systematic understanding of how and why Sandbox is in many ways different and better than many other "design factories" elsewhere.

📢 The cat's out of the bag - Maria and Yana will be representing Sandbox at next year's Refresh Conference on Jan 26th and 27th! Be sure to stay tuned for more details!

The Head of Industry Collaboration Karl helps us stay up to date with all our various industry collaboration projects here at UniTartuCS!

𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐛𝐨𝐱 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭?/𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐛𝐨𝐱 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭?

I joined the team here as the head of the industry collaboration about two months ago. I hope to help the sandbox team to really put the planning and strategy game on the map! We hope to develop the programme further and eventually grow the team as well! After all, it is much easier to focus on developing the best programme if someone is helping with the grunt work of planning and looking for these big, sometimes nebulous, northern stars.

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐛𝐨𝐱?

I think it is three fold. Firstly: the enthusiasm of the crew. They are very much intrinsically motivated and love doing what they do! Secondly, the very nature of the programme itself. The fact that within one semester students are trusted to solve a real life, tangible problem is very cool. Even cooler is the fact that after the semester a real prototype is given to the company who requested it! Lastly: this programme increases the amount of people in Tartu and in Estonia in that matter who want to understand design and make better products!

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐛𝐨𝐱?

I think the best thing I bring to the table is the management expertise and therefore the freed up time for the rest of the team! It is much easier to focus if someone's job is to constantly check in the bigger things are aligned!

Where would we be without our Yana? It would certainly be a lot more boring here, that's for sure. From student to coordinator, she has become indispensable for Sandbox.

𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐛𝐨𝐱 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭?/𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐛𝐨𝐱 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭?

I joined Sandbox as a student in the autumn of 2020. In that term, I took the “Digital Product Management Industry Project” and “Global Digital Innovation Project” courses and... fell in love with the Sandbox. Our founder, Anne Matiisen, noted that and offered me an intern position for the next semester, which later, luckily for me, transformed into an employee position.

Right now, I’m mentoring courses, maintaining our website, and cooking new collaborative projects for students. Stay tuned!

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐛𝐨𝐱?

Easy! That in Sandbox, we are practicing what we are preaching. We teach to always think about the user - and we are always thinking about our students, trying to provide them with the best educational experience and friendly environment. We teach our students to iterate based on user feedback - and we are gathering feedback from students after each session, constantly improving our courses. In Sandbox, we put empathy first, ideate like crazy, kill our “darlings” without regrets, fail faster, and prototype like we mean it. Just like we preach to our students!

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐛𝐨𝐱?

Well, in October, I brought cool hand-painted wooden shoes from our trip to International Design Factories Festival in The Netherlands! Check them out when you are in Sandbox! On a more serious note, I find it easy to empathize with students because I started as an international student not so long ago. Knowing what parts of the process can be challenging for a student, I’m trying to make the experience as smooth as possible, offering support and reassurance.

👀 We've been real busy in October, so it's about time you meet our busy team! First up is Kristjan, our marketing specialist... well, actually I'm the one typing this, so it's time to meet me!

𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐛𝐨𝐱 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭?/𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐛𝐨𝐱 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭?

When I joined as part of the Institute of Computer Science Industry Collaboration team, one of my main duties was to start marketing the Sandbox programme. Whereas in some previous marketing gigs I’ve never really been satisfied in seeing what and who my work actually helps, here I can be happy that Sandbox is giving students a much needed avenue of experimentation and inspiration and I am glad to be a small part of it.

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐛𝐨𝐱?

You know how some people in classes can go „oh, where am I ever going to use this knowledge“? Well, Sandbox. You’re going to use it in Sandbox. I really like how Sandbox is like this small incubator where you can try your strength at real life problems without the fear of catastrophic failure.

Also the coffee machine is really nice, I guess.

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐛𝐨𝐱?

I wish I could say I bring my cat like Maria brings Frank sometimes, but my cat tends to get… scratchy when taken outside. So everyone will have to make do with my terrible sense of humour and a few assorted skills in taking pictures, designing things and generally being a busybody.

This week is for the International Design Factory Festival! Maria & Yana are representing the Sandbox, collecting new contacts, making new friends all over the world and getting inspired!

❗ The UniTartuCS day is tomorrow! Students from the Institute of Computer Science will be scampering all throughout the Delta building and at the Sandbox area they can find Yana and Kristjan, who will be introducing them to... well, Sandbox!

See you tomorrow from 14:00 at Sandbox!

⚙ The Sandbox season is in full gear! The autumn Global Digital Innovation Project (virtual) bootcamp went well and students can now look forward to regular sessions all the way up to January, when after ideation, prototyping and testing, they will be more than ready for the final presentations.

💡 Last Friday, our Sandbox was host to the Innovation Leaders Club. Our Sandboss Maria introduced everyone, including those watching the livestream, to what Sandbox is and does. The following speaker, Minister of Entrepreneurship and Information Technology Kristjan Järvan, would then agree emphatically with Maria regarding our mission towards constant co-operation between the academic and private sector.

📸 Today, the head of the Institute of Computer Science Jaak Vilo hosted a delegation of foreign journalists from papers such as Forbes, The Independent, The Telegraph etc. in our Sandbox. He introduced them to the industry collaboration that takes place in the institute and Sandbox.

We are happy to say that our high level of industry collaboration fascinates and sets a good example to those abroad! 😊

📣 Call for partners at Delta Sandbox! Connect with our students and have them solve your company's real life digital product design related problems.

🏆 Our students, the task force of future changemakers and innovative thinkers will tackle your company’s actual problems. We help you adjust your point of view, to try a different approach or to get out of your comfort zone. We have had great feedback from partner companies in the past who are happy to see industrious and innovative students take on their projects.

✉ If you are interested in becoming a partner for this semester, write to us at [email protected].

Read more and see our completed projects at https://sandbox.cs.ut.ee/industry/

📣 A new season of Sandbox is about to start! Yesterday we answered questions to all those interested in finding out what Sandbox exactly is. If you didn't make it but happen to be curious about Sandbox, our events or courses, feel free to contact us and also visit our home page at https://sandbox.cs.ut.ee/

🙃 What fun we had yesterday at the sTARTUp Day "Think Like A Designer" workshop. There were so many attendees that we barely fit everyone into the Sandbox! We learned about design thinking, empathy building and got a boost of extra energy doing it.

👀 Don't forget that if you want to know more about what Sandbox is, we're having an info event next Tuesday at 15:00! Read more: https://cs.ut.ee/en/node/141454

⛱ Do you know what our Sandbox is?

🤔 Whether you answer yes or no, you are still very welcome to our semester-opening event at the Delta centre room 3092 - aka Sandbox - to acquaint yourself with this creative hub of design thinking. We help students meet companies where they can use their skills to resolve real problems in design and digital product management. And we'll have a fun evening at it too!

Register here: https://forms.gle/kDykJ3FHKGkvb6Q48

Read more here: https://cs.ut.ee/en/node/141454

📆 Our Sandbox is holding a sTARTUp Day side event this August 24th!

🖌 Design thinking is not just about the methods but also about the mindset and attitude. An attitude of how you approach everything from your daily routine to business planning.

✨ In this workshop, we will go through the three key pillars of Design Thinking: empathy building, ideation and rapid prototyping using hands-on action methods. It will be fun, a bit more unconventional than you might be used to, and could possibly lead to understanding how you might amp up your digital product development from a design perspective.

🏰 The workshop takes place in a 300-square-meter Sandbox space at the Delta Centre of the University of Tartu, offering a diverse and creative learning environment for the participants.

❗ Register here: https://forms.gle/KgZP8ajuxvpEYQ1W8

Think Like a Designer is a side event of sTARTUp Day 2022 – the most startup-minded business festival, taking place on 24–26 August 2022 in Tartu & online.

Learn more and get your tickets: www.startupday.ee

🎨 This Monday, people from the Tartu City Government gathered at the Sandbox to participate in a workshop dedicated to public service design. The main focus was on identifying problems in Tartu municipal services and collecting input for the longer training programme that will take place during the autumn semester.

🛠 We talked about service design, user-centric design, design thinking and the concept of design in general. The workshop was also a dissemination event in the Interreg Europe BETTER project.

🔔 𝗔 𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗱𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗼 𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝗴𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗯𝗼𝘅 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗨𝗻𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗧𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗨𝗻𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀!

💪 The course is a hands-on workshop, aimed to give participants a solid introduction to the principles of Digital Product Management and Design Thinking. Participants will then spend four days working on real-life industry problem statements and by the end of the week they will design a prototype of the user-centric solution.

⏰ Don't miss out! Check out the course and register here before 𝗝𝘂𝗻𝗲 𝟭𝟵𝘁𝗵: https://ut.ee/en/content/training-digital-product-management-and-design-thinking

🛠 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐃𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭? 𝐓𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐛𝐨𝐱 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭!

💥The Sandbox presents the perfect opportunity to answer just that with a 5-day hands-on crash course at the UT International Summer University. We cover important ideas of Digital Product Management and Design Thinking such as user research, prototyping, and user testing. Participants will learn and apply the ideas to solve real-life problems.

Applications are open until 𝐉𝐮𝐧𝐞 𝟏𝟗𝐭𝐡. To know more and apply to the program visit our webpage at https://ut.ee/en/content/training-digital-product-management-and-design-thinking

We hosted the last toolbox event of the semester last Friday. ⏭️🧰
Maria took the group on a Font Safari, and taught them the history of type and other things about font faces with a lot of hands-on activities. 🙌🔛