At Shopfront, we are committed to building a strong and sustainable community sector. We provide a pro bono service that partners community organisations with the skills and expertise of students and academics at UTS.
Community organisations
How we can support you
Through our award-winning Student Community Coursework Projects, community organisations are paired with skilled student teams to deliver on a wide variety of community-led projects.
We accept projects requiring a wide range of skills, including (but not limited to) business plans, design assets and research reports. Our main aim is to support your organisation, so we are always interested in exploring opportunities for new collaborations.
These projects are run during UTS teaching sessions (February—May, and August—November). You can submit a project idea at any time, and it will be considered for the upcoming teaching session.
If you are interested in collaborating with UTS students, you can submit your project idea now, or give our team a call on (02) 9514 2900.
Find out more about our past projects
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How our projects work
Download the Shopfront Project Lifecycle flowchart as an accessible pdf.
Subject outlines and descriptions
Below is information on the UTS subjects we work with as part of the Shopfront Community Coursework Program. The descriptions will give you a better idea of the types of projects our team can assist you with.
Socially Responsive Design
Bachelor of Design (Visual Communication) students offer design solutions to community-based organisations through the final year subject, Socially Responsive Design. Typical project work includes team and project management, client briefings, empathy research, user testing and product sourcing and specification.
Depending on your project brief, the key deliverables may be:
- Design strategy
- Service design – communicating service journeys
- Video/motion graphics
- Illustration
- Brand identity
- App design
- Collateral (new logo, posters, flyers, social media templates)
Examples of previous Socially Responsive Design projects:
Story Core: Ethical Production
Story Core: Ethical Production is a Postgraduate where students focus on screen and media arts works designed to encourage audiences to engage in social change and produce a short video or campaign iterations concerning a relevant ethical, sustainability or social justice issue.
Each community partner and their project will be allocated to one team with 4–6 students to address the project brief.
The key deliverable is:
- 3–5-minute campaign video
Product Innovation
Product Innovation Management is a Postgraduate Marketing subject that enables students to develop an in-depth understanding of the processes and concepts associated with new product management in contemporary organisations. Although the focus is on new products, the forces driving the process stem from the need for organisations to remain relevant, effective and competitive in a dynamic environment.
Community partners will be paired with a 4–6 student tutorial group. This subject will take them through evaluating the brief supplied by the community partner, creating a proposal leading to the final deliverable.
The key deliverables are:
- Final written report of new product design
- Oral presentation pitch to client by top three student groups
Examples of previous Product Innovation projects:
Managing for Social Impact
Managing for Social Impact is an undergraduate subject that allows students to develop their knowledge of the challenges faced by businesses in meeting social and environmental responsibilities and explore effective approaches to addressing these challenges. By working together, students create strategies which organisations can use to work together to further their respective objectives in contributing to a prosperous, high achieving and fairer society.
The key deliverables are:
- Final report
- Presentation to client
Business and Social Impact
Business and Social Impact is an undergraduate subject where students explore how they can make a difference through creating businesses whose mission is dedicated to realising positive social and environmental change. Students first analyse the relationship between a company’s mission, its operations and the resultant impact on society and the environment from multiple perspectives including accounting, economics, finance, management, marketing, Indigenous and global perspectives. Students then examine the challenges and opportunities in harnessing the power of the markets to create both economic and social value.
The key deliverable is:
- Final report
Management Consulting
Management Consulting is an undergraduate subject where students have the opportunity to apply their management skills through engaging with a real client.
A tutorial class of business students – supervised by academic staff with a professional Management Consulting background, will respond to your brief through various streams and deliver a range of reports with responses to the brief.
The working streams will vary depending on your needs and goals. For example, you may have six student teams working on different streams, such as corporate funding, stakeholder management, diverse income streams, brand awareness.
As this is a practice-based subject teaching the consulting process, the student teams will utilise specific consulting tools and methods in the construction of the reports.
The key deliverables are:
- Final report
- Presentation to client
Examples of previous Management Consulting projects:
Professional Pathways
Professional Pathways is an undergraduate final year subject in the UTS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. In this subject, students work independently with their academic supervisor and community partner to analyse a research topic addressing real-world problems.
The key deliverable is:
- Research report