I'm giving a seminar at Brunel on Monday

It's at the Human Centred Design Institute (HCDI), Brunel Design, Tower A, Room TA049, at 12:30-1:30pm on Monday 12th September 2011.
It's called: “Fashion and technology evolution and the design of consumer products.”
You can read the abstract here.

Are fishermen the new cowboys?

At last Thursday's Glug creative drinks event in London (not www.glug.co.uk, but that looks fun too), I was struck by Catherine Lock's passionate presentation about authentic British craft skills being taken to the grave by elderly craftspeople. One of the products she discussed was the Gansey Jumper, a highly durable, hand knitted, weatherproof sweater favoured by fishermen, often with ornate patterns woven in. They have recently been finding their way onto the catwalk for Meadham Kirchhoff at London Fashion Week. Lock showed some awesome pictures of rustic, weatherbeaten sea-dogs (see above) and it got me thinking:

When this whole cowboy/lumberjack, plaid shirt, True Grit, wild west trend ends, what will fill the void? Will we swing to a strongly opposing mindset and associated style, or will the gunslingers be replaced with another rugged hero? I think that the windswept fisherman could be a likely candidate. Perhaps with a Scandinavian twist - for a while now there's been a growing influx of Scandinavian films, TV series, Christmasy knitwear and product design. Rare Exports was one such film that had a very strong aesthetic (see below). We will have to see how this year unfolds, but certainly the purchase of high quality, physically and emotionally durable products is a step in the right direction from a sustainability perspective.

dear andrew, probably not

by Jonny

dear english heritage,

please use my design on your t-shirts.

I met the inventor of the mobile!!

Mobile Phones for the Senior Market

Yesterday I was at this conference, organised by Simon Rockman. It was an interesting day of talks by business and academic experts, and a compelling argument to focus more attention on developing mobile devices for the aging population. Opening talks came from wireless legend Arlene Harris of Jitterbug and Dyna LLC, and Chris Cowpe from Age Concern Enterprises (formerly Chief Exec of DDB advertisers). Arlene's husband, Martin Cooper (the dude in the picture), inventor of the mobile phone, was also in attendance, but not speaking.

I'm proud to say that the best slide presentations came from the Cambridge lads. Prof John Clarkson explained the astonishing demographic shift that has been occurring over the last few decades, the number of seniors just keeps on growing, yet this wealthy segment is constantly failed by poor design. Ian Hosking then later explained how designing for older consumers is so much more than "big buttons" - they are a sophisticated, multi-segmented, proud, intelligent group of individuals, yet specialist mobile product offerings often miss the point - stigmatising or patronising instead of simplifying and including.

The other presentations were interesting, but badly delivered, with presenters reading out bullet points from slides that looked like they were from 1996. I got tired of squinting at badly labeled graphs or tables and cringing at lo-res stock photos, clip-art and slide transitions. In order to be taken seriously, this domain is in dire need of a bit of graphic design and/or public speaking classes. That seems superficial, but a modern, professional standard is really necessary if this opportunity is to be convincingly pitched to the networks.

There are a number of other obstacles to overcome before networks and retailers will commit to taking on the senior segment. In the UK with the abundance of subsidised phones (e.g. free on contract) and the narrow margins available in talk and text, it is a challenge to convince consumers to pay extra for a specialist device. Furthermore, the networks will be reluctant to fork out on extra support services for what is typically a low-usage category.

If somebody can nail this market, then they will not only make a lot of money, but also enable older people to connect with their families and friends - everyone wins! The answer lies in designing the complete user experience, from initial awareness of the product through to purchase, usage and support, to disposal or replacement - every aspect should be simple, intuitive, even enjoyable. The beauty of inclusive design is that learning from older or impaired people can lead to solutions that benefit all users. I personally think that a great solution might inadvertently appear sideways from another usage category - perhaps an outdoors or youth product - or perhaps it will happen the other way round.

Orange Design Group

Last Thursday I presented my mobile research to Orange's Group Design and User Experience team in Paddington. It was a great experience - really good to share my ideas with some experts in the industry, learn from their insight/heckling, and get some feedback on where I might take it next. It was particularly interesting to hear from the perspective of a mobile service provider, a different view from the designers, user experience experts, technology strategists and journalists I've spoken to so far.

This Friday I will be presenting to Samsung's European design group in Farringdon, I'm looking forward to meeting the group and hearing what they have to say about my work. The feedback from this presentation will hopefully move me closer to having a complete picture of form evolution in the mobile product category, which takes care of a couple of chapters of the thesis!

D&AD New Blood

Last night I went down to Kensington Olympia to meet up with Jonny and the ShellsuitZombie crew at the private viewing for D&AD's annual New Blood event. It was a great opportunity to catch up with what they've been doing, and to find out about the organisation beyond the blog. They have done an amazing job hooking up with the D&AD, and from what I could see, they were attracting a lot of attention from design professionals, students and recent graduates with hands-on design tasks, sexy posters and vintage rock music in a lo-fi, cardboard covered booth.

I've enjoyed contributing to the blog, and I look forward to seeing where the project goes next.

New lacrosse t-shirt

I've just done a new t-shirt design for the Cambridge University lacrosse club.

DBA Inclusive Design Challenge 2009

I popped down to the RCA last night for the award ceremony of this prestigious competition, in which 5 of the country's leading design consultancies pitched their response to the brief: Sedentary Lives - enabling people who are inactive through difficult circumstances or pure laziness to be more active. Rodd Design (met Ben Davies, one of their designers at the Tokyo Challenge) were one of the consultancies, but the eventual winner was a collaboration between Matter and Herman Miller to create an ingenious reinvention of the cushion. Internal polymer springs spread the weight of the sitter, while being breathable, washable and lightweight.

Until Japan I thought inclusive design was about making products accessible to those impaired by age or disability. But at the Tokyo Challenge I realised that it's more than that, by working with impaired users who are failed by day-to-day design, it is possible to identify ways of making simpler products that are widely appealing and commercially viable. I think the cushion is a great example of this: it is not only useful to the elderly or wheelchair-bound, it has uses in schools, outdoors, in gardens, for kids etc.