This week has been the first of the 3 week People and Design module and it’s been a bit of a roller-coaster.
I wasn’t in Dundee on Monday of week 1 because my son was in hospital having a fairly major operation to remove a benign tumour from one of his legs, I was in Edinburgh with him from 7.15am until around 7pm.
On Tuesday we had a Co-Design lectures from Mike Press and Fraser Bruce, both were very interesting and gave us plenty to think about. My son was allowed home from Hospital on Tuesday afternoon.
On Wednesday morning Fraser did a lecture on the ‘Rip & Mix’ process of idea generation and then we did a short session in groups. I went home on Wednesday afternoon to take my son to the local doctors to get his leg dressing changed.
Thursday, I was working, but before work I had to take my son back to the doctors because his leg was bleeding a bit. I wasn’t too worried about it but he was, so to get some reassurance back we went.
I came up to Dundee on Thursday evening for an evening of healthcare lectures, Hazel White also did a presentation. For me this event was a ‘must see’ because my main interest is designing for health.
On Friday we spent the day listing to David Townson. I had a lecture from David in the 2nd year of my B.Des. I didn’t really listen to him then because I thought his input had nothing to do with jewellery design! After a week where I missed a lot of important things David’s presentation got me back on track and really inspired me to get off my butt and get on with it.
The following images are my P&D module reflective slides for this week.
Tuesday – Mike Press
Part of Mike’s lecture concerned the way businesses are recruiting customers to help to develop the designs of their products, on the surface this may seem like co-design (and probably is) but in my opinion it’s little more than an opportunity for free research. Customers who might come up with great ideas get little or no return. I think ‘exploitation’ is the word I’m reaching for.
Wednesday – Fraser Bruce
This lecture dealt with the Rip & Mix system which was developed at DoJ. It involves using two apparently unconnected and dissimilar design ideas to form a single new idea. Often this will produce a large number of ideas which may or may not be carried forward. The system allows all stakeholders to have an input and be part of the process.
Friday – David Townson
David Townson spoke about his career and design theory. He gave us some real world examples of work he’s been involved in. In the afternoon we did a bit of an exercise in small groups. We all became guerilla ethnographers and carried out a set task. My group had to go to the Post Office in the Perth Road, buy 7 stamps and enquire about buying car tax!
The following images are one’s I took during the week. (Descriptions below the images)
An initial mind map session of the visit to SOEC
Becca & Jun, the rip and mix session
Hazel White lecture to health care workers, during her presentation, she descibed the rip and mix process!
Our exercise instructions
In the P.O.
Outside the P.O.
Teams working on the before, during and after observations wall
The wall with all of the teams before, during and after observations.
Team 3 development mind map, our first as a finalised group.
Our task initial team tasks for the week-end. This was the last thing we did for the week. It was a fairly intense week for everyone, even me!
