Author: Nicole Lotz
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The body as an artwork – the body as a community experience
Once again, it is a novelty experience to go to a physical exhibition. No other exhibition could have been more appropriate than Daniel Lismore’s “Be yourself, everyone else is already taken” (what a title!). The focus in the exhibition is on the body, more precisely on Daniel’s body as an artwork, but the bodily experience…
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Presence in distance education – spaces to belong
I promise this is not going to be a philosophical discussion, but a rather practical view on the topic. In a discussion of a new design degree at the OU (we call it ‘BDes’), a group of academics mused about how you are present (or what of you is present) when you are studying at…
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Design research snapshot
The design group is multidisciplinary and engages in a wide range of research, including on sustainability, education, inclusion, systems thinking, arts and activism. Working at a distance, it is difficult to keep track of what everyone is up to, and so, we have monthly meetings to discuss our projects and papers. Do look out for…
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Working towards gender equality at the School of Engineering and Innovation
I am very proud to say that the School of Engineering and Innovation, which Design is part of, has received an Athena SWAN Silver Award following its recent submission to AdvanceHE. Athena SWAN is an internationally-recognised gender equality initiative, acting as a catalyst for change and cultural transformation, which enables staff and students to achieve…
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Ensuring effective user input in design
Here are a couple of perspectives on how we can engender effective user input in design – one being the experience of doing this as part of three major research projects, and the other in terms of design teaching. Firstly, the research examples. A good many years ago Steve Potter went to the degree ceremony…
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LGBTQ+ DESIGN history month
It is LGBTQ+ history month and it is about time to have a look at some of the contributions of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual Transgender, Queer or Questioning people to design in the past. By a long way, the most famous designer with a love for the same sex must have been Leonardo da Vinci (https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20191107-the-men-who-leonardo-da-vinci-loved).…
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Art History and Design in Dialogue: Abutments and Confluences
Design at the Open University has always bridged knowledge systems and approaches from the natural sciences, humanities and social sciences. The Design Group connects to other schools within STEM but also to other faculties and schools at the Open University. The new Special Issue in the Open Arts Journal ART HISTORY AND DESIGN IN DIALOGUE:…
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Design @Open YouTube channel
We have curated a collection of videos authored by OU Design staff and students on our newly opened YouTube channel. https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/channel/UC5dwgQTcTO0bCgA1Oiu-TBQ/playlists The collection introduces research projects, qualification engagement events and seminars. We seek to grow the collection, and each month we will introduce a Design academic in a video interview. In October, I interviewed Prof…
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Necessity is the mother of invention
In the Socratic dialogue ‘Republic’, Plato famously wrote: “our need will be the real creator” (Wikipedia.org, 2020) which was moulded over time into the English proverb ‘Necessity is the mother of invention’. Having read multiple articles of inventions and innovations in medicine, technology, or supply chains over the last 6 months, more than once a…
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Designing in partnership
This blog was co-authored by Abbie Jackson, Anna Ward-Stancheva, Georgy Holden, Leo Rees-Evans, Mar Reyes, Nicole Lotz and Rebekah Manston, all Design and Innovation students at the Open University. On June 25th 2020, the third annual exhibition of work of OU design students was launched. Every year, we invite students to design the exhibition together…