Author: Robin Roy
-
E-bikes charging ahead?
Has the time for e-bikes – electrically assisted cycles – arrived at last? E-bikes have been available for many years, and popular in China and parts of continental Europe, but only bought in small numbers in the UK. It’s only now that proper design thinking, research and development has been applied to them. Evidence for […]
-
Where do creative ideas come from?
‘All designers probably say the same thing, that inspiration is everywhere and in everything. We study the work of great mathematician and designer, Buckminster Fuller and others like him – it leads to new ideas.’ So says lighting designer Ian Cameron. https://camerondesignhouse.com/collections/collection The source of ideas can be fairly general. For example, the Inspiration for […]
-
Designing successful consumer products
I have always been interested in design, and as a child I was fascinated by the old washing machines, cookers and lamps in London’s Science Museum. As a teenager I wanted to be an architect, but decided to do engineering, which spanned my interests in design and science. This led me to study mechanical engineering […]
-
The world of card-based design tools
Sets or decks of cards – similar to playing cards – are a long-established type of tool to aid designers. One of the earliest examples is The House of Cards created in 1952 by the famous American designers, Charles and Ray Eames. The OU was early in this field with the Meta Cards, produced in […]
-
Design and Innovation: Past, Present and Future
A useful summary by Harriet Powney of Robin Roy’s paper for the Design Research Society’s 2016 conference and his book Consumer Product Innovation and Sustainable Design has been featured on the website of the OU’s IKD Research Centre & SRA in International Development and Inclusive Innovation. She writes: New products are never simply the result […]