A blog about design at the OU.
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OpenStudio Shortlisted for Guardian University Award 2017 !
OpenStudio has been shortlisted for a 2017 Guardian University Award in the Digital Innovation category. OpenDesignStudio first appeared way back in 2008 in the module T189: Digital Photography module and was then re-purposed for the first presentation of U101: Design Thinking, as an online design studio and portfolio tool, where the use of it demonstrated […]
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Organising information through colours: design tips
By Dr. Gil Dekel How can colours support you in organising and designing information in your print or online projects? Here is a summary of the chapter ‘Colour’ from Tufte’s book ‘Envisioning Information’[1], with further suggestions I came across during my work as a design researcher[2]: Colours are a powerful visual tool to represent information. […]
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The changing agenda of design challenges
Last week saw the first ever entry of an OU student to the Royal Society of Arts Student Design Awards. This prestigious competition has been run by the RSA since 1924, originally created to ‘support talented young craftsmen and designers in producing well-made items for British homes’. Its launch was in the context of the […]
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Haptic ‘ The State of the Art’
Authorship – Alastair Barrow and Imogen Clare of Generic Robotics This blog was kindly sent from Dr Alistair Burrow and his project assistant Imogen Clare. These two colleagues work a researchers within a start up business initiated and developed with via Oxford and Hertfordshire University. Through network links I have been working with both these colleagues and their […]
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Realising the potential of design thinking
DesignAndThinking -YouTube This documentary, directed by Mu-Ming Tsai, explores the role and value of design thinking in society. It draws on conversations with a range of commentators including David Kelly, D.School Stanford; Tim Brown, IDEO; Udaya Patnaik, Jump Associates; and Richard Grefé, Aiga. The film is over an hour long but worth investing the time in as it does a great job […]
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Haptics in education
Haptics in Education Digital Touch at a distance. The field of design is a difficult discipline to facilitate at a distance due to the practical nature of what is known as “studio” or “in house” practice. Introducing haptics to distance learning, with particular reference to the discipline of design and the future of online applied […]
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The actual and the future: on co-evolution
We love to ponder about the nature of designing, design behaviours, processes and practices. What is it we do and how do we do it? Eventually, we want to improve how designing is taught and learned. In a meeting, Theo quickly visualised his understanding of design activity, moving from actual and possibly flawed states to […]
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Hello design world!
We have done it! Design @ Open is live. This blog reports about things Design academics at the Design Group, School of Engineering and Innovation at the Open University are up to, think, learn, experience, experiment and tinker with. In short, this blog is about everything that is important and current in design at the OU. […]
