Sometimes, you just have to do it – get everyone in one place and bounce ideas, share inspirations and motivations. So what was the Milton Keynes Design Fair like?
Three tutors, three central academics, seven students across the Design Innovation Qualification and two visitors made their way to the Open University Campus on a rainy weekend in March 2018. First of all, we were drawn into an ocean of plastic waste with an installation by AnnMarie McKenna. AnnMarie then challenged us to address the problem of plastic waste we are currently producing in our first workshop of the day.
Two teams discussed and quickly prototyped ways to address plastic waste. Both teams went for empowering and nudging the consumer to buy more consciously. One team educated the shopper about plastics used in packaging and introduced a recycling traffic light systems. The other team explored alternatives to plastic packaging, re-introducing different kinds of reusable bags, like string bags or paper bags for the consumer to pick the right amount of unpackaged produce.
In the second workshop, Clive Hilton told us the story about stories in design. A good narrative around a design hooks the user emotionally and then supports this emotion with facts to create a memorable argument and deep effect. Clive challenged us to create such a narrative and provided some props to create stories around. One group worked with a framed photo of a child addressing the theme of childhood obesity, and the other group created a story around a glass jar telling a story about lifelong education.
At the end of the day we discussed what the participants thought about such a qualification-level event, and there was a clear unison that such events are a fantastic opportunity to engage with the subject of design without the pressure of assessment. These are social events to discuss what matters to us, make contacts and learn something beyond the module we are studying. We all hoped that we can run more of these events in the future.
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