A blog about design at the OU.
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A gripping tale of good design
When in 1987 I joined the OU’s Design Department (as it then was called) it was to work with Robin Roy in the Design Innovation Group (DIG) on a project to evaluate the commercial impacts of the Design Council’s Funded Consultancy Programme. Under this, SMEs were awarded a grant to employ a design consultant to…
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Regenerative Heritage Green Spaces Project: Workshop 2
Bringing people together to solve heritage greenspace challenges Anyone managing a heritage site knows the headache. You have got Victorian gardens that need preserving, climate targets that need meeting, communities that need access, and budgets that never stretch far enough. How do you juggle it all without dropping something important? We had quite a day…
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The art of looking up: A social prescription.
Social prescribing might feel like a new initiative but its key principle of connecting individuals with what matters to them, offering moments of joy and respite from personal struggle, echoes ideas found in the writings of some of the earliest philosophers. On A111, an arts and humanities module I teach alongside the design module, U101,…
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An enticing subversion: contemporary art and ‘decolonising’ in Malaysia
‘Reframe and Resist: Decolonise Here and Now!’ is a new initiative that seeks to transform the visual arts sector by addressing legacies of colonisation and environmental crisis. Supported with a grant of £10,000 from the British Council under a scheme designed to foster cultural exchange in Southeast Asia, part of its funding programme Connections Through…
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Hello from the Newest Member of the OU Design Team!
I am Sejal Changede, and I am thrilled to join the Open University as a Lecturer in Design. The first time I truly questioned what I knew about design, I was sitting in a small workshop in India, watching an elderly silversmith work a piece of silver over a portable forge. He shaped and hammered…
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To Design or to DesAIgn ? The Generative AI Question for Design Students
Introduction to AIDED Generative AI (GenAI) is widely seen as a disruptive force across the creative industries – one that today’s design students will need to navigate in their professional life. But how do they view the use of the technology in design practice? And what role should GenAI play in shaping design education? A…
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Making the Design Wishes Tarot
The Design Wishes Tarot builds on a long tradition within the U101: Design Thinking module. For over a decade, students have been provided postcards so that they could post them back to the Open University, addressed to LOLA—’the spirit’ of the module. On these cards, they were invited to express their wishes and hopes for…
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From traffic to teaching: Lessons on informal designs from Nigeria
On my way to Nigeria, I read an article in Wallpaper* magazine (October 2025) about ‘informal designs’ in Nigeria. This felt like a coincidence because I was travelling to Lagos to give a keynote address at the 4th International Colloquium of the Distance Learning Institute at the University of Lagos. The audience included more than…
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New Book: Studio Properties
“There is something very special about the studio as a place of practice and learning” After years of research and writing, Studio Properties: A Field Guide to Design Education is now out! The book is co-authored by a team of international design educators and scholars, including myself (Derek Jones) and Nicole Lotz. It builds on…
