A blog about design at the OU.
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Claiming our turf. Making spaces safe through inclusive urban design.
Over recent weeks the media has been full of women sharing their stories about their experience of sexual harassment, and the statistics are shocking. It’s shocking too, that women, myself included, are not surprised by them. 97% of young women have been the victim of sexual harassment and, over the last decade, a woman has […]
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Design for repair and maintainability
Recently, I have been thinking about design for repair and maintainability. The three ‘R’s of sustainability remind us to Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, but ‘Reuse’ can be a challenge when so many products are not designed with maintenance or repair in mind. Home printers are a good example, with huge numbers of printers ending up in […]
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Pick a metric, any metric! Designing Building Energy Standards
The UK Government is currently consulting on the Future Building Standard which includes updates to parts of the building regulations dealing with energy use in buildings (MHCLG, 2021). The built environment is a major user of energy and contributor to carbon emissions so tightening standards for new buildings and retrofit is an important step for […]
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An Open Innovation tool for the design toolkit
Sometimes, designing can mean to juggle multiple ideas, opinions, deadlines or budgets all in a single project. The goal, the plan to get there, and the values that drive us are in constant flux, whether we agree or not. As a project unfolds, it can be easy to lose track of priorities or objectives; becoming […]
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Attitudes and Behaviours
We’re on design as a set of Cognitive Superpowers (again). This time looking at two properties we take for granted and don’t seem to include in learning outcomes: Attitudes and Behaviours. I’m going to argue that these are as important as developing Skills or Cognitive Abilities. In particular, that they are necessary aspects of being […]
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Design lessons from the pandemic
As the UK sets out plans for an end to lockdown the question for many of us is what life will look like in the new, post-lockdown, normality. Designers in particular can, and should, play a part in re-imagining public spaces to create safe environments that help people to feel confident again in social interactions. […]
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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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Ensuring effective user input in design
Stephen Potter and Lisa Bowers 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 […]
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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). […]
