A blog about design at the OU.
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The Design Group at TEDx – Part 1: Learning to Change Our Minds
The Open University hosted TEDx last week, providing a platform for a range of interesting and diverse speakers across the UK. The Design Group (not short of something to say in public) was represented by no less than four speakers. Claudia Eckert, Helen Lockett, Stephen Peake, and Derek Jones. Over the next few weeks each […]
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Designing Urban Atmospheres
In everyday speech, people may say that a restaurant has a very romantic atmosphere. Likewise, the atmosphere of a shopping centre may be said to be vibrant. It may be difficult so explain exactly what such an atmosphere is or how it is cultivated but we can be certain that a design expert of some […]
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Looking for a PhD in Design?
The Open University is part of the AHRC funded Open-Oxford-Cambridge Doctoral Training Partnership. The deadline for these PhD applications is the 8th January 2020. Further information on eligibility and details of the OOC studentships can be found via the OOC link. For information on OU Design project and research areas of interest, explore our Blog Research pages. […]
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Mackintosh & the Glasgow Style Gallery- Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum
I was in Glasgow recently, and lucky enough to visit the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum . The grandeur of the building itself is worth a visit. The organ playing was a memorable experience, as was seeing the beautiful paintings in the Glasgow Boys Gallery and the products in the Mackintosh and The Glasgow Style Gallery. […]
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Children’s design capacity
Every year, our first-year students develop a board game for one of their design projects. I love looking at the responses to the brief because the assignment gives scope to show systemic as well as detail thinking. The students’ board game proposals curate an elaborate ensemble of the game track, action cards and playing pieces […]
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Engineering design on show
The Engineering Design Show in the Coventry Ricoh Arena last week provided a great opportunity for Design academics Nicole Lotz and Georgy Holden to see companies showing state-of-the-art design engineering as well as to meet with one of our new design students. A strong theme in the show was 3D printing. This ranged from day […]
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A swiss excursion in minimal design
Visited a couple of Swiss buildings recently which motivated some thoughts on minimal Design. Corbusier designed a lovely lakeside ‘Petite Maison’ for his parents near Vevey, Switzerland. It was built in 1923, to minimal principles (although its appearance is complexified by later cladding). The architectural composition is linear along the lake shore with views to the […]
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Fashion UK – sustainability and ethics
High profile leaders from the Fashion Industry meet with politicians and academics in Westminster on 20 November 2019 to discuss sustainability and ethics in fashion. This conference follows a report from the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee in February 2019. Design is central to meeting industry sustainability goals. It is tremendous that these issues […]
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Designers Telling Stories
Netflix has recently released season two of Abstract: The Art of Design, a series which celebrates innovative designers from a range of fields, including fashion, graphics, interface, architecture, automotive, etc. Some of the designers may be familiar to you, if not by name then perhaps by output. For example, Tinker Hatfiled (Season 1 Episode 2) […]
