Design@50

Some historic OU television clips chosen to celebrate 50 years of design teaching at The Open University.

Clip: Design failures: Probe Clip 2
Duration: 00:02:13
Date: 01-10-1972
Clip: Design strategies: Clip 1
Duration: 00:03:59
Date: 10-08-1975
Clip: Creativity and conceptual design: Clip 1
Duration: 00:03:08
Date: 1992

2021 celebrated 50 years of design teaching at The Open University. To accompany the first event in a series discussing the impact that the OU has had on design teaching the following clips were selected. They show how video has been used to communicate design at the OU since its inception.

The first clip is from 1972 (from the module T100 The Man-made world: a foundation course), and shows Nigel Cross introducing ideas about design failure and people's relationship with technology. The clip has been edited to remove news footage of catastrophes and pollution for copyright reasons.  

In the second clip from 1975 from the module T262 Man-made futures, Nigel Cross reflects on the design of a television programme to teach design. This meta-level thinking is evident throughout these early materials.

The final clip is footage originally from T264 Design: principles and practice (1992). The clip shows part of a conversation between Robin Roy and designer Mark Sanders about his early design work for the Strida folding bicycle. Case studies such as this are frequently used as teaching tools in OU design teaching.