DMEMconnected

Prithviraj (Raj) Sarkar (Global Innovation Management student now studying at Aalborg University) and his associate from Heriot-Watt University, Tafadzwa Mapfumo, won the Creation Challenge award at the Enterprise Awards 2009 dinner held by Strathclyde Entrepreneurial Network.

The 2 students won the award for developing the best business plan and outstanding pitch for their ‘myPod’ product - a security system for mobiles, MP3 players and other valuables.

A wireless monitoring device that alerts the user when their personal possessions move out of their safety zone, the ‘myPod’ product was based on an idea Raj had initially developed for the Innovation Management class in DMEM.

New DMEM Studio / 17 Nov 2009

The previous studio, although homely in feel, was dated and lacked flexible functionality, sought after by any design department. The previous presentation area’s capacity was not sufficient to hold an entire year’s worth of students. It was time for a change.

The new studio project was instigated at the start of the summer 2009 and completed in a mere few months. A contact was called in from the design world to deliver the new studio. Professional interior designers MKW were recruited for their specialised experience with workspace and exhibition design.

MKW proposed concept ideas for the entire studio area, rather than piecing together different aspects of the studio, e.g. only specifying particular furniture.

Studio Features

Fresh start: starting with a blank canvas, a neutral space that can be developed depending on how students decide to use it. The idea is that it becomes a living and working space as the year progresses.

Multifunctional: the new studio is designed for teaching and students to carry out work, but also as a promotional and exhibition space.

The walls: the strips of pin board to white board lining the studio walls offer students different mediums to easily note ideas during group sessions.
New technology: introduction of wireless projectors, currently just used by staff, allowing seamlessly transition from presenting information and carrying out workshops.

Fifth year dedicated desks: used to enhance student culture, each final MEng student this year has been assigned a desk and locker.

Cell zones: early on concept proposals included removing the cells; this was strongly opposed by students during feedback sessions. They were considered too valuable as smaller working areas. Instead of removal, they were enhanced. Larger boards were positioned in between cells to muffle sounds from teaching/lecturing areas of the studio and computer resources were upgraded.

Future Developments

After successful piloting with staff, the wireless projectors will be potentially made available for student use, enabling them to practice presentations and share work during group projects.

Rethinking the studio flooring situation, replace with industrial lino flooring more suitable for workshops, building early on prototypes.

A comment about the new studio that is also applicable across all design projects:

"It is not possible to ensure every need of every user is met, instead of trying to design something to fit perfectly, it is better to design something flexible then let it do the work." Mike Anusas

Final Comment

Students, the revamped studio is yours, respect it and use it. De-neutralise those walls.

California Design Conference / 10 Nov 2009

Several DMEM staff members recently represented the department at the 17th International Conference of Engineering Design (ICED'09) at Stanford University, California.

Dr Avril Thomson commented, "Amazing campus, but the best part for me was meeting people from all over the world who are interested in design and talking to other people about how they teach design. I also found a lot of people were trying to find out what we do in DMEM, especially from Bill’s workshop."

The ICED'09 conference hosted a huge variety of subjects all relating to design issues and research. You can download a PDF copy of the 09 Programme here. Some of the topics of research presented by our DMEM staff were:

• Alastair Conway ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ): Knowledge enhanced notes, related to his PhD.
• Dr Avril Thomson ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ): Design for aging population.
• Prof Bill Ion ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) and Hilary Grierson ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ): Design in the Future. They ran a design education workshop, asking what will the design of the future will be and how does education need to adapt to reflect that?
• Prof Alex Duffy ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ): Towards an Understanding of the Impact of Resources on the Design Process.
• Hilary Grierson ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ): Towards a Set of Principles for Distributed-Design Information Storing, related to her PhD.

The event was organised by the Stanford Center for Design Research together with the Design Society, a worldwide community that DMEM students can join for a reduced fee (ask your year coordinator for details).

This year Prof Bill Ion was voted into the inner circle of the Design Society committee, which is made up of around 10 people from all over the world. With Bill now on the committee alongside Alex Duffy (who has been a member for several years and also completed a stint as president), this will increase DMEM's influence in the Design Society and ensure that DMEM is kept up to date within the design community.

Some related links:

• The 11th International Design Conference – DESIGN 2010, May 17-20, 2010, to be held in Dubrovnik – Cavtat – Croatia
• The ISEA administrates a biennial International Conferences on the Engineering of Sport and is responsible for the subsequent publication of proceedings. The next conference will be the 8th International Conference on the Engineering of Sport which will be held in Vienna, Austria, 2010
• The 11th International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education
• D-school, advertised at the ICED09 conference is a masters programme, open to people from any discipline (for example Politics students) who want to be transformed into design thinkers. It is not about being an engineer or having a specific skill, but about different individuals being taught design theory.

DMEM Student Featured in Online Magazine / 30 Oct 2009

One of DMEM’s now final year students, Kyle Toole, has had his 4th year project (a new type of energy charger) featured in online magazine Gizmag. The following was extracted from the article...

Hiking has its share of highs and lows. One of the less pleasing aspects is ensuring you have an adequate source of energy to power your personal electronic equipment. There are a number of renewable energy options available that you may consider when planning your next hiking trip. You could harness the sun’s energy and use a solar-powered charger or solar-wrapped batteries. Perhaps you might choose to use wind power to keep you in touch with the world? But wouldn’t it be great if you could harness power using your own kinetic energy? It makes sense. You’re using your legs all day, surely all that sweat, pain and muscle fatigue is good for something? Enter Kyle Toole, an industrial designer who has figured out a way to use our own energy to act as a power source for recharging batteries...

You can read the full online article by clicking here.