James Dyson Workshop

Dyson - the 'perfect example' universities love to use when talking about design. So our university ran a workshop with the James Dyson Foundation for an afternoon last week.

Being totally honest wasn't really looking forward to it I'm not the biggest Dyson fan. I just get the feeling they're still snobby about that time they got one over on Hoover and they can now do no wrong. Which is far from the truth!

While the Dyson representatives were giving us a presentation on their design process and showing off their triumphs I couldn't help but think they were glossing over all their failures.

I can't think one one guest speaker I've heard in the past 3 years at uni that hasn't spoke about their failures and the lessons they learned from them, they were all totally honest with us as most of us are aspiring entrepreneurs. Mistakes and failures are how you learn!

• So, the Dyson washing machine - Fail!

Where to start? Ugly? Over priced? Unable to function?

Instead of fixing the problems Dyson stopped production claiming the market was not ready for this kind of product.

• The Dyson Airblade - Fun, but fail!

Once the water is ultra-hygienically, super-fastly removed from your hands where does it go? A nice wee puddle on the floor causing a major safety issue that's where. Admitting there is a problem seems harder than fixing the problem itself. 

Maybe I'm just bitter because my Dyson vacuum cleaner broke not long after we purchased it and they made me sit through a full presentation on the thorough testing they need to go through to avoid such problems. Now when I  say my vacuum broke it wasn't an electrical problem or anything to do with the inside mechanics. The hose fell off. The head fell off. The attachments broke. By the end of it's life the poor thing was covered in Duct tape.

Don't get me wrong the thinking behind all these ideas are incredible and the products could be amazing if they just admitted they were wrong and released a new version that tackled these issues.

So after the presentation we were split into groups and given a brief;

Design a product powered by air that solves a problem. Use Dyson parts and cardboard.

Each group got a different theme and our was games & entertainment. Eventually after some brainstorming, debating, sketching and a a few more heated debates we came up with a product that could be attached to a wheelchair to help disabled children play football. The product was hand operated and pushed air through a pump to move the ball which was on the ground.

My favorite part of the workshop was prototyping the idea. I love looking at technologies, products and mechanisms and trying to use them in different ways so sitting with two huge boxes of miscellaneous Dyson parts was heaven. After some trial and error we made a prototype that functioned reasonably well and presented it to the rest of the workshop.

Scavenging for parts.

Our finished model. Minus the bottom. Thanks Frank.

Glue gunning 

Air powered hand whisk

The winning team - resuscitation device

Our Workplace

Everyone

You can see more pictures from the workshop here.

ORIO - Wire and Tube Collector

Check out this wire and tube collector by HugoDesign found whilst researching the culture of Norwegian Design.

This image is taken from Inora where more information on the product can be found.

Basically this product holds and organises every tube and wire going to and from patients in a hospital environment. The largest hole is flexible enough to attach round most poles in the patients room.Each of the other holes hold some kind of tube or wire to avoid kinking, entanglement and mix up which could lead to the wrong administration of medicines.

Seeing anyone in hospital with what looks like hundreds of wires leading to and from their body is an uneasy sight and this product gives some visible structure to the system to ease both nurses, doctors and most importantly the patients family.

The ORIO has won two prestigious awards:

• Red Dot Design Award
• Award for Design Excellence, Norwegian Design Council

I'm really excited about this product I think it's a really well designed simple solution to a serious problem.Hopefully looking to take this product and develop a business plan focussing on the financial side for an economics class. Keep an eye out for future updates.

Norwegian Design

Norway, famous for it's fjords, glaciers and black metal. However, in the past few years Norway has become an exciting and innovative country for design.

The Norwegian design culture thrives on it's natural resources. According to the Global Energy Network Institute 99% of the power used in Norway come from its 850 hydroelectric plants and a lot of their products are still being made with wood and ceramics.

The traditional Norwegian houses were built mainly from log constructed together to withstand the elements. This type of architecture was called Vernacular and was used to build houses suitable for the need and resources of surrounding areas. Another example of Vernacular architecture would be igloos.

This picture taken around 1890 shows the constructed log building that would have been used as storage on one of the many farms around the Norwegian landscape.




Now Norwegian products are designed to be timeless and functionality drives the design more than style and aesthetics. I love this bottle opener taken from Norway Designs website. Only after seeing this product you understand how uncomplicated it needs to be in comparison to previous products which offer the exact same function.

Product Development

So basically our Product Development brief is to come up with a multi utensil hand tool. So naturally the first thing I thought of was my Dad. He loves a good multi tool whether it's a Swiss army knife or some king of camping Spork!

Most multi utensil hand tools are aimed at the outdoor/camping market and to be honest a lot of the tools are useless. You'd have to be in a one in a million situation to need a metal saw and tooth pick immediately and simultaneously!

How prepared do you really need to be?

 Don't get me wrong they are useful to have but they usually live in a drawer redundant until I need a bottle opened...

There are many markets for multi tools that haven't been penetrated yet. What about the beauticians and hairdressers? the medical industry? the manual labourers; electricians, plumbers? All possible markets but none I felt passionate about, none I could really relate to.

Sitting looking around the room we noticed the one thing everyone is certain to have. KEYS!
What about a tool to keep all your keys in? Most people carry more than one key around with them on a daily basis and when kept in your pocket they can be particularly uncomfortable.

We researched existing products and found numerous key rings with gadgets and gumf on them but nothing that physically concealed the keys. We wanted the keys to be interchangeable and the higher spec ones to have some sort of security on them. After a pretty amazing brain storm we came up with a few different ideas, target markets and uses -

• The General Tool

A tool for the average Joe who has a front door, back door and garage key all on a key chain in his pocket. They're uncomfortable to sit on and always hard to find. The bog standard tool will have none or little security possible a combination lock found on briefcases depending on the manufacturing costs. For marketing purposes there would be some sort of personalisation available; different colours or patterns etc. Not to mention the every handy bottle opener and torch built in.

• Professional

The higher spec tool for the more frequent key user for example the janitor with more key slots and better security.
Then the piece de resistance! The high security gadget complete with GPS tracking, fingerprint technology, USB and accompanying software, you name it! This would be marketed at businesses such as banks, pharmacies where security is key. (Pardon the pun, cringe.) Even the government could be doing with tightening security with our multi tool.

We would inclusively design the product so that it could be used by everyone. Some features to help would be Braille, a torch and a colour coding system to help those with sight difficulties. Unlike most multi tools the keys could be slotted out and in without any great difficulty.

We're still in the very early stages of designing the product but I think the idea can target a very wide market. It seems to be a pretty simple solution to a common problem.

Should have some concept drawn by next week and hopefully get cracking on this as fast as possible.

Claire (:

The Script So Far

I'm currently a 3rd year student at Strathclyde University which means it's my penultimate year and time, for me anyway, to get serious! I study Bsc Product Design & Innovation; a mix of design, manufacturing, entrepreneurship and business management.


I'm originally from Scotland, South Lanarkshire to be precise. I left school after my Highers to go to university because I needed more academical freedom to do what I enjoyed instead of picking subjects such as 'Cake Decoration' because it was the only class to fit into my timetable.


Third year involves a lot of group work and a lot of idea generation so this blog is basically my train of thought throughout the various projects.


Feedback of any kind is always welcome.


 Claire (: