June 2nd, 2009
Countries that wish to increase their competitive advantage have turned to design as a mechanism to add value to the goods and services that their indigenous companies produce. Recognising that those companies that use design are more successful than those that do not, they invest significant time and effort in promoting and supporting companies to overcome the barriers to its effective use. Their goal is to increase the demand for design.
Increasing demand is only one side of the equation however; it is just as important that there should be a broad and deep supply of designers who can provide services to business to help them add value to their products and services. Without them, an economy can be starved of a key input that helps to differentiate the goods and services it produces.
A range of interrelated issues governs the supply of designers who provide services to business. The role of education is critical, as is the aspiration of the individual and ultimately the market for their services. But there are also a number of other more subtle influences such as the role of the industry support bodies, the nature of continuous professional development and the business empathy of designers themselves.
This report examines the strengths and weaknesses of the sector and makes recommendations about how to build on those strengths in order to stimulate one small but important part of the economy that can create added-value to the economy as a whole. Given the similar barriers faced by the sector in Northern Ireland and Ireland, it makes sense to adopt a cooperative approach to optimise the potential of the sector.
Aidan Gough
DIRECTOR, STRATEGY & POLICY
InterTradeIreland
Download study (PDF, 568k)
Posted in Export, Government, Policy, Promotion, Report, Research, Sector | Comments Off
Posted by: Justin Knecht
April 15th, 2009
Paul Hughes of Orientation Lab, an initiative of Lava Design, Netherlands and Reza Abedini will conduct a day long workshop that will focus on how to use design to address issues or audiences that go beyond local and conventional visual frames of reference. The purpose of this workshop is to improve participants’ skills in thinking about design work produced for contemporary diverse communities and organisations. It will be of interest to organisations targeted at diverse audiences, NGOs, heads of communication who commission design, graphic designers, visual arts/design academics.
27th May, NCAD Gallery, Thomas Street, Dublin, 10 – 4pm
The cost of the workshop is €80 including lunch
To book, contact ICAD, elaine@icad.ie
Posted in Culture, Event | 1 Comment »
Posted by: Justin Knecht
April 6th, 2009
Photo from IDEO
Is the way we educate keeping pace with the changing needs of the marketplace? Are we creating graduates with the right skills for the 21st century? There are some good signs in the work we’ve been doing with the industrial design programme and industry here at IT Sligo and in other initiatives around problem-based learning. In a recent article from Metropolis magazine, IDEO summarises ten tips based on their Design for Learning efforts for the 21st century classroom.
I particularly like the call to stop calling creativity, collaboration, communication, empathy, and adaptability ‘soft skills,’ as if they were a bonus as opposed to a necessity. I’ve argued before that creativity can be taught, and certainly when it comes to ideas, the ability to come up with ideas is nothing without the ability to communicate them, or work together to commercialise them.
How do we begin to measure and evaluate process as well as outcome?
Read IDEO’s Ten Tips For Creating a 21st–Century Classroom Experience
Posted in Article, Design thinking, Education, Skills | 2 Comments »
Posted by: Justin Knecht
March 31st, 2009
UX Workshops provides workshops around “User Experience” with highly experienced experts.
May 18: ‘Enterprise Information Architecture’ – Louis Rosenfeld
May 19: ‘Commercial Ethnography’- James Kalbach
May 20: ‘Personas and Mental Models’ – James Kalbach
Early bird pricing is available until April 2, 2009. Space is limited.
For the detailed program of the workshops, please visit www.uxworkshops.com or have a look at http://tinyurl.com/7fhlf5
Location of the workshops:
EMPIRE RIVERSIDE HOTEL
Bernhard-Nocht-Straße 97
D-20359 Hamburg
www.empire-riverside.de
Posted in Event, Experience, Software/IT | Comments Off
Posted by: Justin Knecht
March 30th, 2009
Perhaps the first question should be whether “standard” and “innovation” should even be in the same sentence. However, I feel very strongly that there are certain systematic approaches to managing innovation that might not guarantee you’ll end up with a string of guaranteed innovations, but you’ll stand a much better chance of success if you apply some best practice.
Every day we hear calls to innovate our way out of the current crisis, but there is little practical, step-by-step how-to for organisations to apply. It was with great enthusiasm that I participated within a group to help the NSAI draft a National Workshop Agreement on a Guide to Good Practice in Innovation and Product Development Processes. It’s not a perfect document. How could it be after two day-long meetings? It is a start and highlights the need for a practical approach and more practical tools.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Book, Business Issues, Design Management, Policy, Product design, Report, Skills | 1 Comment »
Posted by: Justin Knecht
March 24th, 2009
Here is a good example of a design which looks beyond the simple functions of the product to the emotional perceptions and requirements of the user.
The Playpump is used to pump water in schools in such places as South Africa, Mozambique, Swaziland and Zambia. It is essentially a windmill on its side. Unlike other pumps, the Playpump is designed to be driven by children in play, who use the wheel as a merry-go-round.
Water pumps are placed in areas of high drought and provide drinking and irrigation water. They greatly benefit the surrounding areas and are seen as something to be celebrated. Designing a pump which incorporates the play of children, takes this emotional element into account. Its design combines the function of the pump with the celebration of its installment and use.
Rather then the traditional approach of designing emotion into a product, the Playpump is a manifestation of emotion generated by its presence. It is an interesting perspective to consider when trying to design that ‘must have’ product.
Posted in Creativity, Design thinking, Experience, Product design, Simplicity, Usability, User-Centered Design | 1 Comment »
Posted by: Linzi Ryan
March 19th, 2009
Posted in Creativity, Event | Comments Off
Posted by: Justin Knecht
March 19th, 2009
Yes you can, and this is where you start.
Date: 25 March 2009
Time: 8:30
Location: Crowne Plaza, Northwood, Santry, Dublin 9
The benefit of this half day seminar focuses on how to create an innovative culture within your organization, and on the recently recognized role of standardization in innovation. We are all aware how important innovation is in the current climate – this timely seminar provides an opportunity to adopt a standardized approach to continuous innovation.
Key note speakers explore how standards offer innovators a level playing field, facilitating competition and interoperability between new and existing products, services and processes.
Each participant will receive a FREE copy of the NSAI ‘Guide to Good Practice in Innovation and Products Development Processes’ due to be launched at the seminar.
Want to know more, go to www.nsai.ie to review the full seminar details or you can call Eoin McCabe, telephone +353 (0) 807 3824.
Posted in Event | Comments Off
Posted by: Justin Knecht
March 9th, 2009
Photography is one of my favourite user-centred research tools. Simply put, a photo allows you to show someone else who wasn’t there. Often we get asked in workshops about getting permission to take photographs at a client’s business. Or how to get access to someone in their home, which is a personal space. The answer could be as simple as give a camera to the person instead.
Anthony Levin-Decanini reconnected after meeting a few years back at a design conference. He worked on a project called Aphasia Talks, that used photography as a method to give a voice to stroke victims who suffer difficulty producing, using or understanding words. Aphasia can impair any or all of the abilities to speak, read and write. What a fantastic approach to empower people to communicate, as well as build empathy with a particular group that would have difficulty communicating their needs.
PhotoVoice is a research technique, as well as non-profit organisation whose mission is to bring about positive social change for marginalised communities through providing them with photographic training with which they can advocate, express themselves and generate income.
Posted in Tool, Universal Design, User Research, User-Centered Design, Website | Comments Off
Posted by: Justin Knecht
March 4th, 2009
Last Tuesday I attended the BizSpark Innovation Accelerator in Dublin, an event organised by Microsoft Ireland in collaboration with Digital Media Forum.
The Event brought together over 200 attendees from different backgrounds but most of them having a common goal for the day: gathering information about starting up a business.
In my opinion the event was a success as it covered everything from Licensing Agreements to HR, from Founding to PR, from research to product management to increase profitability. I firmly believe that even though the information was presented at a high level there wasn’t one person present that didn’t learn something new on the day. I know I returned with pages of notes.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Business Issues, Event, Funding, Software/IT | 2 Comments »
Posted by: Cristina Luminea
Countries that wish to increase their competitive advantage have turned to design as a mechanism to add value to the goods and services that their indigenous companies produce. Recognising that those companies that use design are more successful than those that do not, they invest significant time and effort in promoting and supporting companies to overcome the barriers to its effective use. Their goal is to increase the demand for design.
