Ideas Day

A few weeks ago, saw this years annual Ideas Day in the Dundee Product Design department, and it proved to be just as good as the previous years.

Each year, the fourth year Product Design students are lucky enough to be visited by some of the top designers and design academics in the UK, to discuss their ideas and pick their brains with some probing questions. The ideas session is followed by a Q&A session open to all years.

This year saw an especially interesting line-up even though a few people could not make the event. The guests this year were:




Richard Banks - Microsoft Research Cambridge

Professor Andrew Shoben - Greyworld and Goldsmiths University

Daljit Singh - Digit London

Professor Bill Gaver - Goldsmiths University

Dr Tim Regan - Microsoft Research Cambridge


The Q&A session lasted an hour, with eight questions posed to the panel, causing intriguing responses and often lively debate.

The first question asked was "Where is the place to be for design right now?". This opened up debate about physical and virtual space, and the issues associated with both. Andrew Shoben started off by saying that online was where it was at, rather than a physical or geological location. Richard Banks corroborated this, saying that he was an avid promoter of networked, distance working, as he himself divides his time between the Cambridge studio and home.

Tim Regan, however, strongly opposed these ideas, instead suggesting the 'water cooler effect' of face-to-face human interactions, and ability to infect others with your ethos was a vital part of effective design. Tim, who works with Richard, also said that Richards lack of physical presence was often detrimental to their projects.

Bill Gaver voiced his opinions on the matter too. Talking from his personal experience, he felt that it was often nice not to be in an absolute hub of design, where there is a risk of saturation and becoming homogenised. He challenged us to think about what a "Dundee style of design" might be, and said that embracing your current situation and finding the perculiarities in it could create interesting results.

Another interseting point of discussion was what they look for when offering positions, and core skills they feel are important. Accross the board, the panal felt that the grade was less important than the work in the portfolio or your enthusiasm. Daljit Singh thought one of the most imporant abilities to show was communication and creativity. He identified the point that as design student we are creative in our work, but when it comes to applications and jobs alot of people forget this (not advocating gimmicks though)! He also emphasised the point of reasearching the organisation you are approaching.

Andrew brought up the idea of being a generalist and not a specialist, but not in a negative way. He said that at Greyworld, they valued open mindedness and wide thinking as the range of products they undertake can be so huge.


To find more information on the guest speakers follow the links below:

http://www.richardbanks.com/

http://www.greyworld.org/

http://digitlondon.com

http://www.gold.ac.uk/interaction/

http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/people/timregan/


P