If we are to capitalise on the potential that a design approach might bring to innovation in business and society, we need to build a better understanding of the evolving skill-sets that designers will need and the contexts within which design might operate. This demands more discourse between those involved in cutting edge practice, the researchers who help to uncover principles, codify knowledge and create theories and the educators who are nurturing future design talent.

This book promotes such a discourse by reporting on the work of twenty research teams who explored different facets of future design activity as part of Phase 2 of the UK’s research council supported Designing for the 21st Century Research Initiative. Each of these contributions describes the origins of the project, the research team and their project aims, the research methods used and the new knowledge and understanding generated. Editor and Initiative Director, Professor Tom Inns, provides an introductory chapter that suggests ways the reader might navigate these viewpoints. This chapter concludes with an overview of the key lessons that might be learnt from this collection of design research activity.

Contents: Introduction, Tom Inns; Design scoreboard: development of an approach to comparing international design capabilities, Dr James Moultrie and Finbarr Livesey; 2020 vision – the UK design industry ten years on: implications for design businesses of the future, Prof. Alex Williams, Prof. Rachel Cooper, Martyn Evans and Dr Qian Sun; Designing for services in science and technology-based enterprises, Lucy Kimbell; Considerate design for personalised fashion, Prof. Sandy Black, Dr Claudia Eckert, Philip Delamore, Dr Frances Geesin, Steven Harkin, Dr Penelope Watkins and Fatemeh Eskandarypur; Embracing complexity in design: emerging perspectives and opportunities, Dr Katerina Alexiou, Prof. Jeffrey Johnson and Dr Theodore Zamenopoulos; Metadesign: the design practice that designs itself, Prof John Wood; emergent objects: performance and interdisciplinary design at the human/technological interface, Dr Joslin McKinney, Alice Bayliss, Dr Sita Popat and Prof. Mick Wallis; Democratising technology: a method, Dr Ann Light; Branded meeting places: ubiquitous technologies and the design of places for meaningful human encounter, Prof. Richard Coyne, Dr James Stewart, Dr Mark Wright, Henrik Ekeus, Prof. Robin Williams and Dr Penny Travlou; My exhibition: personalising unencumbered multimedia content in a museum environment, Prof. Chris Rust, Prof. Alison McKay, Dr Mark Bylthe, Prof. Peter Wright and Jeff Baggot; Design and physicality - towards an understanding of physicality in design and use, Prof. Alan Dix, Dr Steve Gill, Dr Devina Ramduny-Ellis and Jo Hare; Making sense of the city: representing the multi-modality of urban space, Dr Raymond Lucas, Gordon Mair and Dr Ombretta Romice; Welcoming workplace: rapid design intervention to determine the office environment needs of older knowledge workers, Prof. Jeremy Myerson and Jo-Anne Bichard; Realising participatory design with children and young people: a case study of design and refurbishment in schools, Prof. Andrée Woodcock, Dr Peter Kraftl, DrJohn Horton, Dr Peter Adey, Matthew Kinross, Michelle Newman and Dr Olga den Besten; Bike Off 2 – catalysing anti-theft bike, bike parking and information design for the 21st century: an open innovation research approach, Adam Thorpe, Prof. Lorraine Gamman, Prof. Paul Ekblom, Shane Johnson and Aiden Sidebottom; Inclusive new media design: the place of accessibility guidelines in the work of web designers, Dr Helen Kennedy, Siobhán Thomas and Simon Evans; Practical design for social action, Dr Andy Dearden, Dr Ann Light, Wendy Olphert, Leonie Ramondt and Steve Walker; People-centred computational environments for design discovery: establishing a fully integrated framework, Prof. Ian Parmee, Dr Azahar Machwe, Dr Damien Williams, Prof. Jan Noyes, Prof. Lisa Hall, Prof. John Miles, Chris Simons and Prof. David Smith; Design synthesis and shape generation, Prof. Alison McKay, Dr Scott Chase, Dr Steven Garner, Dr Iestyn Jowers, Dr Miquel Prats, Prof. David Hogg, Dr Hau Hing Chau, Prof. Alan de Pennington, Prof. Christopher Earl and Dr Sungwoo Lim; Stress computation, visualisation and measurement in: 1. design of minimum energy forms of fabric enclosures and 2. painting conservation and novel artist materials, Prof. Wanda J. Lewis and John S. Brew; Index.

About the Editor: Professor Tom Inns is Director of the AHRC/EPSRC Designing for the 21st Century Research Initiative. He is Chair of Design at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design, University of Dundee. He was formerly Director of the Design Research Centre, Brunel University, UK.

Extracts from this title are available to view:

Full contents list

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 2: 2020 vision - the UK design industry ten years on: implications for design businesses of the future