1st Feb – Design 4: Enterprise & Start-Ups  Do you have the right people to grow your enterprise?

8th Feb – Design 4: Success  Good design is good for business, as famously said by IBM’s Thomas Watson, 1956

15th Feb – Design 4: Manufacture Embracing design, innovation and technology for efficient product management

Also …  Join us at the launch party to recognise a collection of important products designed in Cambridgeshire over the last 40 years.  Date: 9th February 2012, Time: 6-9pm  Venue:  Ruskin Gallery, Anglia Ruskin University  Would be great to see as many people as possible!

A selection of these products will form part of an exhibition at the Ruskin Gallery in February 2012.  Follow the conversation on Twitter #camdesignicons

If you want to vote for us the follow these links:

The robot that helped discover the human genome
Cool Hi-Fi
Ground breaking camera equipment
Award winning ultra compact PA system
A clever cat flap
LED spot light

Design Council and Creative Front are supporting events next February to highlight great design produced in Cambridge from the last 40 years.  In response to this a networking group has been formed to help promote the work of Industrial Designers in this region. Open to all involved in Industrial design and related disciplines (consultants, in-house or students) they are looking for new members to help get things going along with any suggestions for talks / events.

For more information on this project, please visit http://www.creativefront.org

Exhibition Submissions -

1. The designer should be based in Cambridgeshire but the client does not need to be
2. Open to consultants and in-house teams
3. You can nominate your own or others work
4. There is no limit on you suggesting others work
5. Products must be designed in Cambridge over the last 40 years
6. We require a jpeg or photograph and a brief description of the product highlighting why you think it deserves to be included.
Please provide us with as much information as possible; product success, benefits design brought to the product in terms of market, sales, cost savings
7. Ideally you would also have a physical example of the product available to display at the exhibition
8. We would like to showcase the design process as much as possible and may require sketches and models to illustrate the product if successfully chosen
9. You must have permission from the copyright holder to reproduce the photograph in the exhibition catalogue
10. Designs must be submitted by 11 November 2011

Please email your submissions to Jodie Pinkowski, Events & Marketing Assistant to info@creativefront.org
Dropbox Invite: we can except up to 2MB via email although if you wish to send something larger, please email Jodie and she will invite you to share to our Dropbox.

Designing the motion sensors proved to be demanding – the Node had to be light and have minimal effect on body movement.  The main challenge was how to mount the sensors on the body and make them stay there.  Custom neoprene straps were designed which held the Nodes in place, close to each joint of the body.  Each Node also has a sucker cup to help maintain placement.  We worked with Cambridge based Skalene Technologies who had the task of squeezing all the electronics, including a Wi-Fi module, into a very small space!

The system is intended for a whole host of uses from music production and dance to sports medicine and maybe even computer games. The cost of film grade motion capture suits put this technology out of reach for most but with MotivePro analysing and using body motion data becomes affordable.  The first two systems are currently undergoing trials.  We look forward to seeing the suit used in all sorts of industries and environments.

Oh, and we also designed the logo and some cool T-Shirts for them!

MotivePro – closeup

MotivePro - testing

So last year it was a Festive Robot – this year a Flying Christmas Tree!  A bit more straight forward than the robot (Sorry to those that wanted a Stealth Plane tree?!?) Download your print-and-fold tree here – Flying Christmas Tree

Good luck with those record breaking distances…

CV
•    90% of CVs we get are just not well thought out and usually have the most relevant stuff on the last page!! Like any good bit of interface design it needs to get the relevant info across quickly and effectively.

•    Work experience (especially in a design related capacity) should be FIRST.

•    Find out the name of the person you are writing to: We usually bin those addressed ‘Dear Sir/ Madam’ even if they are wonderful. It shows an obvious lack of interest in the company. Do your research.

•    If you don’t want to send out a portfolio ensure the web link to your online portfolio is at the top of the CV and obvious.

PDF OR ONLINE PORTFOLIO

•    Small portfolio – 3 or 4 projects (maybe 2 pages per project). You need something left to show at the interview!

•    A project that is original (not a standard project from your course) always goes down well.

•    Show the thinking behind the design – not just a CAD or marker rendering. eg. exploded views card models and rough sketches. Anything that clearly shows the way the product works is great.

•    Show some understanding of production processes and materials. A big plus in our view.  Ring up a local supplier to get some advice and include that in your presentation.

•    Clean layout – minimal backgrounds please, please, please. It makes our eyes hurt otherwise.

•    Put your best work FIRST! (or we may get bored…)

What sort of experience should you be going for?  Getting manufacturing experience is very important and is something that design consultancies do not always provide.  It doesn’t matter what they make but will give you first hand experience of manufacturing and how to design for production.  Work experience of this sort will always get you noticed (over and above any cool cad renderings).  Check out the local business parks or the trade shows to find suitable manufacturing companies.   A excellent book on the subject is ‘Manufacturing Processes for Design Professionals’ by Rob Thompson.

While we are not looking for anyone at the moment we hope this quick list helps in your search.

PS think about starting up a really great design blog – it can be a good way to get noticed…  check out Jared Thompson’s Design Juices

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While on the subject of great design websites…. we have put together a list of useful design websites and blogs (let us know if we have missed anyone)  CID reading list

Head over to CBBC for more helpful articles and advice on this complex subject.  They also have a very useful PDF download on doing business in China.

And if you would like to join in the discussion there are forums on LinkedIn and MechanicalDesign Forum.

Let us know if you have found any helpful resources on Asian outsourcing out there.