Using design thinking to revitalize school lesson plans

A few weeks ago i came across a really nice project that IDEO did with non profit organization RAFT (Resource Area For Teaching) in San Hose, California.

Raft “delivers ‘classroom magic’ by providing teachers with ideas for creative experiments and hands-on activities and the donated materials to build them—from cardboard tubes to rubber washers to film canisters. The materials come from hundreds of local businesses, diverting more than 10,000 cubic feet of reusable items away from city landfills monthly.

Sharing a belief in the value of hands-on education, IDEO and RAFT collaborated on several strategic and tactical projects, including a visioning session and a transformation workshop, in addition to ongoing brainstorming and prototyping sessions for turning donated materials into classroom activities aligned to the California State teaching standards” Via Ideo.com

To read the full case study see here.

RFID and GPS put to good use!

The City of Copenhagen has just launched an innovative program aimed at tracking down stolen bicycles. Using RFID tags you will be able to track where your bike is if it is stolen. Read the full story on Adam’s Blog.

For me this is a really interesting idea….as using GPS and RFID as a means of tracking is heavily related to my final year project at CIID. It is great to see how these innovative technologies can be put to good use to tackle some of the social problems that exist today.

Boredom….

By Ujjval.….

Lego TV remote control

I just came across this very cool concept through Jereon’s Twitter Feed.

IDEO considers the future of News

This evening i came across this really nice article on the IDEO website.  A team of people working in IDEO Palo Alto took on the challenge of predicting how we’ll get news in the future. How will we experience the news when new technological devices and services replace newsprint, or even websites, as the method of delivery? For three weeks IDEO along with San Francisco magazine developed future scenarios and sketched out a simulation of the news environment of the future. I think they are really beautiful!

“The once profitable news industry is teetering on the brink. The recession has battered advertising. Dailies are folding. Printing the New York Times for a year costs twice as much as sending every subscriber a free Kindle. The Daily Show is a more trusted source than network news. And consumers have been marginalized in media dialogue about how to save journalism.

Yet how we define and experience news can—and should—change for the better, if we ground ourselves in what people really need and want. The next four pages showcase two environments that put the future of news in the context of our daily lives. In these scenarios, we see that information has become even more personalized and hyperlocal—and, paradoxically, more communal, participatory, and global. Journalism is more like having a conversation. People speak with unique voices, take ownership of content, and establish credibility, which in turn enables strong communities in which news can thrive. Anything that’s notable to a person in a particular moment and place becomes newsworthy”
Via Ideo.com

View full PDF via IDEO website.

Product Design 05

Its been two years since i graduated from studying product design and the time has flown by! Last night i was looking at this years product design degree show website at Dundee and i was super impressed. The course is only five years old but i am amazed how much it has matured even since i graduated. This years projects are a mix of interaction design, design around sustainability, service design and more classic industrial design as well. Once thing i love about all the ideas and the philosophy of the course is that it is not about presenting ideas of what a product might be, or building a technical prototype of how a product might work its about using the skills to respond to people’s needs and design products that are thoughtful, well crafted and are fully working to provide the user experience that the end product would. This year they have done a great job at using new technology in a very  playful and subtle way. I think all of the projects are really great but one that caught my  eye is the doorbell project by Mike Skene.

“Taking initial inspiration from percussion, the action of striking of one body against another and a persons ability to interact with their surroundings through their sense of touch, “Doorbell” is an original take on a well known device providing a unique, evocative user experience that is sure to bring a smile to your face when heard for the first time.

Made up of 13 hand tuned aluminum chimes housed in a sycamore frame, the Doorbells contemporary design and appealing sound is a welcome change to the standard functions of a doorbell

Using an application such as iTunes users can even download new ring tones in seconds straight to their Doorbell. As well as this the chimes themselves are interchangeable and can be ordered both individually or in octave sets”

Working prototypes

You can view more of Mikes process on his blog and the rest of the projects here.

A little reflection….

Just for fun, i started to think about what i’ve done and learned in the last couple of years…this is what i came up with!

Social Innovation Camp call for ideas!

“The Social Innovation Camp is an experiment in creating social innovations for the digital age.  We think the web and related technologies hold huge potential to change some pretty fundamental stuff: how people hold those in positions of power accountable; who they rely on to provide the services they need to live healthy, happy lives; or how they make a difference to something that affects them”

This morning i received a press release from Katherine at the Social Innovation camp….spreading the word that the prizes have been announced for this years competition that is being hosted from Scotland for a change! So get thinking and enter!

More info……….

“There are just four weeks to go until our call for ideas closes for Social Innovation Camp Scotland.

You’ve got until Friday 22nd May 2009 to send us your idea that uses the web to create social change and you could be joining 100 other participants to try and make it a reality.

And this week, we’re really pleased to be able to announce some of our prizes for the weekend.

At the end of each Social Innovation Camp, we run a Show and Tell where everyone pitches what they’ve built in the weekend.

We’ll be awarding some prizes to the ideas we think have shown most promise. And this time around, we’re lucky enough to be supported by our partners Firstport, IfLooksCouldKill and O Street”

And here’s what they’re giving away:

Firstport supports new and emerging social entrepreneurs across Scotland. They provide free business support, advice and start-up awards and work to identify, advise, connect, encourage and seed-fund new start social entrepreneurs. Their awards programme is run in partnership with Scotland UnLtd.

A Level 1 award of up to £5,000 is being made available for a Scottish based winner at the Social Innovation Camp weekend. After the weekend, Firstport will be working with our winners to provide advice and support to answer the all-important question: ‘What next?’ and looking at how to work with the award winner to maximise the opportunities and ideas they wish to take forwards.

IfLooksCouldKill are a team of forward thinking web designers and developers. Working together from idea conception through to launch, they’re passionate about interface design, usability, simplicity and beautiful code. The team of five, headed up by Colin Hewitt bring together a unique balance of quirky design and innovative coding.

ILCK will be offering three days of interface design time looking at design, layout and usability of a site or application to either the Social Innovation Camp runner-up or winner.

O Street is a concept led design agency based in Glasgow and London (in that order). Though sleek and nimble in size, their international experience and impressive client list – including BAFTA, Edinburgh International Film Festival and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP – has helped them become one of Scotland’s most exciting creative agencies. Their work includes various mediums including print, online, exhibition, animation and ceramic bathroom tiles, but they tell us their true passion is for Ping Pong….

O Street are offering either the winning or runner-up Social Innovation Camp idea a tailored half-day branding workshop; helping ideas figure out their brand, audience and competition.

Remember: your idea must be really early stage and you don’t need your own team. Find out how it works here and check out all the details of how to enter your idea over on our dedicated Social Innovation Camp Scotland site here.

Another great video by thinkpublic…

Earlier in the year i posted a lovely video that thinkpublic had made to explain what “co-design” was they have now just made another film showing what they do as a company. Its informative, fun and beautifully filmed and edited. Great inspiration!

Public sector innovation

A great project video! a result of a joint project with IDEO, Forum for the Future  and Local Governments in the UK.  Via Choosenick