Category: Postgraduate

Goldsmiths Design Festival 2017: Wendy Lau re-interprets human rights

For her graduation project from the MA in Design: Critical Practice, Wendy Lau explores human rights through a series of activities that question our own perspectives and priorities on the issue, as well as encourage us to understand other people’s perspectives:

“I started with an observation on human rights nowadays, and I initially thought I could come up with tangible solutions or a design strategy to deal with the situation. However, after research, I found that the issue was really complex, so instead I tried to provide an experience to get the audience to understand, or to start thinking about the importance of human rights. So, this is a proposal and it consists of five sections of interaction which explore different perspectives on approaching human rights. The experience is trying to get the participants not only to express what it means to have human rights, but also to question the response of others, and start to re-think the various interpretations. Continue reading “Goldsmiths Design Festival 2017: Wendy Lau re-interprets human rights”

Innovative design work at the 2017 Goldsmiths Design Festival

Last week, the Goldsmiths Design Festival held its third edition, again as part of the London Design Festival. As in the previous year, events took place in a single location, at the St James Hatcham gallery in New Cross. A private industry view for the postgraduate show happened on the evening of September 14th, while family and friends were welcomed on the evening of 15 September; the exhibition remained open until 17 September. All events were free to attend, and drinks were once again provided by The Fat Walrus.

From turning a parachute into fashion to exploring Mukbang, the online trend of broadcasting meals, from investigating different perceptions on human rights to empowering local communities through market hubs, the 2017 MA Show offered a wide range of exciting work. A few of the projects will be featured on the blog soon, so watch this space! You can also find more photos of the exhibits and the opening evening on our Facebook page. Continue reading “Innovative design work at the 2017 Goldsmiths Design Festival”

Make@MEET workshops with MA Interaction Design students/alumni

This July, Michael Mogensen (MA Interaction Design 2017), Erica Jewell and Julie Parisi (MA Interaction Design 2016) designed and taught Make@MEET, a one day workshop in Jerusalem to Year 3 students from the Middle East Entrepreneurs of Tomorrow (MEET) programme. MEET brings together young Israeli and Palestinian leaders to create positive change through technology and entrepreneurship, in partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The summer intensive programme consists of an accelerator for four startups created by the participants. The Make@MEET workshop introduced them to tools to challenge their biases and assumptions, particularly around the user in the context of their startups, as well as to generate ideas and work through problems. The attendees were given a brief (“make someone’s life easier”) and then taken on field trips to observe and choose a subject, followed by rapid prototyping and presentation of their designs.

Images courtesy of Michael Mogensen and Erica Jewell; more photos can be found on Erica Jewell’s blog. Another workshop will be held in December.