Social Design Entrepreneur

MakerLab is a workshop; a physical space designed to catalyse the innovation process at a small scale.  There are tools, machines for making, there are the raw materials, wood, metal, plastics, a discarded washing machine, physical objects that have outlived their functionality and serve now as the seeds for new projects.  There are people, some [...]

“You don’t own the car you drive, you don’t own your iPod you listen to and you certainly don’t own the TV you watch…”

Inspired by Stefan Sagmeister’s fantastic book of the same name, I recently spent a reflective train journey putting down some of the little understandings I have made about this strange world in which we live…

When a problem seems impossible to solve, your thinking is probably too complex
Your sub-conscious is often far better at problem solving [...]

Red Button Design is a UK based not (just) for profit startup which works towards developing products for emerging markets. We are currently working on a water transport, purification and storage device which uses human power to drive the filtration process. Other projects include a sustainable vaccine cooler, and a solar powered irrigation [...]

The third Social Innovation Camp (SICamp) was held last weekend at Glasgow Caledonian University.  60 people from across the UK (and Europe) gathered to help turn ideas into reality.  Six back-of-the-envelope ideas for web tools that would make a positive difference to the real world had been previously chosen out of 133 applicants.  The six [...]

Andrew Stordy via Coroflot 
 
Featured a while back on Coroflot’s Creative Seeds Blog Andrew Stordy’s Malaria Must Go project is a fantastic example of simple design that has the potential to change lives on a large scale.  The prototype shown above combines the CO2 produced by burning charcoal with the scent of human sweat given off from a [...]

Eric Testroete via The Strange Attractor 

I just spotted this video on TSA, its a fantastic collection of photographs taken by Eric Testroete whilst on a trip to Japan.
It is really well executed, with some images that really stand out from the narrative.
This is Japan! from Eric Testroete on Vimeo.

The Sunday Times recently ran an article on a new approach to book retail to be introduced to the UK.  Blackwell are set to be the first retailer to install the Espresso Book Machine, nicknamed the Book ATM this device is capable of rapidly printing, binding and trimming books from a database of 1 million titles. [...]

From Core77
 
 
With the world’s reliance on and access to information growing ever faster it is important to explore new ways of presenting and interacting with it.  Apple have introduced perhaps the most high profile new interaction experience with the multitouch capability built into the iPhone and Macbook.  That said Apple certainly isn’t the only company [...]

Having spent the last few weeks alternating between sitting at my computer and working on a prototype in my garage, I decided it was time to take advantage of the freak sunny day and take my new camera for a walk.  I’ve been putting off buying a digital SLR for so long because “they just [...]