Product Design in Action

Sixth Formers were provided the opportunity to visit the Emmanuel Centre last week in London.  The focus of the day was to hear from five renowned speakers from a diverse range of design related specialisms.

Speakers such as Graham Potts, who is an Industrial Designer, informed the audience of his successful term as Senior Designer at Seymourpowell.  Most recently, Graham is now creative lead at forpeople, a specialist design company based in an old pickle factory in south London.  His presentation in particular described the excitement and pressures of a career in this design field but also the enormous satisfaction of being an integral part of creating the products of tomorrow.

However, the highlight of the day was Sam Rogers who is a flight suit design engineer at Gravity Industries.  He shed light on the approach Gravity have taken to develop a pioneering human flight suit.  This included videos, with all the associated successes, failures and revelations. It described how fundamental principles and design judgement can bring science fiction closer to reality!

Day trips such as these provide pupils with a valuable insight into the world of design. More and more focus is placed upon creating products which are both technologically advanced and sustainable.  A career in which today’s young designer will enter will be rapidly changing.