Inspired by Design

I was on a panel last week talking about design to 800 design and technology A level students. Some younger ones too.

Wayne Hemingway was up first. Always good value for money. Nice and provocative too. Although he made me realise that the Big Breakfast was well over 10 years ago. So the audience were probably 5 years old when his slot on BB used to air.

And he slagged off Bros which upset me. Because Bros were great. Honestly. Watch this and tell me you're not dancing round the office.

Jason Iftakhar was also there and he was brilliant. He had lots of 'Ooh I wish I'd done that' work. This chair/bench for example.

This is made from compacted cardboard. He persuaded Sainsburys (and other supermarkets I think) to let him put a tool inside their waste cardboard compacters that cuts these chairs. For free! Obviously they give him the cardboard for free, they let him cut the chairs and then he does them a favour by taking the chairs away! Something like that anyway. Brilliant.

He's also got some great packaging that's made from the old cardbaord boxes Argos Direct use. He has a factory in Manchester that's across the way from Argos Direct and they give him all their waste cardboard. For nothing! All clever stuff. Have a look at his site, there's lots of really interesting bits in there.

He had this great quote, "If you want to make a product cheaper, reduce the number of parts". That seems true of many, many things.

I had a really good day. And it made me realise (again) how important it is to get out and talk to students. They get so little contact with industry and they are so happy and enthusiastic when you go and speak to them.

So I want to do more of this. If you're a college or a school, drop me a line I'd be more than happy to come and talk to some of your students. (Is that arrogant of me? Too late, I've said it now...)

Comments

[Tom]

Did Hemingway LOOK like a wrestler's son ?

[Ben]

From a certain angle, yeah.

[Alex]

What a brilliant, brilliant song.

[Justin]

Fancy a trip to Iowa in March? The weather will probably be terrible, but there's decent Thai food.

[Steve Curati]

We've just launched a service which matches creatives and colleges. We'd love more designers to get involved.

http://www.dandad.org/education/clinic/

[sayen]

This blog is primarily about graphic design followed by design in general and then some related stuff about communication, ideas and inevitably brands.