MDES DESIGN INNOVATION & ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN

Haldane Building, 3 students

Design Innovation is a programme focused on human-centred design – looking at the way the world works and identifying ways it might be better, either through big systemic changes or small interventions that help individuals: the future of work and education, the impact of social isolation, the need for better urban transport, attitudes to end of life care, the role of the city environment on mental health and physical wellbeing.

These are just some of the topics that have become Masters projects – 12-week independent explorations of the world at a human and individual scale.

To some extent, the outcomes of these projects are irrelevant (though they really are excellent, as you’ll see). Being a designer and an innovator is not just a matter of a skillset but of a mindset– something very difficult to assess or to teach.

We hope that you take the time to explore the thinking, insights and ingenuity of our 2023 cohort, by student, by theme or by tag through this site.

Landscape vignettes and built-in "fantasy journals" and "adventure cards".

from Imagining tomorrow with yesterday’s tools

A platform for young people to express themselves.

from Imagining tomorrow with yesterday’s tools

Aggregate and summarize the information collected.

from Imagining tomorrow with yesterday’s tools

Prototypes come from user wishes.

from Imagining tomorrow with yesterday’s tools

Keep a journal of your explorations and read the stories of other explorers.

from Imagining tomorrow with yesterday’s tools

from Hyperlocal Reuse Centre

from Hyperlocal Reuse Centre

from Hyperlocal Community Energy

from Hyperlocal Reuse Centre

from Hyperlocal Reuse Centre

A guide for individual consumers to understand the power they hold

from Conscious Consumption in Fashion

from Conscious Consumption in Fashion

Sense-making and categorization of data collected.

from Hyper Local Re-use Center

from Hyper Local Re-use Center

User Persona based chart

from Conscious Consumption in Fashion