Make Life Better. By Design

Designing life: Chemistry and Leadership

My guest for this episode believes that people are the important ingredient in successful enterprises. He also happens to be a chemistry graduate and vociferous advocate for making things i.e. manufacturing. Dean Morgan talks us through his road to believing that people and how you treat them is the key to making life better. His life in chemistry, manufacturing and rugby (yes, rugby!) is the story of a life where design, perhaps unknowingly, has underpinned success.

S2 Episode 10: Show Me the Way to Go Home

Maps and diagrams: representations of reality that can make life better. Strangely, the greatest accuracy or truth to life does not necessarily make life better. In this episode we look at how our perception affects our interpretation of maps and diagrams using the iconic London Underground Map as an example. And you don't have to hold an Oyster card to get in.

Series 2 Episode 09: Design, Then and Now

The aim of many designers is to create timeless work.  Whilst aiming for a long design life is admirable, we shouldn't get hooked up on trying to avoid the time in which we live and work. This episode explains that good design can be timeless yet still reflect the times in which it is designed.   Indeed understanding and learning from the past is just as important as familiarity with new developments in materials, technology and thinking.

Maintenance vs Sustainability

To talk of sustainability without a timeframe is meaningless. But nowadays things are labelled sustainable without any reference to duration. Sustainable forever applies to a very select catalogue. The best we can do is aim for as long a lifespan as possible. This must of corse vary depending on the subject. The key to long life is maintenance. Not sexy but capable of giving great satisfaction.

Series 2 Episode 07: Knowledge is Power

Knowledge, Learning and Better Choices was the title for this issue suggested by the AI elves.  Perhaps I should listen to then next time. Making life better by design is about making choices and taking decisions. The more you know about a subject, the better your choices should be. This episode looks in more depth at that premise and emphasises the benefits of involving both head and heart in the process.