Designs of the Time
Encyclopedia
Designs of the Time is a UK design and innovation programme that aims to drive the development of new solutions to social and economic challenges by involving communities in designing local services. Dott Cornwall is part of a 10-year programme of events developed by the Design Council
Design Council
The Design Council is a United Kingdom non-departmental public body incorporated by Royal Charter and registered as a charity.Registered charity number 272099.- In the beginning :The Design Council started in 1944 as the Council of Industrial Design...

 that will take place across the UK.

The first Dott was held in the North East of England during 2007, led by Programme Director John Thackara
John Thackara
John Thackara is founder and Director of The Doors of Perception . This event production company organises festivals in Europe and India in which grassroots innovators work with designers to imagine sustainable futures - and take practical steps to realize them...

.

Dott Cornwall

The Design Council
Design Council
The Design Council is a United Kingdom non-departmental public body incorporated by Royal Charter and registered as a charity.Registered charity number 272099.- In the beginning :The Design Council started in 1944 as the Council of Industrial Design...

, Cornwall Council, University College Falmouth
University College Falmouth
University College Falmouth is a British university college in Falmouth, Cornwall. Founded in 1902, it had previously been the Falmouth School of Art and then Falmouth College of Arts until it received taught degree-awarding powers in March 2005...

 and the Technology Strategy Board
Technology Strategy Board
The Technology Strategy Board is a UK public body operating at arm's length from the Government reporting to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills .- History :...

 are the partners behind Dott (Designs of the time) in Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...

 and the Isles of Scilly
Isles of Scilly
The Isles of Scilly form an archipelago off the southwestern tip of the Cornish peninsula of Great Britain. The islands have had a unitary authority council since 1890, and are separate from the Cornwall unitary authority, but some services are combined with Cornwall and the islands are still part...

 during 2009/10. Dott works with citizens to help them to co-design
Co-Design
Co-design is a philosophy in the American pragmatist tradition, which argues that all people have different ideals and perspectives and that any design process needs to deal with this. Co-Design traces its roots to Immanuel Kant, who in the Critique of the Pure Reason observed that to put a...

 solutions to every day issues that they face. The current Programme Director is Dr Andrea Siodmok, who was formerly Chief Design Officer at the Design Council
Design Council
The Design Council is a United Kingdom non-departmental public body incorporated by Royal Charter and registered as a charity.Registered charity number 272099.- In the beginning :The Design Council started in 1944 as the Council of Industrial Design...

 in London. The executive Director is Robert O'Dowd.

Project Overview

Eco Design Challenge

The challenge aims to explore what design
Design
Design as a noun informally refers to a plan or convention for the construction of an object or a system while “to design” refers to making this plan...

 can do to reduce our ecological footprint
Ecological footprint
The ecological footprint is a measure of human demand on the Earth's ecosystems. It is a standardized measure of demand for natural capital that may be contrasted with the planet's ecological capacity to regenerate. It represents the amount of biologically productive land and sea area necessary to...

. Dott has worked with schools across Cornwall in the Eco Design Challenge. The winner of the Challenge was St Ives School.

This challenge asked Year 8 pupils in Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...

: ‘What is the size of your school's ecological footprint
Ecological footprint
The ecological footprint is a measure of human demand on the Earth's ecosystems. It is a standardized measure of demand for natural capital that may be contrasted with the planet's ecological capacity to regenerate. It represents the amount of biologically productive land and sea area necessary to...

 and how could design make it smaller?’ Students across the county calculated the carbon footprint
Carbon footprint
A carbon footprint has historically been defined as "the total set of greenhouse gas emissions caused by an organization, event, product or person.". However, calculating a carbon footprint which conforms to this definition is often impracticable due to the large amount of data required, which is...

 of their schools and came up with design solutions to reduce it. As well as studying different aspects of school life, participants also looked at the impact of journeys to and from school, school meals, water use and waste disposal. Led by Matt Hocking of Leap Media, the project aimed to encourage creative thinking, raise environmental awareness and throw innovative ideas into the way we approach a more sustainable future. The eco design challenge was supported by the Real Ideas Organization and The Learning Partnership.

RSA Design Directions

Dott collaborated with the Royal Society of Arts
Royal Society of Arts
The Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce is a British multi-disciplinary institution, based in London. The name Royal Society of Arts is frequently used for brevity...

 on a National design
Design
Design as a noun informally refers to a plan or convention for the construction of an object or a system while “to design” refers to making this plan...

 competition for design students in Universities across the UK and Europe.

The brief was entitled ‘Design for Social Inclusion'. The challenge put to the students, was to design a product or service for a group of people of their choice, who are currently excluded from mainstream design practice.

From Cornwall with Love

From Cornwall with Love is looking for radical and inventive ways to promote the values of Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...

 through its produce and products.

The project is working with local producers and existing initiatives, such as Made in Cornwall, Hidden Art Cornwall and Taste of the Southwest, to use design to help push quality Cornish produce into the local and global spotlight. From Cornwall with Love is focussing on both products by local designers and makers as well as food produce, seeking to increase their availability and visibility. By establishing a link between the future brand
Brand
The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers."...

 and aspirations of the county, From Cornwall with Love aims to stimulate growth in the dynamic businesses that will underpin Cornwall’s future economy
Economy
An economy consists of the economic system of a country or other area; the labor, capital and land resources; and the manufacturing, trade, distribution, and consumption of goods and services of that area...

. Mark Irlam and Tom Tobia, founders of Something From Us, are the senior producers on this project.

New Work

Targeting groups at real or perceived risk of redundancy
Layoff
Layoff , also called redundancy in the UK, is the temporary suspension or permanent termination of employment of an employee or a group of employees for business reasons, such as when certain positions are no longer necessary or when a business slow-down occurs...

, New Work aims to improve signposting to new employment opportunities relevant to the economy and society of 21st century Cornwall. The project focued on to boosting future employment opportunities by improving awareness of, and signposting to, new jobs. Sponsored by the Learning Skills Council
Learning and Skills Council
The Learning and Skills Council was a non-departmental public body jointly sponsored by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Department for Children, Schools and Families in England...

, the team is working with workless people, and removing barriers (real or perceived) that prevent them from accessing skills and future employment
Employment
Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. An employee may be defined as:- Employee :...

 opportunities in Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...

. The project is working with the people of Cornwall to demonstrate how they can achieve personal success and nurture individual talents in positive ways that are relevant to the economy
Economy
An economy consists of the economic system of a country or other area; the labor, capital and land resources; and the manufacturing, trade, distribution, and consumption of goods and services of that area...

 and society
Society
A society, or a human society, is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations, or a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or virtual territory, subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations...

 of modern day Cornwall. Robert Woolf & Kathryn Woolf from Sea Communications, a creative digital marketing
Digital marketing
Digital Marketing is the promoting of brands using all forms of digital advertising channels to reach consumers. Digital marketing extends beyond Internet Marketing to include channels that do not require the use of the Internet...

 agency, are the senior producers.

Cornwall Works 50+

Dott also worked with people and businesses to co-create
Co-Design
Co-design is a philosophy in the American pragmatist tradition, which argues that all people have different ideals and perspectives and that any design process needs to deal with this. Co-Design traces its roots to Immanuel Kant, who in the Critique of the Pure Reason observed that to put a...

 ways to help older people find new work and stay in their jobs for longer.

The workforce is getting older and by 2017 about 34.4% of the workforce
Workforce
The workforce is the labour pool in employment. It is generally used to describe those working for a single company or industry, but can also apply to a geographic region like a city, country, state, etc. The term generally excludes the employers or management, and implies those involved in...

 is predicted to be over 50. As the demographic of the workplace changes, its provisions for older workers will have to adapt. Working hand-in-hand with businesses and communities, Cornwall Works 50+ will look at all sorts of ways to improve and extend employment opportunities for older people. Its key concerns include how to encourage employers to take on older workers and how to overcome barriers faced by older people wanting to return to the workforce. Deborah Szebeko and Ian Drysdale from ThinkPublic are the senior producers.

Cornwall Works 50+ Cares

Cornwall Works 50+ Cares project is tackling the challenges of an ageing population
Population
A population is all the organisms that both belong to the same group or species and live in the same geographical area. The area that is used to define a sexual population is such that inter-breeding is possible between any pair within the area and more probable than cross-breeding with individuals...

, by identifying new opportunities for roles in the care sector for people over 50. The older generation is projected to increase by a quarter between 2007 and 2017. Cornwall Works 50+ Cares seeks innovative ways of addressing Cornwall’s future care needs by developing the skills, expertise and career opportunities for older workers within the care workforce. From specialist support to training care workers with new skills to support a pioneering range of new care initiatives, the project seeks to inject a new vitality into the sector. Run in conjunction with Cornwall Works 50+, it looks at ways to retain and enhance the skills and aspirations of older care workers, inspire entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship is the act of being an entrepreneur, which can be defined as "one who undertakes innovations, finance and business acumen in an effort to transform innovations into economic goods". This may result in new organizations or may be part of revitalizing mature organizations in response...

 in the industry and create more jobs for the older generation in this sector.

Serious Play

Through Serious Play, Designers co-design
Co-Design
Co-design is a philosophy in the American pragmatist tradition, which argues that all people have different ideals and perspectives and that any design process needs to deal with this. Co-Design traces its roots to Immanuel Kant, who in the Critique of the Pure Reason observed that to put a...

 a playground
Playground
A playground or play area is a place with a specific design for children be able to play there. It may be indoors but is typically outdoors...

 that could potentially supply power to the National Grid
National Grid
-Electric power transmission systems:*National Grid , the electricity transmission network of Great Britain.*National Grid , the electricity transmission network of Malaysia....

 and inspire new a whole new generation of play
Play (activity)
Play is a term employed in ethology and psychology to describe to a range of voluntary, intrinsically motivated activities normally associated with pleasure and enjoyment...

.

The Serious Play project has set out to inspire the next generation by putting this energy to positive use in these energy-hungry times. At its outset, the project is seeking to discover
Discovery (observation)
Discovery is the act of detecting something new, or something "old" that had been unknown. With reference to science and academic disciplines, discovery is the observation of new phenomena, new actions, or new events and providing new reasoning to explain the knowledge gathered through such...

 whether we can harness the energy of children at play, and feed it into the energy supply. Making energy generation community
Community
The term community has two distinct meanings:*a group of interacting people, possibly living in close proximity, and often refers to a group that shares some common values, and is attributed with social cohesion within a shared geographical location, generally in social units larger than a household...

-based and seriously good fun, the focus of the project is to co-design
Co-Design
Co-design is a philosophy in the American pragmatist tradition, which argues that all people have different ideals and perspectives and that any design process needs to deal with this. Co-Design traces its roots to Immanuel Kant, who in the Critique of the Pure Reason observed that to put a...

 playground equipment, co-create sustainable power
Sustainable energy
Sustainable energy is the provision of energy that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. Sustainable energy sources include all renewable energy sources, such as hydroelectricity, solar energy, wind energy, wave power, geothermal...

 and co-build an adventure playground. Mike Hawes of Mor Design in senior producing this project.

External links

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