Small Talks

What happens when you enable designers to distribute their products through a global network of makers? How can you apply open-source software development principles to designing and manufacturing furniture for workspaces? Nick will unpack his experience of founding OpenDesk, a web platform offering designer furniture that can be made locally all around the world.

Claire is a designer and urbanist who currently works at the Future Cities Catapult, the UK's urban innovation agency. Claire has worked in a number of fields looking at the human scale in the city in relation to both architecture and the design of products and services. In her Small Talk, Claire talks about her approach and some of her most recent projects.

A decade ago a team of information designers sat down to think about an open wayfinding brief from an organisation representing the centre of London. Tim Fendley, the lead system designer, and his team proposed a new information system for the city based on user-focused principles. The system was called Legible London. The project faced many challenges including navigating London’s authorities, the people’s understanding of the city, and varying sign systems. Find out how such a project came to be, from the design process and decisions behind the undertaking, to the challenges faced by London and many cities today.

Playing in a city can be one of the most powerful ways to feel at home there, like you're safe and belong and like it in part belongs to you. But not all cities welcome play. Holly will be looking at examples of projects that have encouraged play in existing places, and the physical characteristics of public spaces that make this more possible.

Longitude Prize 2014 is a challenge with a £10 million prize fund to help solve the problem of global antibiotic resistance. It is being run by Nesta and supported by Innovate UK. The challenge has just launched and is now open to anyone to take part in. During the lead up to the launch of Longitude Prize 2014, Science Practice was lead research partner, working closely with Nesta and a group of over 100 scientists in diverse fields such as aeronautics, robotics, water processing, agriculture and medicine. James King, director of Science Practice will discuss how the team went about this task of shaping the challenge - what the goal should be and the criteria for winning - using design processes to help ask the right questions.