26 May 2011
Product Design makes its mark on the world
Photo opportunity: 9.30am-6pm on Friday, 27th May at Dundee University Students Association, Airlie Place. Students will be hoping to impress at the Knight-Mozilla Ideas Jam.
Graduating Product Design students from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design have been making their mark on the world and attracting the attention of some of the biggest global companies in recent months.
Their final year work, currently being exhibited at the 2011 Dundee Degree Show, has proved hugely popular on the Internet, with some students’ YouTube videos receiving almost 70,000 hits.
Their innovations have been reported on in the US, Russia, China, Australia and many European countries and two of the students have featured in Wired - the world’s biggest-selling technology magazine.
The Product Design programme at DJCAD, part of the University of Dundee, has established itself as one of the premier courses of its kind in the UK and has attracted interest from multinational technology companies, including Microsoft, Samsung, and Mozilla.
Microsoft are sponsoring the Product Design and Digital Interaction Design exhibits at the Degree Show and the upcoming New Designers event in London, while Samsung are among the international businesses who will be scouting Dundee graduands at both showcases.
On Friday, the Product Design graduands will, along with other artists and designers, meet with representatives of Mozilla, one of the world’s biggest tech companies, for a workshop examining the future of news and try to win a year’s paid fellowship with leading worldwide media organisations.
Product Design lecturer Pete Thomas said the programme enjoyed an enviable international reputation and that staff and students had worked hard to raise its profile.
'We have designed the programme in such a way that PR and networking is an integral part of it,' he said. 'The importance of getting the news out about products and innovations is emphasised to the students from day one and that is helping to raise the profile and get them noticed by some of the most influential figures in the industry.
'You can see that by the number of people who are viewing their YouTube videos and websites. They are also hitting the top design blogs and being picked up by publications like Wired, which is excellent exposure for them.
'There are not many other places doing the type of things we’re doing on this course or producing the quality of graduates that we are. That’s why top companies are sitting up and taking notice and are keen to see the work our students are doing for themselves.'
Product Design exhibits at this year’s Degree Show include:
- Christopher McNicholl’s ‘TweetingSeat’, an interactive park bench that links physical and digital worlds.
- Blair Fraser’s ‘TextBase’, a device that harnesses technology to bring the user closer to God.
- Malcolm Russell’s ‘Salus’, a mountaineering safety tool for concise communication between parties of climbers or individuals.
The students will be hoping to catch the eye of employers, funders and journalists when they appear at New Designers in July. One of the biggest and most prestigious exhibitions of its kind in Europe, New Designers showcases more than 3,500 graduates from the top 200 UK design courses.
Before that, they will take part in the Knight-Mozilla Ideas Jam on Friday, 27th May.
Internet giant Mozilla and their partners, the Knight Foundation have launched a worldwide search for tech-savvy artists and designers with the desire and ability to change the world of news and journalism.
Participants will have the chance to win a year-long paid fellowship with some of the world’s biggest news broadcasters including the BBC, Guardian, Boston Globe, Zeit Online and Al-Jazeera, and the event, being held at Dundee University Students Association, is the only workshop taking place in the UK.
Product Design are co-hosting the event and programme director Dr Jon Rogers said thousands of designers from around the world were desperate for an opportunity such as this, and that it was a privilege to welcome Mozilla to Dundee.
'Ideas are what define the world,' he said. 'Without ideas everything would stay the same but Mozilla and the Knight-Foundation are on a mission to change the world of news and journalism through technology and we’re delighted to be getting involved.
'We can put creative arts and design alongside the very best technologists and bring on some of the best ideas to be found around the world.'
Anyone interested in attending should register at http://mojodundee.eventbrite.com/.
More information is available by visiting http://productresearch.dundee.ac.uk/?p=515 or http://knightmozilla.org or by emailing j.rogers@dundee.ac.uk.
Examples of Product Design work being exhibited at the Degree Show can be found at http://productdesign.dundee.ac.uk/degreeshow2011/.
For media enquiries contact:
Grant Hill
Press Officer
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384768
E-MAIL: g.hill@dundee.ac.uk
MOBILE: 07854 953277 |
