Designs of the Time

Designs of the Time (Dott) 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 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.

Dott Cornwall

The Design Council, Cornwall Council, University College Falmouth and the Technology Strategy Board are the partners behind Dott (Designs of the time) in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly during 2009/10. Dott works with citizens to help them to co-design 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 in London. The executive Director is Robert O'Dowd.

Project Overview

Eco Design Challenge

The challenge aims to explore what design can do to reduce our ecological footprint. 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: ‘What is the size of your school's ecological footprint and how could design make it smaller?’ Students across the county calculated the carbon footprint 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 on a National design 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 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 and aspirations of the county, From Cornwall with Love aims to stimulate growth in the dynamic businesses that will underpin Cornwall’s future economy. 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, 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, the team is working with workless people, and removing barriers (real or perceived) that prevent them from accessing skills and future employment opportunities in Cornwall. 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 and society of modern day Cornwall. Robert Woolf & Kathryn Woolf from Sea Communications, a creative digital marketing agency, are the senior producers.

Cornwall Works 50+

Dott also worked with people and businesses to co-create 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 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, 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 in the industry and create more jobs for the older generation in this sector.

Serious Play

Through Serious Play, Designers co-design a playground that could potentially supply power to the National Grid and inspire new a whole new generation of play.

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 whether we can harness the energy of children at play, and feed it into the energy supply. Making energy generation community-based and seriously good fun, the focus of the project is to co-design playground equipment, co-create sustainable power and co-build an adventure playground. Mike Hawes of Mor Design in senior producing this project.

External links

• Design Council
• Dott Cornwall
• Dott07