Materials: The choices of a designer

Synopsis

The job of the designer is to create and manipulate by 'engineering the experience' of anyone who comes into contact with the object or service being designed, be-it the client, manufacturer, specifier, customer, owner, user, ‘patient’ or future earth dweller. 

What really matters is not the simple “how does it functionally behave, look and appeal”, but the way it is perceived before, during and after use and satisfies expectations of the brand and company. There are also moral issues such as environmental and social impact, which include labour conditions, freighting, use of global resources and afterlife; waste, reuse or recycling. Simple Choices made by the designer at the design engineering and planning stage can have fundamental consequences on all of this.

Speaker

Sebastian Conran

CEO at Consequential Robotics and Sebastian Conran Associates.

An engineer at heart, Sebastian Conran has design in the blood. He focuses on designing technologies to make them more emotionally engaging. Passionate about designing thoughtful, stylish products that are satisfying to use, he believes ‘form follows fabrication’ and by clearly understanding how things are to be made and how they are to be used and experienced. He has created a plethora of enduring, designs that have received many design & innovation awards and patents. He is CEO of both Consequential Robotics and Sebastian Conran Associates.

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