Category Archives: innovation

4 Ways AR Can Enhance Product Design

4 Ways AR Can Enhance Product Design
Augmented reality gives product designers the ability to see mockups of their designs overlayed into the real world using app such as Vusar’s AR app. (Image source: Vusar)

Augmented reality has been picking up a lot of buzz for its enterprise applications. But while its uses in instances such as training and remote maintenance applications are being highly-touted, AR is moving into another important area of manufacturing as well – product design.

The challenge for product designers however is weighing the benefits of implementing AR into their workflow with the potentially hefty overhead costs associated with picking up expensive new AR hardware. For Brenden Monahan CPO at Vusar, a company that developers augmented reality solutions – including an AR app for viewing CAD models, the benefits of AR come primarily in time savings and an overall acceleration of the design and development process.

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Healthcare designers and research

Image from article.
ARTICLE BY Jane Repin Carthey – LinkedIn
She is an architect and researcher with over 30 years experience in hospital design in Australia, New Zealand, East Timor and other countries. She founded the Australian Health Design Council in 2012 to provide networking opportunities and knowledge sharing between designers, clinicians, researchers and other interested professionals in the health architecture domain. She recently completed a Doctor of Creative Industries at Queensland University of Technology that investigated the role of user groups on healthcare projects in Australia and New Zealand.

I recently peer-reviewed an academic paper that explored how well architects and other designers understand and value ‘research’. The author also looked at the degree to which architects engage in or initiate research studies, and then apply original findings to their projects. Reading this paper led me to reflect on how architects define research, and the place of it within the myriad of other information sources that influence architectural work. It also led me back to some research that I conducted earlier in my academic career in conjunction with the then Royal Australian Institute of Architects that investigated the sources of information that architects preferred to use to support their practice.[1]

Photo by RF._.studio on Pexels.com
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Inclusive design pioneer August de los Reyes dies of COVID-19 complications

August de los Reyes, a prominent designer who helped develop the modern Xbox interface and became a fierce advocate for inclusivity in design, has died. He had only left the house three times since March of last year—for a doctor’s appointment, for a license renewal, and to vote, according to his husband. He died on December 21. He was 50 years old.

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Biomimicry or Biomimetics? — MCAD Sustainable Design Blog

[This post is modified from Bio-Inspired Buzzwords: Biomimicry and Biomimetics] I don’t think a week goes by without someone asking me about biomimicry. I’m happy to comply, as the principles and practices of biomimicry is so core to sustainable design (and so fun to talk about!). One question that arises often is: “What’s the difference […]

Biomimicry or Biomimetics? — MCAD Sustainable Design Blog

Designing the First Humanitarian Futures Exhibition — Carlos Alvarez

Overview ‘The Future Is Now’ is an exhibition that comprises of multiple artefacts and scenarios that speculated on what humanitarian operations could look like in 2030. The IFRC Solferino Academy and Open Lab at Newcastle University collaborated with an array of design agencies and curators to bring this exhibition to life. This exhibition is the result of extensive horizon […]

Designing the First Humanitarian Futures Exhibition — Carlos Alvarez