Modern_Home
Greek mathematician, Archimedes said: “give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum
to rest it on and I shall move the world.” There are some things that we design
that have the power to have an oversized positive impact on modern life. With
these design interventions our studio can move the world towards a more
sustainable future. This month we’ve been working on one such Fulcrum project,
Croft.
Croft is an intervention in the food supply chain that aims to change our
relationship with food by addressing one of the biggest sources of food waste:
bagged salad. Bagged salad is one of the most unsustainable foods we eat and is
often not as healthy as it seems.
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Bagged salad’s critics cite a number of social and environmental
problems linked to the product. They point out that despite Modified
Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) the nutritional value deteriorates
quickly in the bag. And, it’s often washed in a chlorine solution of
a greater concentration than the local swimming pool.
independent.co.uk
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Figures by the Government’s waste advisory body Wrap and published by
Tesco in 2013 show that after this unsustainable production process,
40% of the salad we buy is never even eaten. That’s 178 million bags
or 37,000 tonnes of salad going straight to landfill, making bagged
salad is one of the UK’s most wasted food products (along with
bread). theguardian.com
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Subsequent reports from Wrap in 2015 show similar levels of wastage.
Part of the problem is that we often buy bagged salad as an
accompaniment to a meal, without a specific plan to eat it. It then
languishes in the back of the fridge unused or only partially used.
wrap.org.uk
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This systematic review of household food waste practices and their
policy implications from last year provides an overview of some of
the causes of food waste and some of the potential responses to
them.
sciencedirect.com
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studio thoughts
The surprising thing is that salad is very easy to grow at home. It requires
very little space and will grow quite happily inside on a window sill. Croft
examines how we can get more people growing salad at home by making the
‘grow your own’ experience desirable to as broad a range of people as
possible. It can’t just be those people who have a garden or are motivated
enough to get an allotment. We have to design an intervention that brings
home growing to everyone.
Croft is at an early stage. We have several prototypes and our initial pilot
is underway. The plants are thriving and our pilot participants are enjoying
the fruits of their labour in more ways than one. Croft is one little step
towards a more sustainable home.
Modern_Technology
Artificial intelligence or machine learning is creeping into an increasing number
of our projects. They range from the commonly discussed applications for AI to
more surprising uses of machine learning.
At one end of the spectrum we conducted a deep exploration of the relationship
between driver, passengers and vehicle, and designed the dashboard and control
displays for one manufacturers range of autonomous vehicles. At the other end of
the spectrum we combined deep undercover ethnography with machine learning to
help a charity predict which of its supporters were most likely to donate to a
fundraising campaign.
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Because of our work examining the relationship between humans and
autonomous agents, we were particularly interested in this story in
the New Yorker. It hints at the more complicated relationship we
will have with technology in the future.newyorker.com
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| 06 |
Any discussion of automation inevitably creates questions about
technological unemployment and the changing nature of work in the
future. We have to remember that, for now, robots cannot do what
humans cannot tell them to do.project-syndicate.org
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According to Panasonic Professor of Robotics at MIT, Rodney Brooks,
that is likely to remain the case for at least the next 200 hundred
years. He says that completely autonomous vehicles could be 30-50
years away, never mind Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) which
he estimates is about 200 years away. rodneybrooks.com
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| 08 |
In the meantime, humanity has more immediate challenges than the
threat of super intelligent robots. Given the current climate
emergency and future challenges that we will face as a species,
automation and machine learning should be one of the tools we use to
manage and mitigate the effects. For example, the Smart Systems
Group (SSG) at Heriot-Watt University predicts that AI and robots
will help manage offshore energy infrastructure. theconversation.com
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| 09 |
And, Forbes covers efforts to use huge datasets and AI to predict the
occurrence of numerous natural disasters, including floods and
hurricanes. This could be the difference between life and death for
thousands of people. forbes.com
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Studio notes
There’s a natural cadence to life in a design studio. In July we were busy finishing big projects, so inevitably August has given us a little time to stand back, examine how we practice our craft and to hone the way we work.
We spent the day with Jon Torrens, Communication Coach, perfecting how we bring our work to life for our clients. Successfully sharing ideas and telling compelling stories is central to our practice; we recognise it as a core skill within our team, so it’s important we get safe space to exercise our skills away from client projects. A day with Jon gave us all an opportunity to flex our skills and try new approaches.
The day couldn’t have been better timed in many ways, as this month we were invited to pitch for two new client rosters. We won both. We’ve also been asked for a record number of proposals from new clients. All those proposals and pitches will hopefully mean really interesting work in September including more workplace design, more work in financial services, and some really interesting projects looking at people’s media consumption behaviour.
In between creating proposals and pitches we’ve been working on two initiatives, one of which we’ve already mentioned. Our Fulcrum Project Croft turned our studio green and leafy as we conducted design research, ideated and created the prototypes for our pilots. In amongst all the plants we’ve also been busy crafting a Modernity Report on The Modern Workplace.
Finally, we welcomed new Mod, Ashley, onboard. She’s from a city we know well. Originally a native of Glasgow, she joins us after a stint in Chengdu, China. Ash is already a multi award-winning young designer so we’re looking forward to working with her on new projects.
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