Most of the staff members of UID travelled to London Wednesday the 11th for a couple of days of field trips and benchmarking. One of the main purposes was to compare the UID education’s quality to other school’s educations. In many respects UID has an edge. The students’ access to workshops, teachers and equipment are excellent. Furthermore, at Umeå Institute of Design there is an embracing and open atmosphere with no apparent hierarchy. Networking was another motive for the trip and especially with the Kingston University UID believes there may be some future cooperation concerning research and visiting lecturers.
On Thursday the majority of the staff members went to the faculty of Arts, Design & Architecture at the Kingston University. There they had the opportunity to meet teachers and Programme Directors, see the workshops of the faculty and hear about the educations.
The remaining members of the staff set out to see the research department of Microsoft Research Cambridge. The UID members were surprised, in a positive way about the department’s approach to interaction between user and computer and also that the published research was not labelled Microsoft. The researchers impressed the UID team.
Next day the team split up for field trips at several different companies. Some of the members visited Double Negative Visual Effects, Europe’s largest provider of visual effects for film. Some of the movies they have worked with are Harry Potter, Batman Begins, Cloverfield and Stardust.
A couple of the staff visited Metropolitan Works, where practitioners from different disciplines can explore the potential of industrial technology to develop their ideas for instance through rapid prototyping. At Metropolitan Works you can also hire workspace and CAD desks. The company recently acquired a water jet cutter capable of cutting through materials such as iron and stone.
At the Helen Hamlyn Research Centre at the Royal College of Art some of the UID members got a tour at three of the master’s programmes which were Product Design, Vehicle Design and Interaction Design. At the Helen Hamlyn Centre the research has three main themes; inclusive design, workplace design and design for patient safety.
A few of the workforce members visited the Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design where they have a research field called Design Against Crime. Among their projects are Karrysafe - anti theft bags and accessories and Stop Thief - anti theft furniture. Some of the team members visited Tinker.it! a design studio engaged in conceptual interaction design.
