Rael Futerman - Profile on Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Address: Malmö, Skane Lan, Sweden
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Habitual approaches to design are proving to be destructive to our environment because of man's h... more Habitual approaches to design are proving to be destructive to our environment because of man's heavy reliance on materials used in products, processes and systems. The authors believe it is imperative that design students from all disciplines be taught to investigate design solutions from a more sustainable and holistic perspective. This paper tracks the development of an innovative Biomimicry-inspired module, which involved 70 students from Graphic, Industrial and Surface Design in the Faculty of Informatics (FID) at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT). The transdisciplinary project was driven by the need to transform students' approach to sustainable design through consideration of a more productive relationship between design, technology, biology and science. Having gained thorough knowledge of the inherent problem-solving and opportunity-seeking nature of Biomimicry, we recognised its potential for a holistic approach to design thinking. We have placed particular emphasis on using Biomimicry to promote sustainable design in its purest formfrom resource to product, communication, systems and processes. Biomimicry, as a field, aims to produce innovative products by mimicking systems, strategies, forms and processes evident in nature. The biomimetic process provides a highly structured methodology that enables us to investigate carefully what organisms do to survive and how to abstract these principles for designing solutions to serve human needs. The process requires that the designer move to and fro between biology and human requirements to develop strategies that can be beneficial to us without impacting negatively on our context/environment. As such, the core design process remains the same.
Design for collaboration in South Africa : an activity theory perspective on participatory design
Participatory Design (PD) is increasingly being used as a methodology by local government, privat... more Participatory Design (PD) is increasingly being used as a methodology by local government, private designers and design researchers in the Western Cape, South Africa, to democratise the design of product service systems (PSS). Activity theory, specifically Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) offers PD researchers and practitioners involved in the collaborative design and development of socio-technical PSS’s an interpretive lens through which to a) identify existing and potential contradictions and tensions within and between work activity systems for design interventions, and b) provide designers with a conceptual model of investigation. In the last decade participatory development studies have interrogated public participation and approaches to the involvement of civil society in their own development, essentially embracing a shift from passive participation to active participation. PD and participatory development share a number of beliefs, methodologies and goals. This the...
Conference Proceedings of the Academy for Design Innovation Management
In innovative organisations we are seeing an increase in cross-functional teams being built aroun... more In innovative organisations we are seeing an increase in cross-functional teams being built around projects. The diverse perspectives of collaborators draw from personal world-views and organisational roles, which contributes to radical collaboration across traditional boundaries of work. This hands-on workshop aims at testing a rapid team alignment activity in which teams propose core values and align these to the innovation learning cycle, synthesising them into foundational work practices for each phase. These are then reframed as the teams' innovation narrative.
Habitual approaches to design are proving to be destructive to our environment because of man's h... more Habitual approaches to design are proving to be destructive to our environment because of man's heavy reliance on materials used in products, processes and systems. The authors believe it is imperative that design students from all disciplines be taught to investigate design solutions from a more sustainable and holistic perspective. This paper tracks the development of an innovative Biomimicry-inspired module, which involved 70 students from Graphic, Industrial and Surface Design in the Faculty of Informatics (FID) at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT). The transdisciplinary project was driven by the need to transform students' approach to sustainable design through consideration of a more productive relationship between design, technology, biology and science. Having gained thorough knowledge of the inherent problem-solving and opportunity-seeking nature of Biomimicry, we recognised its potential for a holistic approach to design thinking. We have placed particular emphasis on using Biomimicry to promote sustainable design in its purest formfrom resource to product, communication, systems and processes. Biomimicry, as a field, aims to produce innovative products by mimicking systems, strategies, forms and processes evident in nature. The biomimetic process provides a highly structured methodology that enables us to investigate carefully what organisms do to survive and how to abstract these principles for designing solutions to serve human needs. The process requires that the designer move to and fro between biology and human requirements to develop strategies that can be beneficial to us without impacting negatively on our context/environment. As such, the core design process remains the same.
Design for collaboration in South Africa : an activity theory perspective on participatory design
Participatory Design (PD) is increasingly being used as a methodology by local government, privat... more Participatory Design (PD) is increasingly being used as a methodology by local government, private designers and design researchers in the Western Cape, South Africa, to democratise the design of product service systems (PSS). Activity theory, specifically Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) offers PD researchers and practitioners involved in the collaborative design and development of socio-technical PSS’s an interpretive lens through which to a) identify existing and potential contradictions and tensions within and between work activity systems for design interventions, and b) provide designers with a conceptual model of investigation. In the last decade participatory development studies have interrogated public participation and approaches to the involvement of civil society in their own development, essentially embracing a shift from passive participation to active participation. PD and participatory development share a number of beliefs, methodologies and goals. This the...
Conference Proceedings of the Academy for Design Innovation Management
In innovative organisations we are seeing an increase in cross-functional teams being built aroun... more In innovative organisations we are seeing an increase in cross-functional teams being built around projects. The diverse perspectives of collaborators draw from personal world-views and organisational roles, which contributes to radical collaboration across traditional boundaries of work. This hands-on workshop aims at testing a rapid team alignment activity in which teams propose core values and align these to the innovation learning cycle, synthesising them into foundational work practices for each phase. These are then reframed as the teams' innovation narrative.