Business Proposal

For the next stage of our Design studies, we have been asked to create a business which would appeal to post-consumers, like the one we created for the previous assignment. Our idea was to create a website for hillwalkers, similar to a package holiday website. This website would provide the opportunity for walkers to search for a route, book accommodation and transport, hire equipment and get in touch with other walkers who are of the same experience as them who may want to join them. We found that although there was walking websites available, most of them only provided links to other websites for accommodation and transport, meaning the user would have to book everything separately. Our website would eliminate this and mean that booking a hillwalking trip would be much easier, quicker, and therefore stress-free.

GIDE 2011

Last week our course travelled to Magdeburg for the 2011 GIDE International event. A number of students from the seven participating countries (Scotland, England, Slovenia, Switzerland, Italy, Belgium and Germany) all attended, and we were put into groups with students from these countries.

Our group went to visit "Experimentelle Fabrik" in Magdeburg, which is a development and research centre which tests products for the 'CE' mark.

"The main project of the Experimental Factory integrates several individual projects which research the development, production, experiments and tests of new innovative products in the field of mechanical engineering. "

We were then asked to design and make a game. After mind mapping in our groups, we came to the idea of 'stepping stones'. We split into smaller groups and each created out own 'stepping stone', before linking them all together to create an obstacle course-like game.

The game was created to be played against another person, with each player having a 'jumping board', which they used to jump from one obstacle to another. At each obstacle the player had to complete the task, pick up a cube from the other end, and then go back through the obstacle before moving onto the next one. The player who collects all four cubes first wins.

Post Consumer Profile - Peter Smith

Our second assignment was to create a profile of a post consumer. To take a different view on this task, we decided to make a facebook profile of what we feel a post consumer would be like:

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001952368482

Peter Smith is a middle aged man, who volunteers for charities like Oxfam. His interests include environmentally-friendly things such as hybrid cars, and he is also into locally produced food, and likes growing his own vegetables in an allotment. Peter enjoys outdoor activities such as hillwalking and cycling, which are not only good for the environment but they also keep him healthy.