Article: dmi:Review ‘Design, Didacticism, and the Dignity of People’, 2019

In this article I argue that there is an orthodoxy in the design profession, which is a product of ‘not knowing what you don’t know’, a tendency to create filter bubbles, and ‘bad faith’ humanism. The design industries embrace diversity in everything except politics; users are at the centre except when their views don’t fit. …

Review: The origins of ‘just in time’ production

The BBC Radio 4 Money Programme edition Total Recall: The Toyota Story recounts Toyota’s major vehicle recall in the context of the company’s history. Though it takes far too long to do it, and is accompanied by annoying music, it gets interesting about 20m in when it describes Toyota’s ‘just in time’ production model (inspired …

Review: Nesta: Pulling the plug: what should a human-centric European Internet look like?, 2018

On Wednesday early evening in London Nesta is hosting the first of a series of provocations on ‘how European citizens can retake control over the future of the internet’. Pulling the plug: what should a human-centric European Internet look like? Is part of the Next Generation Internet initiative, the European Commission’s programme focused on building …

Advising on the CIEE Entrepreneur Lab

I’m working with CIEE (the Council on International Educational Exchange), helping their thinking around and approach to creating an Entrepreneur Lab (eLab) which they will launch next year in London (with a focus on creativity) and Berlin (with a focus on sustainability). CIEE (the Council On International Educational Exchange) is a US-based non-profit study abroad …

The Brexit A-Z: A Pocket Dictionary for Democrats: Design

Entry for a WORLDwrite publication The Brexit A-Z: A Pocket Dictionary for Democrats (2017) [as yet unpublished] Design, and the creative industries in general, have not received the Brexit vote well. Of all the industries, the creatives were most favourable to Remain: the Creative Industries Federation’s members’ survey showed more than 96% support. Traditionally apolitical, …