The Project

A compilation of images and clips created over the course of research about the screen as a material space. 

They slip into our pockets and palms and sit on our walls and desks, seamlessly extending our reach into the world. Screens are everywhere but what if we grabbed a hold of this convenient interface, recognised its materiality and played with it? UTS Visual Communication Design Honours graduate, Joanna Shuen, conducted a research project that explores our relationships with ‘the screen’ and poses these questions…

In a fast-paced world, society has become reliant on the use of non-degradable and cheap materials when it comes to designing products for use. For humanity to move forward into the future with challenges like the climate crisis facing us, it’s simply not feasible to continue using materials like plastic in our products. UTS honours graduate in product design, Josh Riesel, rethinks the plastics problem and offers a new way forward.

Packaging is a problem. It surrounds almost every product we make. It is also mostly single use and too often plastic. It becomes a mountain of waste. But what if there was another way. UTS honours graduate in Industrial Design, Sari Tredinnick’s capstone project, Packed Into The Packaging, rethinks the packaging problem and offers a new way. As Sari explains …

Ciara Cahill | 2019 Honours Industrial Design Graduate, UTS

The human body does not react well to constant pressure, however that’s what happens when people spend long periods of time being immobile through injury, incapacity and/or age. The result are pressure sores. It is estimated that 1 in 13 patients in hospitals or care facilities are afflicted with pressure sores at some point during their stay.

Rachel Cronin | Interior Designer

When we think of places, we first tend to think of physical places and then perhaps representations of places online. However, there are other representations place. In ‘Three Body(ies): The Home with the Rotten Heart’, our second university academic project, UTS graduate Rachel Cronin investigates representations of place on film as they hold up a lens to crime.

This project might seem familiar to some of you and you’d be right! We visited Braille Bricks back in issue 2 – For Good. Learning and playing, these two things go hand in hand. But what if you could combine the two AND bridge the gap between children with and without visual impairment?

Eric and Jinlong are completing their Masters in Design at UNSW Art and Design. While they share a background in graphic design, Eric focused on digital media in his undergraduate studies, while Jinlong specialised in interactive design. They also share a belief in the power, and necessity, of design to improve the lives of others. Here is a [brief] telling of their project’s story…

MICHAEL O’BRIEN
DESIGNER
michaelobriendesign.com

It has been less than a decade since Michael O’Brien graduated from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). In that time, he has used his energies and talents to design an impressive range of products that manage to be elegant, innovative, prize-winning and sustainably produced. He takes designing for good very seriously indeed, focusing on the healthcare needs of some of the most vulnerable people on the planet: premature babies in developing countries.

How do you combine social justice and innovation AND help to create a tiny invention that has a huge impact? Gavin Armstrong, CEO and founder of Lucky Iron Fish, spoke to us about his experiences with this challenge, about how to run a successful socially conscious enterprise, and why designing for good can never be an afterthought.