Aaron Price - Student Ambassador for LUiL

Loughborough University in London is an exciting new development combining postgraduate teaching, research, enterprise and innovation. Opening in 2015: www.lboro.ac.uk/london

[aaron-luil]

Google’s Material Design: How will design unity affect the wide range of technological devices?

  Last month Google unveiled there newest form of design language – Material Design. Bringing the idea that design should create a unified experience across the whole Android ecosystem to the forefront of their latest update. What’s more interesting – by allowing developers and designers to get to know this new language earlier the influence of technology running Android devices could possibly be a pretty huge change. 

As I wrote a few weeks ago the importance of coding for design is growing and for software developers access to the Android L preview gives them a head start in creating their own Material Design experiences. What’s even more important is how this new language will even enable those same designers to easily create apps for all types of devices – from wearables to phones, tablets and computers.

With the amount of technological devices constantly growing it seems clear what Google’s new design language is all about – consistent design centered around Google services. As a company Google’s Android software is constantly growing in market share and for software designers this is a great way of reaching the masses with great content and design.

In fact, from a users point of view the key idea about the change to the design language is about creating a language that both the designer and the user can understand and develop together. By lowering system requirements and aiming to reach more users it seems Google is hoping to create design unity that can be experienced on all devices. In short – a design for everyone, on every device.

[aaron-luil]

If you'd love a chance to win a pair of Beats head over to the Loughborough University in London Facebook page and give us a cheeky like and guess the London Landmarks!

https://www.facebook.com/lborolondon?ref_type=bookmark 

[aaron-luil]

Getting to know London: Museums and Art Galleries

This series of blog will look at London from a perspective of someone with little experience of the capital city. The aim: to give a glance into how easy it is to find your way around a big place with a few nuggets of information.

London, when you first arrive, can be a daunting place. Navigating its various areas and finding a form of entertainment is something everyone will end up facing. Luckily, you’re in one of the most cultural cities in the world.

Personally, there is no better way than spending a day exploring the work of famous artists or travelling through time with the help of the National History Museum. I’ve mentioned the NHM first, as its one place I simply never get bored of. With free entry and thousands of years to go through you can easily spend days looking through everything it has to offer, or simply have a wander around if you need to fill an afternoon.

If history isn’t your thing then there are plenty of other museums and art galleries dotted all over the city, from the National Gallery to the Tate Modern to the Design Museum you’ll never be short of places to go to. No matter what your interest there will be something for you and if you’re unsure of what to do next the Telegraph has a wonderful list of articles that cover all forms of culture and entertainment in the city.

Culture in London is a wonderful thing and even after a few short visits I have not had chance to visit it all. So when you get there get out and about and see what London has to offer, personally I can’t see how the city wouldn’t have something for everyone.

Recent London News Bulletin

Worried about travel to these places? There’s one more thing you have to remember after some recent transport changes. London’s bus route has now gone completely cash free. This means that upon arriving in the city you’ll only be able to pay for transport through the use of an Oyster card, contactless debit card or prepaid ticket. 

[aaron-luil]

Is coding the most important form of design literacy?

 Technology is constantly evolving. This is something that every designer keeps in mind when they set out to design software for a product. Learning to code is something that you should definitely be learning to do right now and it’s recently become easier than ever.

There are plenty of open courses out there in which everyone can now learn something that is arguably becoming a basic form of technological literacy. With apps becoming increasingly user-centric great designers are needed to make the functionality of an app apart of a great design.

Even more so, many start-up companies and large corporations are often looking for “super designers” – those who can design and code. By learning how to combine the two a designer would put themselves at an advantage over those they would be competing against for a job. 

Yet, not everyone thinks coding is something a designer should do. Sure a designer should know how to code, but it should more often be used in combination with someone whose skills would be vaster.

Finally, as a publishing student, I often teach myself how to use software to improve my understanding of the processes required to produce a book. Yet, whilst these are key (and I am aim to learn coding) I don’t believe the cross between design and code production is something that will benefit the user. Having a mixture of viewpoints is something that helps design develop.

Coding is key to our future and by working with designers who understand and can be involved with the technical side of production is something that may just make coding one of the most important parts of design literacy. 

[aaron-luil]

LUiL Design Innovation

Being innovative isn’t easy. The word is thrown around a lot these days, given quickly to technology without a second thought. For those who aren’t studying what it means to innovate the concept seems pretty simple, solve a problem with a new method. Yet, currently the term has become recognized as a synonym for ‘invention’.

For a designer, the possibilities are endless. An article published recently said that innovation is about asking the right questions, not the problem solving many of believe it to be. This article links to many ideas and the ideas it proposes are ones I found immensely interesting. When asking questions in regards to design, thinking about the customer is key; questions of usability, marketing and problems are all linked together and must be solved by asking the right questions.

London has previously been named the “design capital of the world” by the New York Times and its hard not to see why our capital city deserves such a prestigious title. With a deep and complex history, beautifully designed landscapes and wonderful Design Museum the city is a magnetic place for designers to be.

With LUiL launching in 2015, the Institute for Design Innovation hopes to build on blending design skills with studies in management and enterprise to help the next generation of designers to be ready to ask better questions.

Loughborough’s Design School is world leading. Place something that good into the centre of the world most creative city and that’s a combination you can’t beat.