Dear Matt, Very inspired by your work, was checking out your AIR site. Hows things going at the minute? Was wondering if you have any advice for someone looking to get started in open design in general? Any helpful web support, forums and so on? -H
HI Harry⊠thanks for your message!
I'm glad you like the site⊠it's in limbo at the minute while I finish my PhD. I'm hoping to get it started up once I'm done, and maybe find an industrial partner or something.
I'm afraid I can't offer you a route 'into' Open Design, as it's currently a rapidly developing field, but I can totally share what I've learnt. After all, that's what open source is all about. My thesis is currently being edited, and it'll be ready at the end of the month. I can share some stuff from my Open Design chapter if you're interested- but I suppose the biggest thing I can advise is to make stuff⊠make stuff you're interested in, and then share share share. Talk with other people who are interested in the same thing, then gradually a community forms. A 'niche network' rather than a broad 'social network'.
Really, you can make what you want- I chose to use Open Design to help people who can't be part of a Participatory Design workshop to be included in collaboratively designing medical products for themselves. This meant a deep focus on collaborating with other people and making stuff that the community wanted; perhaps a good place to start might be looking at Ronen Kadushen's work⊠he's an Open Designer who makes furniture.
There are some really interesting smartphone projects using Open Design at the minute too, that you've probably heard of:
Motorola Project ARA
Fairphone
Phonebloks
IndiePhone
Fairphone is an interesting one, as their CEO Bas van Abel also co-edited the book Open Design Now - which you can read for free online. Their design strategy is 'Smart Design', and they're currently working it out internally. I spoke at their Design Bootcamp last year, and along with Vodafone's head of handset sustainability (a really cool Dutch guy called Casper) we worked out a 'Fairphone Roadmap', that outlines a business plan for an open-source smartphone. Have a look on the Waag Sociaety's website here.
Sorry for the wall of text reply! I hope that's answered your question (although it probably hasn't). Are you based in the UK pal?











