ITERATE Design and Innovation have been working collaboratively with UWE Bristol: University of the West of England Bristol, on a three-week, intensive live project, with the third-year design students. Our Design Consultancy provided the cohort with a broad project brief, in which they had to think of ways they could actively manage health conditions or personal wellbeing through the use of wearable technology. Each team’s design proposal should focus on how frequent, or continuous, contact with the body can be leveraged to target a specific condition and be analytical, preventive, corrective, or informative.

Yesterday was ‘presentation day’ for the students and some members of the ITERATE team returned to the university for the second stage of the project, to provide feedback on each of the team’s proposal ideas. It was fantastic to see the variety and how each team had interpreted the brief so individually. Their proposals were addressing conditions such as sleep apnoea, obesity, photosensitive epilepsy, and blood clotting.

For these students, a degree in product design is providing them with the skills set they need to create new products in the real world of work, and in-between listening to them present, I was keen to learn how they had found working with ITERATE…

The response to having ITERATE being part of one of their modules, was thankfully, very positive! Thinking about researching and then designing products for such a vital purpose was said to be highly motivating. The project also being carried over a three-week period was said to be on a realistic timescale, compared to other university-based projects they have completed to date. Therefore, having a timescale that is mirrored to the world of work, was a welcome challenge, adding additional pressure and requiring them to make decisions more efficiently. One of the benefits that was repeatedly being voiced by the students, was their appreciation of the purposeful, direct feedback they were gaining from ITERATE’s design team. Responding with constructive points to each of the team’s proposals once they had presented, was said to be both useful and thought-provoking, assisting the group with a better direction for the final stages of their project.

It is not only the university students that have gained from this experience however, ITERATE feel it has very much been a mutually beneficial working partnership! It has been incredibly exciting working with our latest generation of product designers and seeing their creative thoughts and ideas unfold. We are eager to return next week for the final stage of the project and want to thank UWE Bristol for the opportunity to work collaboratively. Until next week!

If you would like to discuss working with us – we would love to hear from you, so do get in touch.