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Latest applications for smart glasses

The concept of wearable AR or smartglasses only started to feel more like reality in 2013 when Google launched Google Glass to specially selected “Glass Explorers”. A year later, they followed up with a product available to the public although it had a rocky start as the experience of either wearing or interacting with someone wearing Google Glass was not great.  If you weren't familiar with the Google Glass journey, watching Tony Stark and Peter Parker go about their day job, you might...

5 questions to ask a product design consultancy

Bringing a new product to market can be a challenge, whether you develop a physical or software product. If you are uncertain about whether it's better to outsource design work to a product design consultancy or build a team in-house, we have a few questions to help you gauge if the team partnering with you is the right fit for your business, with a few suggestions on what to look for in response: What are the benefits of outsourcing to your business, vs keeping our work in-house? How do I ...

Ocean Bottles

It’s just one bottle.Said 15 million people.Each day. 15 million single-use plastic bottles get thrown out every single day and every minute, a truckload of plastic still enters the ocean from polluted waterways around the world....

Life saving device detects head injuries

Whether a beginner or expert, the experience of skiing and snowboarding is thrilling. Mastering turns and completing runs; the views, the exhilaration, the exercise. As with any sport played at speed, comes the risk of injury leading to some of the highest incidences of head injuries, with sadly many going undetected and leading to severe head trauma. Patients can appear to have little or no symptoms for hours and in some cases for days after an accident. As a result, serious brain bleeds can be...

Smartglasses: what's next?

The idea of a display hidden in a pair of eyewear has been the subject of science fiction for much more than a decade in the same way that the idea of a smartwatch existed in comics in the 1940s. ...

Design for Experience: Digital Clay Pigeon Shooting

Launched in November 2021, an innovative new digital experience: Clays Bar is going from strength to strength in the heart of the City of London.The food and cocktails alone are worth the visit, but if you can get to London, we think you'll enjoy the fun and games just as much, and we're confident that a night of competitive socialising at Clays won't disappoint. We partnered in developing this immersive design technology for the venue, so whilst it's impossible to remain entirely objective, we ...

Smart capsule to diagnose GI diseases

If you've ever struggled with reflux or a gastrointestinal (GI) disease, you'll know it's difficult to diagnose definitively, as symptoms are often vague and variable. Add to this, the currently available diagnostics require highly skilled interpretation and high set-up cost, resulting in increased rates of morbidity in low resource regions. What's often referred to as reflux, (GERD - Gastroesophageal reflux disease) alone affects an estimated 1.2 billion people globally, with prevalence growing...

The Creative Engineering Behind the Product Design of a Low-Burden Scent-Enhanced Mask

In most scenarios where a mask is needed, the burden and stress on the wearer could be reduced relatively simply. But once you introduce respirators, there needs to be a shift in understanding in order to deliver a mask that truly reduces the physical and psychological burden. The pressure on NHS staff treating Covid patients over the last 18 months has increased the need for high-quality protective equipment that can minimise the stress and burden on the wearer. A concept brought to our enginee...

Achieving Net Zero. Is it possible?

We think so. With the right strategy.Many teams we work with, both large and small, have questions around sustainability the product they want to develop. How do we measure the carbon footprint of the entire process from concept to end of life?Can we reduce our carbon output, without compromising our business goals?How do we educate internally and change cultures to accelerate progress towards improving our sustainability KPIs?...

Doughnut Economics Theory: Everything You Need To Know

MARK HESTEROn 21 October 2020, the President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, described humanity’s overriding goal as 'living in the Doughnut'. You could be forgiven for thinking that he was suggesting we all need to go out to the bakery more to find happiness (an idea we would wholeheartedly agree with). In fact, he was referring to the concept of living in the space between social and planetary boundaries as described in the book ‘Doughnut Economics’ by Kate Raworth. This caught my attent...

A coach in your pocket

Find out how we developed the form and features on The VO1CE™ Pebble, to discreetly guide a person step-by-step through an effective communication mnemonic....

Pedal powered air filter

GoRolloe is a superb project we've recently worked on, that is worth keeping an eye on. It is an idea, dreamed up by it's founder, Kristen Tapping, whilst on her daily commute on the busy and polluted streets of London. She thought, 'why not use the movement and energy from vehicles to filter air pollution in the most polluted areas.'It is a cleverly designed air filter, that uses the motion and energy from a moving wheel, to draw air through it. Fitting directly onto a bike wheel, the...

Looking beyond the smoke and mirrors of sustainability claims

In a recent piece of great investigative journalism this video report revealed what happens to the plastic you put in certain recycling bins. It got us thinking about some of the sustainability or planet friendly ideas that you want to be true, or look believable, but when you scratch below the surface, things are not even close to what you are being led to believe. ...

Please throw this business card away...

As designers we are painfully aware of the impact our work can have on the environment and have been wrestling with the issue for a number of years. We know that the majority of the environmental impact of a product is determined during the connecting phase.For a long time we thought that energy consumption was the main issue and made attempts to reduce the energy required to make, sustain and dispose of our designs. Our efforts were focused on designing products that lasted as long as possible,...

Five examples of iconic Industrial Design that use Form as a Function

The Dutch word for Design - ‘vormgeving’ - neatly translates into English as ‘giving form’ which is one of the principal activities that Industrial Designers are known for. It is certainly not the only thing they do but it is definitely core to making a client brand’s product cut through and stand out from the visual soup of competitor offerings. Form is, therefore, a function: how a product actually functions, surprises and delights are other matters that designers must attend to as t...

Idea to Product in 5 Steps

So, you've had an idea and decided 2022 is the year to do something with it. What do you do next? Please, whatever you do, don't waste a penny on a patent, don't get a prototype made and certainly don't build a website or start marketing it to your potential customers. I know this might sound counter intuitive. But read on and I will explain how you can save your self a lot of time and money. Over the years we have met many people who have an idea for a product, but don't know what to do next. ...

Behind the B

It's B Corp month in March and this year, the theme is 'Behind the B'. Whilst many industrial design and engineering teams have sustainability front of mind, not many have certified as a B Corp yet. So we wanted to take this opportunity, 18 months into our B Corp certification, to share our perspective of what B Corp means to us, through the eyes of Bob Turner, one of our Product Design Engineers.For businesses working in the area of physical product design and engineering, weighing up the cost ...

EAST MEETS WEST

As Creative Director at Samsung for 14 years, Clive was instrumental in promoting European sensibilities within an Asian culture, expanding the studio from purely ID to an advanced UX innovation research consultancy.Clive joined us in February 2022, as part of our IMAGINE Series for a light-hearted look at two decades of mucking about in design, including:what cultural drivers create rifts between design teams and headquarters and how can these be streamlined? how to translate European consumer...

Retro-volution - Creating the Future by Mining the Past

Is design and innovation always about looking to the future?...

Good Design is Like Distilling a Fine Spirit

A while back, I had the pleasure of attending a tour of the Sipsmith Distillery in West London just around the corner from our studio. The evening was a beautifully curated journey through the history and science of distilling and how the founders of Sipsmith came to launch the first copper pot distillery in London for over 200 years. Needless to say, the gins and vodkas that were available to taste were delicious and probably all the more so for being in the presence of the three copper st...

The Future of Technology Past

At the Imagination Factory we love learning about new technology and how it can be implemented into products that make a difference to people's lives. We enjoy the challenges of understanding how things work, how they'll be used in context and creating novelty for our clients so that they can benefit from their intellectual property.But recently we've been looking back as much as to the future. What if some of the best solutions to the problems people are facing were solved tens or even hundreds...

Design for Manufacture

In 2018, local entrepreneur, Lyndsey Packham approached us for help designing her prototype with a view to setting up her own business. She’d worked out a simple and clever way of improving the weaning stage for children with a product that would puree solid food quickly, using the food older children and adults are eating, whether at home or on the move. ...

Partnering with the British Pioneers of Human Flight

Ex-soldier, Richard Browning is re-imagining manned flight in the shape of a bespoke jet suit....

A Smart 4th Industrial Revolution

The Imagination Factory is helping to make the invisible visible, as part of the technological revolution taking place in the manufacturing sector. Having worked with a holographic waveguide display in the SwimAR project we were keen to see where else this incredible AR technology could provide a benefit. Since we are conscious that most of the things we design will go through a manufacturing and assembly process, we have a keen interest in supporting the people that make this happen....

Are you sitting comfortably?

Like many people today the team at The Imagination Factory is sitting comfortably on Herman Miller Aeron chairs, as they work on a number of different design projects. The Aeron chair is recognised for its ergonomic design and sleek styling but what is not so well known is that it was designed with sustainability in mind. It is up to 94% recyclable and has achieved the Silver level of Cradle-to-Cradle certification. Cradle-to-Cradle is an approach to sustainability that encourages designers an...