Second week of being a student again, settling into the framework of PhD studies and keep finding there is still much to learn!  Below are some of the things looked at week and keypoints on the talk attended at Sustain RCA. "The real world is a short-sighted place of which, ‘ideas people’, are habitually reminded of by those in favour of the blanket-like familiarity of a superficially understood world. The real world is a term that precedes a put-down usually attempting to jam new ideas for fear of them disrupting the flow of a superficially understood world. Creative thinkers and fulltime dreamers alike are commonly reminded of their absence from the real world, as though their life up to that point had existed within some metaphysical dream.." - Jonathan Chapman in "Emotional durable design"

Barack Obama on the Empathy Deficit - Guardian article "like other modern moral sentiments such as trust and altruism, empathy is increasingly seen as a "social glue" and the evolutionary basis of human co-operation.."

Ideo Method Cards Design research tool for its staff and clients, to be used by researchers, designers, and engineers to evaluate and select the empathic research methods that best inform specific design initiatives. The tool can be used in various ways—sorted, browsed, searched, spread out, pinned up—as both information and inspiration to human-centered design teams and individuals at various stages to support planning and execution of design programs.

Designing with people A research kit is prepared by the designer and given to users to record aspects of their lives autonomously, independent of the designer. The design probe may include diaries, question cards, postcards, disposable cameras or other tools for mapping and drawing. Design probes may be personalised for a specific user, who is given tasks to undertake, or the same probes may be given to a selection of users. Probes can be placed in an environment to collect information more generally from users of that space. Design probes are also known as cultural probes or user diaries.

ECOFRIENDS By connecting to social networks and social media, designed a mobile application that through aesthetic, bodily and value-oriented interactions allow for engaging experiences around everyday environmental choices.

Talk at RCA Sustain: BOUGHT & SOUL-ED - High Street Revival Through Informal Economy and the Arts

Compare and Share - Benita Matofska Sharing Economy,  economy of the future, around collaboration, sharing, creativity Use resources more efficiently GDP vs Happy Index - GDP does not tell people's stories.  Future economy must value people and human potential.

Brick Box Renegotiate the UK’s declining, clone high streets through art, design and social enterprise, offering the creative structures needed to put the soul back into high street hubs and kickstart sustainable, local economies.