Two Weeks of Design: the Dott Festival, Awards Night, Debates, InterSections Conference and the Wrap-up Party

It's been a busy, hectic, but fun, 2 weeks here in Newcastle. I have seen lots, heard lots and met lots of people at the Dott Festival and the InterSections Conference, hosted by Northumbria University, the Design Council and Dott 07.



The Dott Festival

The Designs of the Time (Dott 07) Festival, on the banks of the Tyne River, was open for 12 sunny days straight (miracle!), showcasing the projects of the Dott programme over the past 2 years.

Dott 07 is a programme of community projects, set up by the Design Council, to have designers work on public sector services in the North East. The issues designers were tackling were around the themes of:

- Energy
- Food
- Health
- Movement (transport)
- Schools (education)

My PhD research will be using Dott 07 as its main case study, identifying the design practices used in the projects, and how they contribute to the emerging discipline of Service Design.

Here is a quick overview of the projects I will be looking at for the case study.

Alzheimer 100

Designers explored with the Alzheimer community, ideas around how to connect the 80+ services available to carers and sufferers in the region. The light box display shows the vast and disparate services available. The designers proposed a Signposting service, which would inform carers and sufferers of what was available through personal and social contact.



Design of Sexual Health (DaSH)

Sexual health services for the youth are difficult to access in Gateshead (the area south of the Tyne Bridge) and also discouraging for use. The designers on DaSH gathered insights from teenagers in Gateshead and proposed a set of solutions to key issues in sexual health services. The proposed solutions would give greater access and privacy, overall lending itself to a better experience for teenagers in sexual health services. The board game below demonstrates how one can navigate through the system.



Low Carb Lane

What began as designing ways to reduce the carbon footprint of a home, ended up being a financial service for tenants. Designers discovered, through research, that in areas such as Ashington, the issue of paying rent needed to be tackled before anything else. The designers ended up linking energy use to finance by providing an incentive package for tenants if they reduced their energy use. The tenants would be able to monitor their energy use and financial information on a 'dashboard' on their TV.



Move Me

Where people are remotely located, such as in Scremeston, transport becomes a challenging issue. The Move Me project got involved with Scremeston locals to see what they could do to help mobility of people while having as little effect on the environment as possible. The designers came up with a Lift Exchange service, that provided the community with communication tools, such as lift exchange cards and notice boards, to help bring people together so they could share rides.



New Work

Most businesses in the north east are micro businesses (ie. 4 people or less), but there is very little by way of support for them. This project identified issues that micro business owners faced, such as social isolation, and designed services to help support and overcome them. The project brought together a community of micro business owners who enjoyed interacting and getting to know each other so much that some of them begun to develop and target their business ideas and products to the micro business community.




Our New School

The UK Government has committed £3 billion to maintain and improve all secondary schools throughout the country. Schools can choose how to spend their slice of the capital and Walker Technology High got designers to help students, teachers and parents develop initiatives and programmes to ensure a better experience for all those involved in secondary school education. Based on the new initiatives and programmes, a brief was written to inform the architects of how they could design and build infrastructure that would support the future of Walker Technology High.




Urban Farming

Food that lands on one's plate has often traveled from afar, contributing to carbon emissions. The Urban Farming project looked at reducing this by getting the residents of Middlesbrough growing food locally at home, at work or in allotments (allotments are walled spaces one can purchase to grow food and plants). When the food was ready, events called Kitchen Playgrounds got chefs to show people how food could be prepared as a meal. The food growing and Kitchen Playgrounds were a precursor to a big event called the Town Meal, which brought together Middlesbrough locals to celebrate, cook and eat the locally grown food. With an expected turn out of 300 and an actual turn out of 8000 people, the project was awarded a Creative Community Award at the Dott Awards Night.



The Dott Creative Community Awards Night

The Dott Awards Night was an entertaining night of speakers, project presentations and awards. Guest speakers included David Kester, Chief Executive of the Design Council, and the esteemed Ezio Manzini, Professor of Industrial Design at Politecnico di Milano.



The Dott 07 project presentations were also delightful, presented in Pecha Kucha style, which means 20 images with 20 seconds per image. Each presentation was 6 minutes and 40 seconds and everyone kept in good time.

The Dott Debates

Over 4 days, presentations, discussions and debates were held for each Dott 07 project. The sessions brought together designers, policy makers, agencies, partners, funders, project participants and project stakeholders to discuss the experiences and issues in each of the projects, and what the community could do going forward.



InterSections: Design Know-how for a New Era Conference

I have done a write up on my reflections on the InterSections Conference on my PhD blog, Letters to Australia. Overall I have a great time meeting, greeting, listening and discussing contemporary issues in design with some UK design celebrities.



The Dott 07 Wrap-up Party

On sunny Sunday, the Dott Festival closed its doors. A wrap-up party for the Dott team and Dott festival volunteers (and yes, I was one for a few days) was held that night at Apartment in down town Newcastle (that's Dott 07 Programme Director, John Thackara and I at the party below).



The party topped off a great 2 weeks of design-intensive activity on the banks of the Tyne River and within the architectural splendor of the Baltic mill. A magnificent setting for design, designers and the people to come together to explore design.

A Weekend in Newcastle and on the Coast

While the temperatures are cooling down and clocks go back an hour next weekend, we definitely aren’t missing out on some great Sydney-type weather.

Newcastle put on a spectacular show over the weekend for the southern visitor. On Saturday morning, the suns rays streamed through the window beckoning us to get up and out to hit the town and the coast. Breakfast and morning caffeine hits were enjoyed across the road at Café de Vie.



Afterwards, a trip to the bustling Grainger Market was made to stock up on some food for Saturday night’s special home-cooked dinner.



After dropping the shopping off, we hopped on the train and headed for the coast. At Tynemouth’s train station we were met by more markets on the station platform under the arching glass roof.



It was a busy little place, reminding us of the weekend Rozelle Markets, as the stores sold second-hand wares, books, plants, even dolls houses and miniatures.



A walk down the main strip of Tynemouth village, we passed a handful of pubs and boutiques, stopping off to make a few purchases along the way. As the street winds around, the open ocean appears with the sandstone Tynemouth Castle and Priory standing tall on the windy headlands.





We explored the Castle and Priory, trying to imagine the structures in their entirety and marvelling at what history might have been like here hundreds of years ago...





We climbed around the bunker and gun battery, which sits on the edge of the lofty headland, and inspected the only remaining gun left at the site today.



We spied Tynemouth Lighthouse and the smashing waves against the pier and decided to take a walk out to the end after our tour of the Priory.



The pier seemed to take forever to get down. The wind wasn’t too bad, but one could imagine it whipping exceptionally cold air on winter days.



We saw pictures at the Quayside Markets the next day, of waves crashing over and above the pier, and were glad that the seas were far calmer when we chose to walk out to the end.



The coastline at Tynemouth is a series of bays and some of the most popular surfing beaches in the UK. King Edwards Bay sits right next door to the Priory.



A leisurely walk high, above and around the Bay will take one to the sandy and wide Tynemouth Beach.



The sunny weather had brought lots of surfers and families for beachside activities on Saturday. We managed to grab a seat outside on the Robinson Crusoe café’s patio, which sits right on the sand. The café has a fabulous location, but unfortunately it’s service and selection of food doesn’t quite live up to its surrounds.



A much better pick would be higher up, on street level, at the quiet and palatial Grand Hotel.



We snuck in for a peek and found the quiet and cosy Drawing Room with ocean views through the bay windows and a menu, which was surprisingly reasonable for a hotel. Afternoon tea is also served here with finger sandwiches, cake and of course tea.





Making our way back into town we hopped off the train close to Quayside for a whistle-stop tour of the School of Design at Northumbria University and the Dott Festival at Baltic Square (where I have spent every day of last week visiting, participating in talks and helping out on site. I have been keeping a daily log on my PhD research blog. As you may know, the projects of the Dott Festival will be a major part of my research as the key case study).

The Dott Festival definitely brings a better and deeper understanding of the nature of the Dott programme and the issues that designers have been tackling in the public sector. It gave Geoff great insight into what exactly I will be spending the next 3 years looking at!



After a full day of touring the coast and the town we settled down for a drink at the riverside pub the Pitcher and Piano.



We chatted away, reflecting on our day and our time in the UK thus far as the sun set beautifully over the Tyne River.



Sunday morning was another gorgeous day and we begun with breakfast at the Side Café down by Quayside.



The Quayside Markets were on again so we strolled through, and then headed back up to town popping in and checking out the little boutiques I have been finding in Newcastle’s side streets. The surprising thing is that the majority of boutiques are for guys. That is solely for guys as at least 2 of the stores we went into did not stock women’s clothing at all! Geoff picked up some nice winter things in Union.



I popped in for a peek at the new Vivienne Westwood store which just hit town, where the back of the shop also stocks a decent size men’s range.



The sun was dipping lower in the sky and the time was drawing near for Geoff to be on the train back to London. It was hard parting after a fabulous and relaxing weekend, but we are looking forward to two weeks time when we can hang out and have fun in Newcastle again.

Discoveries Down at Quayside

Sunday morning was such a glorious autumn day. The Quayside Markets were in full swing when I popped down to the water to check out the action.



I leisurely perused the stores which were a mixture of food, craft, jewellery, clothing and accessories.



I have to say that the local food provedores out do the other stores. To prove it I came home loaded with bags of organic bread, fudge, chocolate and sweets!

I quite enjoy organic food. I find the process quite fascinating and am an avid supporter of being able to grow food and keep animals without using pesticides and chemicals (especially after watching The Corporation!). I bought a loaf of herb and sea salt bread from North Country Organics and consumed the whole thing today (ah, the joys of living alone).



There were several sweet stores, but the stand out was Robsons of Durham.



For a pound a bag, with 100’s of sweet varieties available, I was the kid in the candy store, especially when I found these!



I was brought right back to my childhood days when we used to ‘smoke’ these chocolate cigarettes! I have not seen these sweets in years. I’m guessing it isn’t really socially responsible to introduce children to smoking, but gee we did have fun pretending to puff! I couldn’t resist picking up a few packets for sentimental reasons. The chocolate is not half bad either. If you look closely, you’ll notice that the sweets are made in France. I wonder if this says anything to why almost everyone in Paris smokes?

I also visited the nice lady at the fudge shop. She makes all the fudge herself and has unique flavours such as Malteser fudge, which has balls of chocolate covered malt among the thick, chocolate fudge. Yum!



Finally, I couldn't resist taking a photo of this musical trio. I was left amused by the big guy, tiny guitar and sailors hat!



I have been mentioning the Designs of the Time (Dott 07) programme a bit on this blog. Starting Tuesday for 2 weeks, the Dott Festival will showcase the programme’s projects and work that have happened over the past 2 years. The programme’s intent was to use design and designers to help local communities improve and/or solve issues they face today eg. Issues in health, transport, tourism etc. While you may ask, ‘But how?’ I guess that’s what the Festival is all about and also what my research is going to help demystify! I was down at the Festival site yesterday and it was looking awesome. Watch this space for some blogging on the Festival over the next few weeks.



To finish my Sunday afternoon I popped into the Side Cafe for a hot chocolate and some reading. Yes, I know, study on the weekend?!

I Heart York

About half way between London and Newcastle stands a pretty little place called York. One always hears great things about York, so we satisfied our curiosity last weekend and weren’t disappointed.

York is a quaint leafy town on the Ouse River with cobbled streets, lots of cafes and boutique stores.





York has two main stunning attractions, the first being the gothic-style York Minster.



And the second being the magnificent City Wall which wraps almost the whole way around the town centre.



We meet in York, Saturday lunch time, easily finding our way to our B&B the City Guest House.



We had to walk through the town to get to the B&B and were immediately charmed by the cobbled streets and hints of history. Modern day planners and developers have done well to retain this as even the big chain stores and restaurants seemed to do a good job with working themselves into the town landscape. We found this refreshing, as most English cities tend to look the same with the chains dominating the town landscape.



After checking in, we hit town for some exploring and shopping.



We got lost in the twisting streets and in numerous boutiques before parting for an hour-and-a-half to shop or watch the disastrous loss the Aussies suffered in the rugby (note: try not to be the only Aussie in a pub here while we get clobbered by the English. It can be a rather lonely experience).

Being in an English town, one must sample the tea and scones, so we did this at the Little Shambles Tea Rooms.





We spent the last hours of sunlight at Museum Park. It was lovely to see the setting sun's rays hit the trees and ruins as we strolled through.





Dinner was sought at the local pub, Cross Keys, which served up decently priced, generous servings of pub food.



Sunday morning was a glorious day and we were spoilt by a home cooked English breakfast downstairs. After checking out, we worked off breakfast by climbing the York Minster. With 275 stairs up the narrow, twisting Tower of the Minster, it is not one for the faint hearted. But if you can make it, the views from the top are stunning.





For the less game, the view from the ground is also a stunner.



Finally, we ventured below street level to the crypt called the Undercroft. In 1960, the foundations of the Minster were at risk from falling and excavations under the Minster uncovered remains of buildings that pre-dated the Minster. An audio-tour comes free with the ticket and it’s a fascinating story to trace about the history of York and the stories of the buildings which once stood where the Minster stands today.

After a few hours at the Minster, we finished our weekend with a final shop.



The temperatures were falling and evening was approaching. Our weekend in York was coming to a close. We parted on the station platform, one train heading south and the other, heading north.