Hello!
My name is Christopher. I’m a Design for Industry graduate, who relishes in exploring complex problems. I encourage myself to experience things from many perspectives and tackle problems with strategic creativity. If used considerately, design is a hollistic thought process which can enable the betterment of individual lives and values. I’m always eager to work on projects which challenge my abilities and enable me to learn new things.
Education/ Experience
Golf Buddy Society
Summer 2016
Work Experience
Penso Consulting
Summer 2016
Industrial Design Internship
Northumbria University
2014 - 2018
BA (Hons) Design for Industry
Lancaster & Morecambe College
2012 - 2014
D*D*D - Art & Design
Dominos Pizza
2012 - 2013
Shift Manager
James Croppers PLC
2011 - 2012
CREST Award project
Kirkbie Kendal School
2006 - 2012
13 GCSE’s A-C
Contact me Newcastle-Upon-Tyne /Oxford, Oxfordshire 07852389920
@
christopherlb955@gmail.
Relevant skills
I am proficient at sketching, modelling, research, ideation and have experience with Catia and Autodesk.
Dissertation My dissertation focussed on Artificial Intelligence, specifically that of human level intelligence and the devisive prosect of ‘The Technilogical Singularity’. As a designer a lot of our future speculation is focussed through three filters; economics, socio-cultural and technology; these three filters took centre stage in my evaluation of AI. The goal of the paper was to investigate the potential for a ‘Singularity‘ event in our own lifetime and considered how the technologies that could take us there might disrupt our lives.
See further work @chris.barker.id
Issuu: christopherluisbarker
Contents
01
2016 Placement
05
Anticipation
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31
Learning for life
Algorithm.me
RSA Shortlisted
21
Sleep Matters
2016 Placement
For 6 months, over Summer 2016, I was part of the design team at Penso Consulting, a world leading manufacturing specialist based in Coventry, UK. During my time there I worked on projects for Mercedes-Benz, Taxis for London, Bentley and played a key role in developing in-house luxury brands for Penso’s Special Operations department. Much of the work I undertook is confidential and not cleared for public viewing. 01
Penso During my time at Penso, I worked to realise the visions of Mercedes, Bentley, Taxis for London and Penso’s in house operations. From my first day I attended directors meetings and developed a deep understanding of Penso as a buisness. I also took it upon myself to learn Catia and pick up in-house terminology which enabled me to contribute to contracted work and Penso’s personal product stategy. My work created products which helped Penso identify itself as a stand alone manufacturer and reinforced their relationship with a large automotive client. Alongside my placement at Penso I also took on a personal project for Jevon (Operations Director, Penso). This involved working with a secondary party, golf instructor, Julian. We worked to release a social platform for golfers. This involved producing imagery for the UI/UX and interviewing potential users.
Chris is an extremely likeable and approachable young man who finds it easy to communicate on a one to one basis and also within group situations. Having joined Penso earlier this year, Chris has been set a number of key tasks within the Design Department and once he has ensured that he has understood the brief correctly Chris has delivered each task and the associated information in an accurate and timely manner. Chris has worked extremely well with his peer group and has taken on board a number of new skills that have been vital in enabling him to complete the various task set. I believe Chris has found his time at Penso extremely valuable and I am sure that once his studies are complete Penso will be very keen to find a position within the Consulting Team for Chris Well done Chris and all the very best in completing your studies Jevon Thorpe / Operations director 03
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2016 PLACEMENT
Anticipation
; To regard as probable; expect or predict. ‘Anticipation’ was the one word brief set for the 2016 Lexus design awards.
‘Echo Street’ is a large scale installation which provides personal insight into the navigating the urban environment without the sense of sight.
My conceptual project, ‘Echo Street’ is an empathy centred exhibit that helps able bodied individuals to experience the urban environment from the perspective of those with limited/no sight.
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The idea of waiting for something makes it more exciting Andy Warhol
The action of anticipating something; expectation or prediction I took this brief as an opportunity to investigate our individual perceptions of the environment we live in. We automatically navigate the urban jungle without any deeper consideration for our direction; those without all available senses may not be able to move as instinctively. I came to this realisation while observing commuters on a main highstreet in Newcastle. An individual who was navigating with a guide stick caught my eye and it made me question how they might perceive the same street differently from myself. As designers we might create things very differently if we considered a life where sight doesn’t dominate our perception of the world.
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ANTICIPATION
This idea was developed using 20:1 scale models which visualised sound as physical structure. Recordings of my commute to and from university informed the scultpture of audio waves. I used light to create heat and a hue which can be interpreted by those with healthy vision, to show how the audio landscape is constantly shifting in unpredictable ways. The installation reflects the ‘mental landscape’ that the visually impaired rely on when interpreting information from their other senses. By feeding these interpretations back into a visual landscape we can experience a world controlled by alternative senses.
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ANTICIPATION
Echo-street An empathy project
Echo-street is a proposal for a large-scale installation which interprets a mental map of the urban landscape and visualises it for those with healthy sight. How else might we design spaces and artefacts if we created them for people who more heavily rely upon other senses? Echo-street aims to encourage this speculative thinking and to help us break through our own mental barriers and anticipate the hardships of others and design with targeted consideration.
Learning for Life RSA Design awards 2017 - Shortlisted
In the future continuous learning throughout our lives is going to become even more important for two reasons. Firstly technology is going to transform the way we live and work. Secondly, we are going to be living and therefore working longer. We need to combine formal learning and increasingly informal methods so that we can come up with new ways of identifying opportunities for selfimprovement and learning the skills to do them.
Learning for life was presented as a brief for the 2017 RSA design awards. My proposition is ‘Virtual Farmer’, a scalable VR learning platform that utilises the ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) to provide digital learning for the agricultural sector.
Cat Drew / Policy Lab 13
Teach people in such a way that they don’t realize they’re learning until it’s too late Michael Stevens, Online educator.
22%
1%
Of UK jobs were in agriculture at the dawn of the 20th Century
Of UK jobs were in agriculture by the 2011 census.
Agriculture was the first industry to experience job displacement from technological disruption. Using modern technology, the average farm within first-world nations can manage their land using a single labourer with additional help in peak seasons. This project takes a hollistic view of disruptive technologies and explores opportunities to use a digital farming platform to expose young learners to the land and help them adapt their skills to a rapidly evolving industry. Currently more people than ever are studying agriculture but less people than ever are pursuing a life in farming. I posit that maintaining the nations connection with the land while adapting for the next generation of ‘Smart Farmers’ is invaluable.
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LEARNING FOR LIFE
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Virtual Farmer A techological learning platform.
‘Virtual Farmer’ utilises ‘augmented reality’ (AR) and the IoT to re-imagine modern farming. My platform provides insight into the use of AR as a learning tool and shows how it can be used to change the physical world from any location. Virtual Farmer shows that we can play a role in disrupted industries by changing our expectations of traditionally manual jobs.
Sleep matters RSA Design awards 2018
The sleep matters brief was to design a product, service or system to improve health and wellbeing by encouraging and/or enabling better sleep. Almost half of all adults in the UK suffer from poor sleep, caused by; stress, money worries and mobile device. The cost of all those sleepless nights is more than just bad moods and a lack of focus; it’s now clear that good sleep is essential for a long and healthy life.
My proposal, ‘Sync’, is a shapeshifting smart product that visualises sleep patterns and rewards a consistent sleep routine through a morpthing wooden form and light.
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Sleep is a criminal waste of time, inherited from our cave days Thomas Edison
In the UK middle-aged demographics are experiencing a poorer quality of sleep than ever. Studies have shown that those aged 45-54 consistently fail to maintain a scheduled sleep routine. There are more apps, devices and services than ever to aid in this issue, however the 45-54 demographic is typically not receptive to a market flooded with digital applications. My design simplifies data from the IoT into an easily understood analogue product that creates a non intrusive ritual that will not interfere with every day life. By utilizing familiar materials, and applying a physicality to data collection I hope to create a ‘lighthouse’ that will help guide users back into a healthy routine every time life knocks them off course.
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SLEEP MATTERS
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SLEEP MATTERS
Sketch and form ideation using wireframe marquettes and tights.
Tactile UI for digitally bombarded brains.
Anxiety prevention To reduce anxiety the form only changes once a week. This allows the user to reflect on their consistency at the right time and focus on a good nights sleep when it really matters.
Peace of mind The lamp features a tray for pocket items so you’re never left wondering where your keys are in the morning.
The Indicator A secondary ‘reference’ light, in another part of the home, is necessary because most users don’t spend the evening in their bedroom. It also allows different routines to exist in cohabiting households.
On/Off From the moment you place your phone on the device the lamp activates and begins to dim. This gives the user time to wind down before going to bed.
Phone Your phone being placed on the tray is the light switch. This encourages the user to let go of their needy devices, before they go to bed and to form a healthy ritual around sleep preparation.
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LEARNING FOR LIFE
Sync A wellness project
Sync is a visually intuitive UI that uses a shape shifting form to encourage consistent sleep. The less consistent your routine the more unbalanced the form. If the users sleep consistency begins to stray, the form becomes more stressed, reflecting the psychological and physical changes experienced by weary adults.
Algorithm.me
A critical piece that examines issues of AI curation, A dystopian look at tribalism and the selective exposure of a digital future. The purpose of this project was to use social, economic and technological trends to extrapolate one potential future. Using that ‘future’ I created a design fiction to help people reflect upon on their current technological practices. The core of my project is a critical assessment of algorithms which filter and curate our media and potentially amplify our cognitive biases.
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He who knows only his side of the case knows little of that John Stuart Mill
Individuals create their own ‘social subjective realities’ via selective exposure to inputs. In researching this subject, I used future scoping to highlight trends which exaggerate these psychological traits. To communicate my findings I produced a video which shows how technologies can amplify selective exposure. Algortihms can detach us from alternative views and create the conditions for a tribal culture.
Please enjoy the video.
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Sketch Ideation Storyboarding
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Prop development
Concept Iteration
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World building was conducted using a process of workshops, roleplay and videography.
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Algorithm.me A critical project
In responce to populism and filter bubbles in western politics, algorithm.me seeks to raise public awareness surrounding the effects of selective exposure. This fiction is a day in the life following Zoe, a ‘red tribeswoman’, who relies on her virtual intelligence to guide her through the various social factions of her diverged society. The product reflects the needs of her society to only interact within their own social tribes, based around their personal beliefs.
Please enjoy the video. 39
40 ALGORITHM ME
Thankyou christopherlb955@gmail.com
07852389920