MILLAR MAXWELL PORTFOLIO 2016 MILLARMAXWELL@GMAIL.COM
I am a product, service and strategy designer living in London. I love the creative process and inventing great user experience. I want to use design to leave the world better than I found it. Whether that is by making people smile with a well thought out object, making an experience or challenge easier or reducing our impact on the planet.
MILLAR MAXWELL
CV
07965 498 061
EXPERIENCE
MILLARMAXWELL@GMAIL.COM
Innovia Technology, Cambridge, February - August 2016
LONDON
Junior Designer.
EDUCATION Northumbria University - BA (Hons) Design for Industry First Degree Honours
REFERENCE Ben Rose Director of Design Innovia Technology St Andrews House, St Andrews Rd Cambridge, CB4 1DL Tel No. 01223 248888 Rupert Fisher Modelshop Manager Allies and Morrison Architects 85 Southwark Street London, SE1 0HX Tel No. 0207 921 0100 Ed Cowburn Managing Director Milltag Cycling 2.20 Grand Union Studios, London, W10 5AH Tel No. 0207 138 3592
Representing Design on multi-disciplinary team - working on projects in FMCG - product and pharmaceutical sectors
Allies and Morrison Architects, London, September - February 2016 Architectural Model Maker.
Building scale models of buildings to very tight tolerances, working in a large range of media on tight deadlines
Milltag Cycling, London, June - August 2014 Junior Designer.
Designing and assisting the head designer in developing technical cycling apparel as well as managing stock and website.
Paul Cocksedge Studio, London, March - May 2014 Intern.
Assisting the workshop manager and design team in visualising and realising their designs and building their installations.
Seven Towns Ltd, London, April - August 2013 Design Intern at Toy Design Consultancy.
This was an internship that evolved into employment. I worked primarily as a model maker developing concepts using a wide range of manual and digital techniques to a high level of finish.
Morton Studio, London, June 2008 Design Assistant.
Formulating preliminary page layouts, scanning negatives and editing them in Adobe Photoshop.
DESIGN FIELDS Product Service User Experience
DIGITAL SKILLS Brand Strategy Storytelling
Adobe Creative Suite Rhinoceros Premier Pro
Solidworks Microsoft Office
EMPLOYMENT REVIEW
Innovia Technology are a front-end innovation consultancy based in Cambridge, they champion the multi-disciplinary approach being made up of biologists, chemists, physicist, business strategists, marketeers, behavioural scientists and designers. Their client list reads like a who’s who of global brands and manufacturers. While I was with them I represented design on team of people from very different schools of thought. I worked for an American FMCG market leader and helped them understand how to communicate product benefits to their consumers. I worked in a team that produced innovative designs that will revolutionise the sanitary wear market and I worked for a large confectionery company to road map the launch and life strategy of a market changing product. These are just a few of the projects I was involved in, I learned so much while at Innovia, primarily how to apply rigour to the creative process, how to operate in a multi disciplinary team and as well as gaining some artworking experience and building on my graphics skills in a professional context and working with external contractors to get work produced.
Allies and Morrison Allies and Morrison are a 30 year old architectural firm based in Southwark in South London. They employ over 200 people and work for clients both in the UK and farther afield in Doha and the middle east. They see huge value in the architectural model and employ 9 full time model makers to produce their designs both to help them visualise their thoughts and for submitting to competition. While with the model shop I was given responsibility of producing models for public consultations - planning permission submissions and design iteration. I worked in a diverse set of materials from wooden composites to solid pear and plastics, and built models to tight deadlines and even tighter tolerances. I have always enjoyed making things but working in a professional setting taught me so much and equipped me with valuable skills that will come in handy in many different fields.
Milltag make custom cycling kit for clubs and events as well as producing cutting edge kit for the pro team Matrix Fitness Pro Cycling. While I was with them I was responsible for designing and producing layouts for manufacture as well as managing their site, talking with buyers and photographing kit.
© Copyright Milltag April 2014
MILLTAG DUNWICH 2014 JERSEY Colours
Outside
Notes S/sleeve; long hidden zip, sport cut, elastane sleeves and collar, coolplus body, lycra arm cuffs.
Pantone 1ZL TEX 5395 (Nyna Pantone 2011)
Inside - withCOLLAR different size labels
New style rear pockets, hidden zip pocket.
RIGHT SLEEVE
LEFT SLEEVE
FRONT
Left shoulder/sleeve
Right shoulder/sleeve Right Lycra cuff (30mm)
Left Lycra cuff (30mm) RIGHT SIDE PANEL
LEFT SIDE PANEL
BACK
Hidden text in centre rear pocket. Hidden POCKET
REFLECTIVE STRIP ON POCKET BOTTOM BACK POCKET
PAUL COCKSEDGE STUDIOTM Paul Cocksedge Studio largely produce one off designs while producing limited runs of certain designs in house. While I was with them I helped produce their bid to the 2016 world expo, the acrylic screen was made for an exhibition in Istanbul. I produced product and helped manufacture other prototypes and semi bespoke short run products.
Seven Towns is a toy design consultancy based in London they invent games and sell IP. They own the rights to the Rubik’s cube and employ five full time inventors. While I was with them I worked on the prototyping of two main projects. Seagull Splat a turn based board and activity game and Otarie Folie a game similar to Hungry Hippos, fast paced and fun! My roles involved ideation, prototyping in Solidworks and model making.
SELECTED WORK
MY FINAL YEAR OF UNIVERSITY WAS SPLIT INTO TWO PROJECTS; An exploration or research project designed to make you divine an intimate understanding of a topic area in order to gain some insight,
FOR THIS I RESEARCHED THE LAST CENTURY OF THE BRITISH BREAD INDUSTRY. The second half of the year honed this insight and cut it into a marketable, produce-able idea.
FOR THIS I INVENTED A BRAND INTENDED TO RE-INVIGORATE THE BRITISH BREAD INDUSTRY, AND GET PEOPLE CARING ABOUT BREAD.
EXPLORATION THE BRITISH BREAD INDUSTRY In my final year I produced a 10 meter long illustration detailing the changes in the British bread industry over the last 60 years. In that time British bread has seen two new processes revolutionise the industry and three profound market shifts - bread today is fundamentally different to its forbears even 50 years prior.
EXPLORATION THE BRITISH BREAD INDUSTRY
In the process of producing this document I researched the changing processes involved in making bread, how these processes impact us the consumer and how they mesh into the wider social and economic events that have formed our country over the last 60 years.
MY INSIGHT BREAD AS A MARKET AND AS A PRODUCT ARE NOW LOW ENGAGEMENT SECTORS. THE CONCEPT OF “ARTISAN” IS DAMAGING THE PERCEPTION OF BREAD. WELL MADE BREAD SELLS ITSELF - IT IS HOWEVER, VERY HARD TO FIND. BAKERS ARE TOO BUSY MAKING BREAD TO MARKET IT.
MAJOR PROJECT HOW TO CHANGE AN INDUSTRY WITH DESIGN In a nutshell, don’t tell people to eat it - get everyone to eat it - and build an eco system that ensures providence and quality. I invented a brand called staple and a quality assurance mark that worked for independent bakers, marketing their collective output to a larger base of retailers and consumers.
staple.
staple.
Collective Purchase
Regional baking collective. Collective distribution Consumptive re-sellers Professional education standards
Education of consumer
Whole product re-seller
Consumer Endorsed Product
Staple as a brand is not about exclusivity it is the opposite of everything that ‘artisan’ stands for. It’s focus lies in making good bread available for everyone. It’s quiet, simple, understandable and understated. Like the bread it wants to help sell, it communicates what it needs to very well and nothing more or less.
The staple mark is the key touch-point with the consumer, each accredited baker has a unique mark bearing their name which is burnt into every product they produce. In this way their skill is championed wherever the bread is bought and their name, and the staple brand, becomes synonymous with quality.
BREADBOARD
STAPLE MARK
BREAD BAG
Click here to see a 5 minute video explaining staple’s role
Along with the staple mark I developed the designs of a bread board and a bread bag. These staple endorsed products are designed to enrich the buying and eating of good bread. Why spend a bit more money on nice bread and then take it home and cut it badly on a gummy chopping board with a bad knife?
This project essentially represents a year of my life and so is impossible to boil down into a few pages of a portfolio. If what you see here interests you, please get in touch and I can elaborate on this snapshot.
NON-LITERAL FORM NOT AS GREEN AS IT MAY SEEM. The Toyota Prius is the most successful of the first generation hybrids and is billed as a “green� vehicle. But the car still uses a petrol engine along with is electric motors and is manufactured from the same raw materials using the same processes as its oil burning siblings. It still burns fossil fuels and is the forbear of a growing industry that is looking to draw another short lived, finite, non-renewable from some of the most beautiful and fragile places in the world - lithium.
NON-LITERAL FORM SKETCHING
With this project I wanted to show this split in the Prius’ character. The form had to feel futuristic or technical but user friendly as the Prius is.
I wanted the form to have a hidden core holding it together which could be revealed showing its different technological reliance.
The prominent half is sleek and futuristic, detailed in electric blue, but the larger half, representing its environmental impact is matte, dark and dirty.
BAMBOO BICYCLE IF YOU WANT IT MAKE IT. Growing up in London, riding my bike everyday I was really fascinated by cycle couriers. Their functional style and effortlessly technical riding was inspiring. For someone who has always loved making things, frame building goes hand in hand with that admiration. I didn’t have the space nor income to work in steel so I decided to build a carbon fiber bamboo lugged frame.
I machined rear dropouts in aluminum and built a rudimentary jig to hold all my tubes in position while I tacked them together.
The lugs are made by wrapping carbon fiber, soaked in epoxy resin, around the joint and then compressing it with perforated tape while resin hardens.
AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE SIT BACK AND ENJOY THE THRILL. A quick sketch project investigating how an autonomous vehicle can still allow the rider to experience the thrill and joy of driving while also providing the ability to be fully insulated from the outside world. This design incorporates a safety cell, retractable canopy and fabric side panels that can be completely hidden to allow the wind to fully immerse the rider in their environment.
MICRO LIVING SPACE FOR LIFE ON THE ROAD. I drove around New Zealand in a van for two months. The van was converted for sleeping but it was rudimentary. The whole time I was there I was thinking how I would fit out my own van if I had one. When camping, space is the primary issue. All of the stuff you need takes up all the room meaning all the stuff you want like surfboards, kayaks, bikes etc. have to be strapped to the outside.
CAMPERVAN CONCEPT
The aim of this little project was to unpack the internal volume of a basic van and look at how to store everything you needed as neatly as possible. It uses a vacuum pump to remove over 50% of the volume of clothes and takes a small portion of the roof and the floor for a bed and hard-good storage.
TRUE VALUE RING WHERE IS THE LOVE? “A diamond is forever� - the most successful ad campaign of the 20th Century. The idea of giving a diamond as an engagement ring was invented in 1974 by the De Beers diamond corporation. That same corporation owns a global mining and selling monopoly and artificially limits supply, it aggressively purchases smaller companies and is responsible for repeated breach and facilitation of human the rights act in pursuit of market growth. This project looks at designing a ring that communicates the core value of giving it. Love.
This idea looks at how to hold a note from a loved one as the jewel that it should be. The ring should be as inexpensive and as simple as possible drawing the focus of the object to the note it holds.
HUMAN BY NATURE WHY CARE ABOUT THE BUGS? The microrganisms that live on and within us are crucial for our health. When they are pushed out of balance by our diet, surroundings or way of life we often become ill. It is still early days, but data is linking this imbalance to serious illnesses such as diabetes, eating disorders, insomnia and heart disease The aim of this project was to raise awareness of this crucial part of ourselves
INSIGHT
“By packaging information “ Comics are especially in an unexpected wrapper it becomes far more memorable.
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good at communicating complex topics to younger readers because the text and the pictures can be used together to understand the story.
“ A child’s success at
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Dr David Parkinson specialises in the benefits of storytelling in design - in his research he has found that
Dr Mel Gibson specialises in the use of comics as a learning tool specifically in young children.
school can be markedly improved by the parent spending time talking, reading and discussing concepts with them, especially at a young age.
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In the 2009 PISA report studying over 470,000 students in 65 countries
CONCEPT DESIGN A COMIC TO ENGAGE AND EDUCATE YOUNG AND OLD READERS ALIKE ABOUT THE BENEFITS OF LOOKING AFTER THEIR MICROBIOME BY COMPARING IT TO THE INCREASINGLY UNSTABLE ECOSYSTEMS OF THE EARTH.
RSA STORYBOARD
This is the original storyboard for my comic. It depicts a cautionary tale telling the story of sick anti-heroes trying to save a sick planet earth, the exploits of the heroes in saving the planet teaches the reader about the intricacies of our own and our planets biology and why its important to build good habits that look after them both.
AUTOMATED
CHILD READING
THANKYOU. If you would like to discuss any of my work please do not hesitate to get in touch. I’d love to tell you about it! millarmaxwell@gmail.com 07965498061