Usability is the key to great product design, according to a prominent West Midlands manufacturer.
Martyn Hale, chairman of HME Technology in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, a leading supplier and installer of design and technology and science equipment for schools, has been running a successful campaign to emphasise to the Government how important it is to expose pupils to the sector at an early age.
He said: “The skill is in designing a product to fit into people’s lives.
“It is about making life easier for busy individuals – which is why so many apps are now being developed … and they are virtually all lifestyle apps.”
Mr Hale highlighted the roles of two British design gurus.
Sir Jonathan Ive had designed the iPhone and iPad amongst others, still using traditional metals, but revolutionising usability through the likes of touch screen capability. Sir James Dyson brought us the bagless vacuum cleaner, combining design with cost-effectiveness and functionality to develop a product which had subsequently “taken the world apart”.
Mr Hale went on: “There is a very long list of such brilliant men and women.
“We have a world leading design industry; we must continue to re-build our economy by majoring on our strengths. Our standing in design and technology is recognised at home and abroad and the work done in our primary schools from the age of eight is one of the building blocks for this success.
“If we are to remain competitive in a world, with many challengers, then we need to further develop our future design capability.
“We must produce the men and women capable of creating the new technology that keeps jobs in the UK and drives our position as the ‘brains’ behind many of the technological innovations that we have seen in the last two decades.
“Our strengths may not always be in manufacturing a high volume item, our cost base may not always permit it, but where we can lead is in inventing new and more efficient ways of manufacturing. Formula One is a winning example of this.”