BA Product Design
Florrie Lithgow
I have a strong drive for finding and creating opportunities for the enrichment of lives. Passionate about research insights, I like to collaborate with stakeholders to make change and inject meaning into diverse situations. My interests as a designer reach beyond the bounds of product and industrial design.
Curious and creative
Curious and Creative is the initiative behind this astronomy-themed activity kit for children. The concept stemmed from the desire give more children access to the exemplary and exciting practices of astronomy educators, particularly those in the Royal Observatory Greenwich.
The large planet-shaped box creates a focal point for creative exploration. Themed on planets in our solar system and beyond, the "imagine a planet" title prompts children to use tactile materials to design a new world of their own. There are tactile cards representing the planets in our solar system, providing inspiration for the children's creative works. Each card highlights a characteristic of a planet and asks a "space question" to encourage speculation. This design concept takes an informal approach to interpreting astronomy, which is directly inspired by what education officers do in planetariums. The priority is to engage the audience with astronomy, without expecting specific learning outcomes. The toolkit was designed for public libraries- vital community hubs that have become centres for cultural and creative experiences.
Curious and Creative sets out to "activate" astronomy and encourage the community to engage with it. The fun continues beyond the library, through the content enclosed in the "My Planet" booklet.
The other half of the story
I have designed a range of visual, interactive marketing tools for a social enterprise called Half the Story. It helps them tell "the other half of the story" at a variety of events to raise awareness about the life changing biscuits that help employ people with significant barriers to employment such as homelessness. The full scale of the design consists of multiple free-standing display boards that can be set up and used as an interactive experience. The smaller board is a compact version of this system and can be used at smaller events as well as boardroom meetings. This compact board is what I created and presented to demonstrate my design to the client. There are many situations where Half the Story needs to raise awareness of the positive impacts their employment has on people's lives. This is why I designed something that can move with them to all these opportunities, and why the outcome is scalable and flexible. Elements of it can be taken and used elsewhere; alternatively, the whole system can be set up and used as a large events experience. The system allows the team to tell their story creatively, wherever they go.