Enabled By Design announces physical hacking weekend

Enabled By Design-Athon is an investigation into ‘hacking physical products and what advances in technological, and shifting social and cultural attitudes mean for accessible design,’ according to its organisers.

To hack, in this context, is to modify or redesign products to make them more accessible. The weekend is geared to the improvement of products’ accessibility, usability and desirability.

The event is being put together by social design business Enabled by Design, consultancy IDEO, FutureGov which looks to bring about social change through tech-led public service, the Technology Strategy Board, the institution Ravensbourne, and self-setting rubber company Sugru.

The ‘design-athon’ part of the weekend is an exploration of a range of ‘challenges and frustrations’ which have been crowdsourced.

For the exercise, teams will chose a product to redesign or design a new product to carry out a particular task which will involve design and rapid prototyping using rough materials and 3D printing of prototypes.

Enabled By Design says, ‘During the event we’ll be using modern manufacturing software and tools such as CNC machines, 3D printers, and laser cutters as well as rough and ready prototyping with card, foam, scissors, and of course Sugru’

A Show and Tell session will reveal the results from which a discussion will be launched on ‘how future product design can work toward mainstreaming accessibility.’

Speakers include Tom Hulme, design director of IDEO and founder of Open IDEO,  and the co-founder of Sugru James Carrigan.

Enabled by Design-Athon will take place from 2-3 November at Ravensbourne, 6 Penrose Way, Greenwich Peninsula, London SE10