Product development
designing products that meet project and human needs
I am a serial creative! I just can’t help myself, and since childhood, I have been a great explorer and inventor, always dreaming up ways to solve problems for others. In my career, designing bespoke products has been a requirement across various mediums, including film & TV, hospitality, and more. My ultimate goal is to make the impossible possible and the complicated simple, helping clients and individuals to do what they do better or more easily.
Of course, all of my career has involved product design. My formal training always comes into play, producing working drawings, making models, iterating ideas and then working with manufacturers to make bespoke ideas real. You soon realise almost nothing is impossible!
I discovered a simple yet significant personal need to protect my veg garden from critters-which was a source of healing and sanity during the Covid pandemic-yet I couldn’t find a solution for in the market. As I have experience in designing products, I conducted thorough research, created a prototype, and tested it. This process continued from there- acquiring additional skills in legal aspects and patents for my own designs. I am excited to share that we now have 3D prototypes, a small team, and a patent pending for an eco-friendly product that can be used in the garden and other various markets. This product will make the joy and satisfaction of DIY design accessible to everyone-and save a few veg gardens!
As you know, Life Works by Design focuses on using design to bring about positive change. In product development, this involves incorporating the principles of sustainable and universal design, as well as accessibility, to create sustainable solutions for human and environmental challenges. By reducing consumer impact and making products lightweight, functional, and easy to use, we aim to produce terrific outcomes for the end-user that align with our values.
Key Skills: Emerging industrial processes, product materials and manufacturing techniques, 3D CAD drawings, 3D printing and mold-making, user needs assessment, create strategies and map project timelines to achieve outcomes
Commercialisation – business development, Marketing and sales
I’ve led collaborative product development projects from start to finish, entailing research, ideation, concept development, iteration, modeling/prototyping and testing. As a lead designer, my role is to deliver a product that aligns with the brand identity and brief, within budget and often within extraordinarily tight timelines.
I’ve designed and created products from film props, immersive visitor attractions, hospitality and retail products, to training products, workbooks and documentary film products. And I’ve had a host of stranger quests along the way!
Tim Brown, CEO IDEO
WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
As a self-starter, I suppose my earliest memory of product development was a result of a problem my Grandma had when she was bedridden due to arthritis; one arm didn’t work very well. My first ‘challenge’ or ‘brief’! So, what was my solution? I created a pulley system above her bed with a sling in it for her arm. She could hold a spoon, so this enabled her to raise it to her mouth, to feed herself independently. As a young designer, I talked to her about my approach. And by researching what she could and couldn’t do, I was able to analyse the information to inform possible interventions and designs. I then tested and iterated until it worked for her. I’d completed my first official design process.
Next up, I took my inspiration from a Sand Yacht to adapt my go-cart to become self-propelled. The challenge was that on days my friends weren’t around to play I had nobody to push me. The solution, a sail, of course was loved by all…except the police who confiscated it for playing around parked cars. I agreed to a redesign as they thought it would be better if I added breaks!
One of my favourite earliest inventions was ‘The Spen’. It was created especially for my Dad who, much to my upset, used to take his pen from his suit pocket to stir his tea at work. The finished product came with a handkerchief to wipe it dry. He loved it and used it right up to his retirement.
RISING TO THE CHALLENGE
In film and television, there were always product design challenges. Prop making for story telling leads to some bizarre products, like a life like breathing premature baby for a birthing scene (made from silicone of course).
My job was often to make the unreal real. I was once tasked by the director of a horror film to create a coffin so that when a man falls in, the lid locks. Then, with the aid of a control panel, the coffin walks (using tiny shovels as feet like ship paddles) to bury its occupant in the garden.
A FIRM FAVOURITE
I was once tasked with creating a lot of bespoke products for a seamless experience, after designing an entire amusement park, comprising 22 themed areas, 2 water rides, 6 themed rides, a lagoon, a 14m2 glass pyramid, 5 themed bars and 12 retail outlets. See immersive visitor attractions. In keeping with brand consistency, many products had to be designed, from ice cream to signposting to products for sale in shops at the end of the experiences.
THE STORY CONTINUES
As my career developed, my work moved towards social change. I partnered with Mary Matthiesen to deliver Conversations for Life, a national public health campaign. To educate the public and healthcare around ideas and resources for living and dying well. It involved creating educational materials for trainers, accessible branding and marketing materials, a documentary film to catalyse conversations and workbooks and training resources to be used in both public and health professional workshops. We also created NHS staff training journeys with experiential aspects to the training. It was great fun developing, designing and prototyping all the products to deliver the desired outcomes, from the end user’s perspective.
Areas of Work
Hi, I'm Nicola
- Award Winning Designer of Built Environments:
- Boutique hotels, cruise ships, film and television
- Social Entrepreneur & Advocate for Sustainable Change:
- Diabetes, End of Life Conversations, Sustainable/Green Communities & Environments
- Expert Coach
- Creatrix of the Alignment Process to cut through the biggest and most expensive obstacle to designing a space or a life that truly supports the desired outcomes: “I don’t really know what I want”
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
- Design, ideation, concept development
- Research
- Technical and construction drawings
- Model-making and prototyping
- 3D CAD drawings, 3D printing and mold-making
- Collaboration, communication, problem-solving
- Strategy, project mapping and planning
- Critical thinking
- Product procurement, finances and budgeting
- Project management
- Commercialisation, business development
- Marketing and sales
- New and emerging industrial processes
- New and emerging techniques and manufacturing.
- Empathy in understanding user needs and customer journey
- Legal processes – non-disclosure agreements, Intellectual Property protection, patents and licenses
Qualifications
- First class honors degree – Manchester school of film and television
- Design for the communication media.
- Building heritage and conservation.
- Retrofitting buildings