Archived posts from 2007

Experience designer

More Associates is a ground-breaking sustainable design practice based in Central London. Working with charities, government and corporations, we use design to address the most exciting and important challenges of our time.

You are a passionate, curious and rigorous experience designer. An exponent of evidence-based, human-centred design, you strive to create experiences that serve users, whether through one-off installations and exhibitions, web or physical product experience.

If we only have ten years to save the world, then you agree with us that saving the world should be delightful, intuitive and fun.

If you are this person please send an email with your CV to work@moreassociates.com

Getting physical with smart metering

With the energy industry, NGOs, government, meter manufacturers and others involved in the 'smart metering interoperability' process, the interoperbility conversation is getting very political, very technical, and that can lead people to miss some simple but important opportunities.

Monitors all round!

Interesting developments on the policy front, which we were asked to comment on in a follow-up article by the BBCs' Mark Kinver (which you can read here).

The Labour Party has announced new plans to provide 'real-time electricity monitors' to all households who request one. Electricity suppliers will be required to provide the displays free of charge to all households.

According to Labour 'the plan could cut UK carbon dioxide emissions by 400,000 tonnes a year by 2010, equivalent to taking about 100,000 cars off the road.'

We'll be keeping an eye on how this one pans out...

More Associates feature in Future London exhibition

Future London is a GLA project that helps Londoners to make their city sustainable, and shows how design and planning can help. The project was launched with a large exhibition in East London designed to show the public that sustainable living is both easy and affordable. The exhibition goes beyond describing the sustainable lifestyle choices that people can make by showing the consequences of these choices, making it easy to see the link between individual actions and local, national and global impacts.

Producer vs. User Centred design?

Interesting article by Eric von Hippel writing in the Harvard Business Review (subscription only so no link to the actual piece I'm afraid).

He outlines some clear shortcomings in the way that large companies and governments fail to respond to user needs in the products they develop, and the way in which innovation in these companies is still 'producer-centred' rather than 'user-centred' i.e driven by what the company thinks is right as opposed to what users know is right. Taking up the 'open source' aesthetic, people are now prepared to adapt, play with and improve products when they doesn't meet their needs.

Ariel asks customers to do their washing at 30 degrees

In the first of a new kind of proposition in the mass market – one that we expect to see a lot more of over the coming months – Ariel launch a very cool campaign to get people to turn down their washing machines. This could begin to show that behavioural energy/ carbon marketing works, which is essential for most non-energy businesses to join in with the carbon debate. With TV, web and print applications, P&G are building green credibility and home-sense for Ariel by inviting people to change their behaviour, and strongly leading everyone to infer a key product benefit (washes better at lower temperatures, saving you money), while never actually stating it!

More Associates install MorePower for The Design Council

More Associates install MorePower for The Design Council

More Associates featured on BBC online

Mark Kinver, the BBC's science and nature correspondent talks to Luke Nicholson of More Associates about smart-metering and energy displays. Read the full article on the BBC website here

More Associates featured in the Independent

More Associates are featured in Will Andersons' 'Diary Of An Eco Builder' column in The Independent. Check it out here