As a father of two children – one in high school and one in junior school – I often get frustrated with some of the subjects that they are being taught in school. When I ask my kids how their school day went, I often get the reply of ‘borrrrrrring!’ and ‘I don’t see why we have to learn about…’ now you can insert the standard things we all probably said as a student here – for example; Shakespeare, algebra, drama, religion, and dance. Yes, we have all been there, but on reflection these WERE things I said as a child, and I am over 30 years out of high school. So what has changed? Well, the world certainly has, our approach to life certainly has, and the world of work and the roles within it are completely different. So why has The National Curriculum for England, which the Education Reform Act first introduced in 1988 not re-focussed its priorities in line with societal needs?

Now just to be clear, I have never met James Dyson, I don’t know him, but I do like him. My perception of him is largely based on my experience of using the innovative products designed and developed by his company – Dyson. I own one of his distinctive Vacuum cleaners which I am careful not to call by my usual term of ‘a Hoover’. Does anyone actually say ‘I Dysoned the living room’. No, probably not, but if anyone is going to replace Hoover as the general term for a vacuum cleaner, it will likely be Dyson. His drive to improve and reinvent the less glamorous, but no less important everyday technologies is commendable. I also find his passion for simple, highly functional human centred design really inspiring.

As designers, there is always a temptation to design products, spaces, experiences or branding that we would want ourselves and our peers will respect us for. This approach can often lead to beautifully designed solutions that brilliantly solve the wrong problem. The result is a product that has an initial wow factor, but totally misses the mark when it comes to solving the real underlying issues that need to be addressed. Consumers rush to engage or adopt the newly created piece of eye candy, only to be left disappointed or underwhelmed by the dream they were sold. The inevitable backlash from any bad design is often very expensive and sometimes catastrophic and underlines the maxim that bad design is significantly more expensive than good design.