Europe’s secondhand clothes brings mixed blessings to Africa

An interesting article in The Guardian recently puts a new perspective on the effect of recycling textiles and old clothes

About a third of globally donated clothes make their way via wholesale rag houses to sub-Saharan Africa, where they end up lining the streets or filling small boutiques. Hawkers say Christmas time, when westerners flock to offload clothes to charity shops, brings in the biggest bales. The lucrative industry has even spawned fake charity clothes collectors in the west.

But critics say the billion-dollar trade risks swamping fragile domestic textiles markets, and 12 countries in Africa are among 31 globally that have now banned their import.

(Read the full article here: Europe’s secondhand clothes brings mixed blessings to Africa | World news | guardian.co.uk: .)

Hi-tech car aid for older drivers

A team at Newcastle University is developing new technology aimed at helping older drivers stay on the road.

Many give up because their reaction times have slowed down – but this means they become more isolated and inactive.

One of the Intelligent Transport team’s developments is a “Granny-Nav” which identifies the safest route, such as avoiding right turns.

The Age UK charity said such developments could help the elderly maintain their independence.

[…]

Many avoid turning right because they do not feel confident about judging the speed of oncoming traffic.

It also uses pictures of local landmarks, such as a post box or public house, as turning cues for when people are driving in unfamiliar places.

(Read more and watch video at BBC News – Hi-tech car aid for older drivers)

Being a Designer: Getting Clients

A new book by Mike Monteiro examines the realities of being a designer. There’s a sample chapter over at A List Apart which looks at how to get clients, and it’s well worth a read. Although written from a graphic designer’s perspective most, if not all, of this applies to other disciplines too.

Clients are the lifeblood of a healthy business. They are the oxygen in your bloodstream that keeps everything going. No matter how good you are at what you do, without someone willing to pay you for that service you will have to close your doors. Lack of clients is the number one reason design studios fail. The number two reason? Who cares.

So where do clients come from? The best ones come one way.

Find out which way (and it isn’t advertising) by reading the sample chapter and then, if you like what you read, go buy the book – it’s available as a paperback or eBook.

At the end of the chapter, Mike gives some advice on blogging as a way of attracting clients:

BLOG ABOUT THINGS YOU WANT TO WORK ON

If you’re interested in working with Disney, then blog about Disneyland. Write the best blog about Disney design on the internet. Will this in and of itself guarantee that you’ll be the designer they call when they need work? No, but it certainly won’t hurt. And you’ll be writing about what you love anyway.

Sexist jeans

This washing label was spotted in some jeans by Telegraph journalist Emma Barnett. Read her article for her response to it. What do you think? Funny or sexist?

Caine’s Arcade

I thought you’d enjoy this. Wonderful story.

DJCAD textiles students walk off with £2500 prize

Well done Lucy and Anna, and their partner, medical student Wen Ling Choong!

Two entrepreneurial projects from students at the University of Dundee were today each awarded £2500 after they were named winners of the 2012 Venture Programme competition.

A designer accessory for junior doctors and a new medical device with applications for biopsy and anaesthesia were the winning entries in this year’s competition, which offers up to £5000 seed money for researchers to turn their ideas into commercial applications.

The winners were Muhammad Sadiq, from Pakistan, a PhD student in Mechanical Engineering, for his drug delivery system which features a vibrating needle. He has worked extensively with the Institute for Medical Science and Technology in developing his product.

He shared the £5000 prize with Design Aid+, a team made up of 5th year medic Wen Ling Choong and 3rd year Textiles students Anna Rzepczynski and Lucy Robertson. Their `Essential Accessory+’ has been designed specifically with junior and foundation doctors in mind, giving them a fashionable but very practical carrier for the equipment they need to carry on the ward. It has been designed using NHS-approved infection-proof materials.

The Venture Programme is open to early career and postgraduate researchers at the University and is aimed at those who are interested in developing their research or exploring the commercialisation possibilities for their ideas.

Judging the final session at Enterprise House today were a panel of experts including Kevin Bazley, Senior Manager at Scottish Enterprise; Dr Howard Marriage, Director at Aquila Biomedical Ltd; and Dr Norman Alm, Co-founder and Director of CIRCA Connect and Honorary Research Fellow in the School of Computing at Dundee University.

The awards were presented by the University Secretary, Dr Jim McGeorge.

I could never be a Samsung…I’m creative

The new Samsung advert for their new phone blatantly takes the piss out of Apple users…

Do you think it’s a successful ad campaign? I think it’s quite clever but will it convert iphone users?