Design + Making and Materials

Design + Making and Materials is one of three strategic research themes in Northumbria School of Design, which cuts across all of our core areas of design expertise.

Our design research on making and materials concerns materialities, the cultural value and benefits of making in society, and the effects emerging technologies and materials may have on design, making and craft practices.

Research in this theme cuts across the whole range of design disciplines – product, industrial, interaction, service, textile, interior, and fashion – using their disciplinary knowledge and maker expertise to explore the application of new and advanced material technologies and entrepreneurial design making. 

Our activities brings the act of making to centre-stage of design research, focusing on its artefacts, processes, and practices and recording and reflecting research through design projects. The outcomes of our projects include descriptions of technical applications, methods, processes and insights emerging from designing, as well as the actual products and artefacts. These descriptions help us to better understand the opportunity of design making research to address particular problems and contexts of concern.

To explore examples of our Design + Making and Materials research, please visit our dedicated Northumbria Design Research website.