Not mentioned in this article is the James Dyson Award. An annual international competition for students with a wide brief: <i>"Design something that solves a problem...Products that have a significant and practical purpose, are commercially viable, and are designed with sustainability in mind."</i><p>The projects submitted are often very impressive and show great skill and ingenuity. The 2014 award went to a 23 year old student called James Roberts who designed a inflatable incubator for prematurely-born babies:<p><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-29900968" rel="nofollow">http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-29900968</a><p>If you want to be inspired, the archive of entries is well worth browsing:<p><a href="http://www.jamesdysonaward.org/en-GB/projects/" rel="nofollow">http://www.jamesdysonaward.org/en-GB/projects/</a>
I used to work for Dyson as an intern some 15 years ago now. Obviously, the company will have to be different than I was there, but one thing that did strike me is that Malmesbury is really out there. [1] No main train line, at least a 40 minute drive from the nearest interesting city (Bristol). I can't imagine them attracting the best talent, particularly if they want to duke it out with sexier companies in sexier places in the IoT segment.<p>They couldn't pay me enough to go back there, and I think anyone worth their time won't either. It's a mistake to build their technology building there and not near London or at least a major city like Bristol/Manchester/Edinburgh. I don't think they realize that really good programmers are worth 10 bad ones (and at least when I was there, they really didn't have the best ones to put it mildly).<p>[1] <a href="https://goo.gl/maps/A7A1v" rel="nofollow">https://goo.gl/maps/A7A1v</a>
I love the tech of Dyson. But I really dislike the Design Languages of many of their products. It feels like some sort of futuristic design, Mechanical, and sometimes "Alien".<p>For me I would like something that is Simple, Elegant, and Coherent.