Make Life Better. By Design
A podcast about design and how it can make life better, for all of us.
Episodes
18 episodes
Episode 18: Why Is There a Housing Crisis?
Most people acknowledge that there is a housing crisis in this country. There is less agreement on why and how it should be tackled.Kevin Drayton sets out some thoughts on a number of possible causes for this long standing problem.
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Season 1
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Episode 18
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15:33
Episode 17: Better by Design or Worse by Accident?
How can we all be the same but different at once? Every coin has two sides and there are no guarantees in life - except death and taxes. This episode looks at the paradoxes involved in trying to make life better and why there's no p...
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Season 1
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Episode 17
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19:53
Episode 16: (How Easily Can You) Put Your Hand On It?
What you have is up to you. But do you know where all of it is, and can you put your hand on it quickly when you need to? Everything needs a home, but what and where that home is can greatly help or hinder your day to day life. A quick reminder...
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Season 1
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Episode 16
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13:33
Episode 15: Do You Need Help Listening to This?
Hearing loss continues to carry a whiff of stigma. People happy to wear glasses, get their teeth fixed and exercise regularly may still be reluctant to adopt hearing aids.But design came to the rescue some time ago. The dramatic take up ...
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Season 1
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Episode 15
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24:24
Episode 14: What Would Make YOUR Life Better?
Before we can apply ourselves to making our lives better, we need to understand exactly what that means for us. It is likely that we'll need to look behind the simple response of 'more money' or something similar.Until we can be specific...
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Season 1
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Episode 14
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12:57
Episode 13: Interview with Nathan Clegg (and the Gremlins strike!)
Keen to get a graphic designer's take on if and how design can make life better, I set up an interview with Nathan Clegg, only to find that I must have made a schoolboy error setting up my mike. Unwilling to throw away Nathan's comments, I trie...
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Season 1
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Episode 13
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27:42
Episode 12: Ways with Words
Following on from Episode 11, this time taking a quick look at the development of writing, printing and electronic communication: how they relate to signage and how they all affect our quality of life.
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Season 1
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Episode 12
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13:04
Episode 11: Signs of the Times
Good signage is the perfect combination of form and function. Tracing the Roman origins of classic letterforms and why they continue to be relevant today. First of a short series.
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Season 1
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Episode 11
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22:39
Episode 10: Clothes - Packaging the Person
We wear clothes all the time. The scope for clothes to make life better is huge. Do we pay clothing the attention it deserves?
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Season 1
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Episode 10
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11:28
Episode 09: When is a Door Not a Door?
We all encounter doors and the handles, hinges and their other associated paraphenalia every day of our lives. But how much thought do we give them? A perhaps unconsidered opportunity to Make Life Better. By Design.
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Season 1
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Episode 9
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16:48
Episode 08: Finding Common Ground
A conversation with personal training business expert and blogger Matt Robinson. Quickly finding common ground in good design as problem-solving, we discover just how close our different interests are.
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Season 1
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Episode 8
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51:55
Episode 07: Something Old, Something New
Newness has a fascination all its own, but by definition it cannot last. What alternatives are there?
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Season 1
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Episode 7
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10:16
Episode 06: Who is a Real Designer?
In conversation with web developer Lucy Davies, who does not think of herself as a designer, despite lots of evidence to the contrary
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27:33
Episode 05: Words in Design
Using words is a form of design. Writing and reading have a huge role to play in making life better.
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Episode 5
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13:35
Episode 04: Packaging
Packaging is ubiquitous. For something so short-lived it nonetheless has an important job and consumes a lot of resources. In this episode, Kevin Drayton looks at the design and lifecycle of packaging, particularly relevant with the surge in in...
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Season 1
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Episode 4
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20:03
Episode 03: Only Connect
Design often asks us to reconcile what initially may seem to be antithetical requirements. Architecture in particular needs to blend art and science, intuition and analysis, emotion and logic. But the proposition holds true in all design to var...
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Season 1
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Episode 3
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15:33