In brief
PolyU School of Design graduates designed ClothesFD, an app that uses NFC to track how often clothes are worn and enables sharing of unworn clothes with users of similar body size, and Asit, a foldable hydraulic bus seat for elderly passengers that frees up space for wheelchairs. The university said 80% of graduates had secured jobs by the end of June 2020, despite the pandemic.
PolyU says the design field is diverse and has not been affected by the pandemic.
Design is not only about good looks, but also about functions that improve everyday life. Graduates of the PolyU School of Design have responded to the problem of overconsumption driven by "fast fashion culture" by designing a mobile app that lets usersmanage their clothes. Through online matching, the app also lets users share clothes they no longer wear with other users of a similar body size. Separately, another graduate designed a bus seat for elderly passengers that meets their safety needs and also reconfigures the seating layout in the cabin to accommodate more wheelchairs, winning an external design award. The university said 80% of graduates have already secured employment, and that the design field is diverse and has not been affected by the pandemic.
Sit Sze-man, who completed a Bachelor of Arts in Interactive Media at the PolyU School of Design, and her partner Wong Shu-ting share a common frustration among young people: "Why do we have so many clothes at home? It annoys us." Looking into the reasons, the two found that "fast fashion culture" is prevalent, and that many people buy new clothes for social occasions or when starting work without necessarily understanding their personal style, so their wardrobes keep growing. Even with the recent rise of the minimalist concept of "decluttering and letting go", some people merely throw clothes out and then follow trends to buy new, simply designed clothes, resulting in a second round of waste.
To help users understand their own dressing habits, they designed a mobile app called "ClothesFD". By scanning the NFC (near-field communication) tags on clothes, the app records how often each item is worn and the user's preferences, and offers outfit suggestions for reference. Another feature of the app uses the camera to measure the user's bust, waist and hip measurements, making it easy for users to share clothes they no longer wear with other users of a similar body size, thereby extending the life of garments. "People can also look at how others style their clothes." The two have now joined the interactive design field and hope to work with fashion brands to turn the "ClothesFD" design from a concept into an app available in app stores.
Hui Hang-tat, who completed a Bachelor of Arts in Product Design, designed "Asit", a bus seat for the convenience of elderly passengers. Users can press a button on the armrest to control the height of the seat, which uses a hydraulic system, to suit the different needs of elderly passengers. The curved design of the armrest also gives them reliable support, making it easier to sit down and stand up. He also redesigned the layout of the bus cabin, replacing fixed seats with the foldable "Asit" to provide more space for passengers using wheelchairs. "We often see online videos of pregnant women and elderly people competing for seats. With such a big bus, why does this still happen? The shortcoming lies in the positioning and space."
Hui won the Hong Kong championship of the James Dyson Award earlier with "Asit". He said with a laugh that the more important meaning of design is to remind society to pay attention to problems so they can be improved. He plans to work in design consultancy to take on a variety of projects. Although this year has brought the COVID-19 pandemic, Peter Hasdell, Associate Head (Academic Programmes) of the PolyU School of Design and Associate Professor, said that by the end of June 80% of graduates had already secured employment. He stressed that the design field is diverse; for example, in the digital world there is strong demand for user experience design, service design and the like, so the impact of the pandemic was limited.
Original article: https://bit.ly/2HjSO10