Innovation & Technology Product Design
Patrick McCrum
Future Experiences
The Network for Organisms’ Adaptive Habituation (N.O.A.H) is a semi-satirical speculative organisation, responding to the breakdown of natural habitats worldwide. Reaching its peak in 2034, N.O.A.H set out to be a 21st century Noah’s Ark, providing augmentations for animals to survive in increasingly hostile environments. The network, composed of wealthy scientists, philanthropists and effective altruists, saw this as the next stage of evolution. The network is presented through a collection of artefacts that form a museum exhibit: the N.O.A.H brochure – a look into its operations (full pdf – https://pdfhost.io/v/lK9d09Fx7_NOAH_Booklet_V21), an original uniform worn by its founder Dr. M. Ron. Hubcap and a scale model of a polar bear fitted with N.O.A.H’s flagship augmentation – the PB-LSS (Polar Bear Life Support System).
Situated within the future retrospective exhibition, ‘This was the Future Once’ at the Museum of Good Intentions, N.O.A.H is designed to be the ultimate embodiment of a bandage for a broken late-capitalist planet. The project seeks to explore and represent the kind of thinking that will become more common as we try to innovate our way through a climate crisis, provoking reflection on the role of design and its proclivity for propping up failing structures. Obviously absurd, but worryingly believable – perhaps this is the future of life centred design.
Self Initiated
My self-initiated project looks at mechanisms for increasing civic engagement on the local level, as a means by which to increase participation on wider issues. Through researching different approaches, specific local issues and engaging with stakeholders on Garnethill, I tested a wide range of methods for engagement and participation. Using the lessons gathered from this I developed an approach that focused on how to use what already exists – parasitical interventions that subvert the form, but also the function of recognisable street-level infrastructure. A kind of détournement of everyday interactions.
The outcome of this is Glasgow Guerrilla Council – a system of subverted devices for capturing, broadcasting and expressing local opinions. This outcome is demonstrated through prototype interventions for each of these stages, designed in direct response to user research. The system is designed to be accessible, meeting people where they are both physically and emotionally. It is strategic in inviting people to only increase their level of engagement, irrespective of individual starting points, trying to continuously “activate” a wider and wider group. The whole system is itself a prototype for an approach that is adaptable and replicable anywhere.
