Friendly: Helping design and science to help each other

This paper looks at the progress of a project, which we believe has created a rich narrative between science and design. The paper describes an Industry Based Student Project titled 'Friendly', commissioned by a fast moving consumer goods company. One of the key aims was to explore whether product design, which is generally not associated with the scientific development of materials, could shed a 'new' perspective on how R&D scientific staff could use design tools within their work. The project, undertaken by 3rd and 4th year Design for Industry (DfI) students from the Design School at Northumbria University, was divided into three discrete phases. The first phase was highly conceptual and context-free, the second had a social context and the third was more focused on product. The project has raised a number of interesting issues that are to be further investigated. For example, in what way is a design brief closing and/or opening potential spaces for design exploration and ultimately affecting the design outcomes; or, in what ways does knowledge and techniques already developed and used in other disciplines such as cultural studies and social research, inform design in this important area of research.