Studiohead have been successful in the Design Council’s most recent Design Challenge. Together with Louise Wilson, Ifung Lu and Meike Walcha, we entered a proposal to create a brand new tool to help families living with dementia. The tool, provisionally called Grouple, will be a combination of a website and physical products that help families and friends co-ordinate their care for someone with Dementia.

At the heart of the concept is the idea that we can make caring and sharing for someone with dementia more accessible and less daunting for people on the periphery of the care network, and that by providing the tools to do this, we can enhance the lifestyle of the person with dementia and relieve the pressure on their primary carers.

You can see an animation of our original concept here. We have made it public in order to gain feedback, so don’t be shy with your comments.

We are at the start of this very exciting project, and we will be undertaking considerable user-research to refine and improve our ideas, and will be producing a prototype for public display at the end of March.

We are undertaking this challenge with support from BT Innovate & Design, and Jewish Care.

We will keep this news page and our facebook page updated as the project develops, so do check back regularly.

For more information on the Challenge, and to read about the four other successful proposals please visit www.designcouncil.org.uk/dementia

If you are near Stoke Newington on Friday evening, do pop by! There will be excellent Christmas present buying opportunities.

A supervisor in turn controls the simulated patient’s conditions via a remote on an iPod touch, up to 10 meters away.

The iPads are an intrinsic part of a simulated anaesthetic stack (ventilation machine) that we have specially created, that also includes the simulation of the manual breathing action (bagging) that an anaesthetist may do for a patient.

This prototype will add a significant new functionality to the Distributed Simulation project we are undertaking with Imperial College London. The beta prototype is due to be demonstrated at the AMEE conference in Glasgow next week. Check back here for an update in the coming days…

Information on each working environment, including wifi availability, atmosphere and even the quality of the coffee and service are immediately available to the travelling worker. Launched in London, WorkSnug will soon be available in Berlin and San Fransico, and more cities to come.

Studiohead created the identity for Worksnug, and are pleased to have some of our work sitting on our cherished iPhones. We are also taking a role in developing the concept into a world of future possibilities, more to come!!! Please see more at www.worksnug.com

you can download the App from iTunes with this link:

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/worksnug/id336597081?mt=8

Studiohead will be showcasing the Portable Operating Theatre at Healthcare Innovation Expo, 18th & 19 June in London’s Excel. We will be part of Dr. Roger Kneebone’s team on the Imperial College Stand (Stand 38), where the Distributed Simulation concept will be demonstrated with a simulated gall-bladder removal amongst other scenarios. Visitors will be able to observe and participate, and Studiohead designers will be on hand to discuss the design of the environment and equipment.

Studiohead design partners Cian Plumbe and Matt Harrison took the Distributed Simulation project to the Health Proffesions Education 2009 conference in Toronto in May.

The work was presented by Dr. Roger Kneebone of Imperial College School of Medicine in a workshop, and in his gala-dinner keynote speech in Frank Gehry’s Art Gallery of Ontario.

Matt and Cian went to contribute to the event by explaining the design philosophy behind the Distributed Simulation to leading thinkers in the target market for this product.

A full medical simulation of a central line insertion was performed for the audience within the DS environment, configured to represent an intensive care unit. This was held in the splendid surroundings of the University of Toronto’s Oxbridge style debates room. The audience and participants were successfully drawn into a believable and tense simulation.

The DS concept was met with general enthusiasm, resulting fruitful discussions and purchase enquiries. Toronto University is widely recognised for its work on simulation in medical education, and its was great to share our work and get feedback from these experts.

Toronto is an excellent city, and I highly recommend a visit. If you go, do check out the Distillery district. It is a converted distillery that is now home to a host of design, art and theatre activities.