Design and MS
Freddie Yauner, a lecturer in Design for Industry, believes that design can engage, inform and make complex concepts accessible. Through thought provoking projects and installations which have exhibited in New York, Paris and London, Freddie uses critical design to challenge convention and encourage debate.
Utilising this approach, Freddie, teamed up with typographer and graphic designer Paul Robson, also from our school and Cathy John, a freelance writer to create their unique publication - Look into my Eyes.
Through combined expertise Look into my Eyes was created, a book that explores the labyrinth of decisions facing MS patients from day one of their diagnosis and examines the impact each of these decisions could have on their day to day lives.
Look into my Eyes was created as part of a wider programme of initiatives that use real life experiences and interaction design to place audiences firmly in the shoes of an MSer, with the aim of increasing understanding and acceptance of MS for patients, carers and health professionals alike.
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Freddie Yauner designs products and installations that aim to engage and inform. He is concerned with exploring the state of the world through designed objects. He uses Design as a tool to question assumptions and push boundaries, often using humour to increase accessibility to complex and challenging ideas. Yauner gained a distinction in Design Products from the Royal College of Art, and is a lecturer and researcher at Northumbria University school of Design. His work spans from small products to public artworks, he is a world record holder and is the co-founder of a web based charity. Read more >> |
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Paul Robson is a typographer, graphic designer and researcher. From an early career as a graffiti artist to designing global corporate brands Paul has developed a special interest in using graphic typography to connect disengages audiences with difficult subject matter. Paul has used this to great acclaim and has been selected to exhibit his work in Miami, London and Tokyo. His blog can be found at muro-buro.com and you can read his staff profile here: Paul Robson |
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Cathy John is a freelance writer and blogger. She’s written articles about living with MS for The Independent and spoken about it on BBC Radio 4. Her blog can be found at lickingthehoney.org. She won the MS Society Media Coverage of the Year Award 2011 for her feature on ‘Coming Out’ with the disease and her blog. Cathy is an advisor on two groundbreaking new online films about a young man’s diagnosis with MS, Gallop and Belong. She was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 2010. |
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The Look into my eyes project explores designed approaches that aim to create empathy with uncertainty and decision-making in Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Look into my eyes encompasses an ongoing programme of initiatives that use real life experiences and interaction design to place audiences firmly in the shoes of people with MS, with the aim of increasing understanding and acceptance of MS for patients, carers and health professionals alike We want to highlight the diversity of experiences in MS through the different trajectories the disease might take, the range of human reactions to life and illness, as well as the number of different roles people take within the MS 'Story' Interactive mirrors were made to create an empathetic interactive experience of uncertainties of eye defect symptoms. The mirrors give experiences of different symptoms created by optic neuritis, one of many possible symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis. The smaller mirror allows viewers an insight into what it might be like to experience double vision. The taller mirror gives the viewer an insight into living with macular degeneration, showing a loss of vision in the center of the visual field. A third mirror gives experience of colour degeneration. Decision-making book - puts the reader in the shoes of the MS'ers decision making journey through diagnosis. With MS there are seldom answers; it's also difficult to fathom what the questions should be. For those living with MS uncertainty is one of its greatest challenges. This interactive book uses typography, illustration and an ‘adventure’ narrative style to put the reader in the shoes of an MSer.
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Shift.ms is an online community run by its users, where young MSers meet, share experiences and support each other. Freddie Yauner co-founded Shift.ms with George Pepper who was diagnosed with MS aged 22, he didn’t know anyone his own age with the condition and felt isolated. Together they decided to set up Shift.ms as an online peer support community. To read the full project write up click here: Shift.ms To visit Shift.ms, click here. |
Look into my Eyes Project:
Shift.ms project:
