Yes, this exhibition was in 2015, a few years ago now; so let's call this an (almost) 10 year anniversary celebration.

[Artsy.net: System Design: Over 100 years of chaos in everyday life - MAKK](https://www.artsy.net/show/makk-museum-fur-angewandte-kunst-koln-system-design-over-100-years-of-chaos-in-everyday-life?sort=partner_show_position)

I remember it well. I couldn't believe my luck when I came across this exhibition in Cologne, Germany. A holiday **and** a research opportunity for my thesis!

I bought my plane ticket the same day.

The exhibition explored the tensions at the heart of creating order from chaos amid 100 years of changing consumer behaviours, class, and technological progress.

How can we make things that work better together, are greater than the sum of their parts, are built to last, to grow, to adapt?

Themes explored were: modularity, extensibility, backwards compatibility, planned obsolescence, built in redundancy, design for repair.

And of course, the humble LEGO brick made it into the exhibition too.

I realised that modularity was something I'd unwittingly experienced as a kid while watering the garden and swapping sprinklers for jet hoses. As a more aspirational adult, the 606 shelving system seemed to have solved the sustainability problem yet its price challenges even the most forward-thinkers among us! Evidence of our broken system of consumption or a privileged luxury?

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System Design: Over 100 years of chaos in everyday life - 10 year anniversary

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‘Lorem ipsum’, for too long the de facto choice for designers starved of actual content, will today be replaced (where I can get away with it) by my superior Ipsum, ‘Volvo Ipsum’; a dummy text so safe and reliable that you don’t even need to wear a seatbelt (or have a college degree) to use it.

The house style of coherent incoherence produced by randomly concatenated words really suits me and allows me to disguise my true knowledge of, among other things, Volvo’s in general and cars in particular.

Before we tuck in to a couple of stanzas of Volvo Ipsum, let’s take a glance at the competition.

First up to bat is the unapologetic Cheese Ipsum. Not from a culture of cheese-centric dishes I found the whole thing a little rich for my taste, pausing to rehydrate between sentences. A vegan option would have been appreciated but absolutely not essential. Despite this my favourite excerpt remains ‘when the cheese comes out everybody’s happy.’ I am clearly missing a trick as a host.

Next up, the indomitable Hipster Ipsum with its impressive vocabulary and mouthwatering authenticity. Favourite excerpts include ‘cold pressed vapourware’, and ‘hoodie trust fund hell of a roof party.’ A first class Ipsum.

By no means the runner up we have Online Dating Ipsum. Heavy on the insecurity. A mixture of word soup and direct cries for help. The scrambly nature of Ipsum only adds to the sense of paranoia and anxiety in this case. Favourite excerpt: ‘I love the smell of someone who shares my sense of humour.’

By now, I hope you’ve sensed a theme. While lacking in a banality that makes Lorem Ipsum ‘instantly recognisable yet instantly forgettable,’ they are all cohesive in their fragmented, exaggerated and repetitive way.

Will Volvo Ipsum hold its own? Will it make too much sense, or not enough sense? Will it strike a chord with other Volvo owners or will I be laughed out of the forums from where so many insights were obtained?

> Volvo ipsum krona sit amet, abba brick flying wardrobe corner helvete. Villa, Volvo, vovve, guzzle gas low mileage meatball wagon flat bed. One previous owner, careful seat belt cruise is that your dad’s car? Swedish steel side impact billy bookcase three-point long boat protection system.
>
> Headlamp wipers Val Hala Gothenburg we roll next stop Stocksund. Family friendly long weekend fastest tractor rearward-facing Child Safety Seat. Adjustable lumbar support graduated college. Flatpack crumple zone bullet proof grand luxe executive. Four-door, five-door, tailgate no tow bar active chassis special place for the fuel filler cap. Smart.

To create this Ipsum I would like to thank: One global pandemic, my partner Sarah (an Ikea evangelist), my Volvo ‘Vlad’, Swedish chum Ebba, and various Youtube holes.

Volvo Ipsum

UX/UI designer

Scandi–inspired dummy text – no college degree needed

System design exhibition

From LEGO to modular furniture to hardware-software integration and digital ecosystems

Not-For-Profit Website of the Year

BIMA 100

Promoting disability inclusion within international development. Satirical tonality was used to poke some light fun at an audience proving reluctant to engage.

* Concept and narrative development

* Storyboarding

* Design for development

80s inspired gameshow style quiz

Currently leading exploratory design phase into multi-brand design systems to replenish brand identity, improve accessibility, quality assurance and speed to market.

* Design tokens

* Token pipelines

* Component audits

* Component props

SightKit design system

Inclusion of list view and mobile support.

* Hotspot labels

* Ordered hotspots

* Hotspot groups

* List view and gallery view

* Design for full screen

* SVG driven configuration

Adaptation and upgrade of our Interactive image explorer

Increasing awareness and adoption of Sightsavers' style guide with a huge UI update

Significant upgrade to the user interface of the Sightsavers contextualised donation ask, working from 20 unmoderated user studies.

One of several CRO (conversion rate optimisation) projects.

Removing friction from the donation process following TV ad exposure

A sanity-saving mid-pandemic weekend camping trip to Wales with all the trimmings.

Designed in Adobe XD and hand-coded in VS Code.

We premiered a launch video in YouTube coinciding with a Direct Mail pack with QR code linking to this web page.

In-car entertainment was courtesy of Destiny Radio; a pre-recorded show of desert island disc style interviews to help blow off the cobwebs.

Social Reunification Directive – camping trip branding

Solid modelling and rendering of QuadLock accessory in Solidworks

Computer aided design

Cool off with a glass of blunder–busting kombucha. Mini branding project inspired by online chess terminology and my ability to fluff things up from time to time.

Blunderbrau?? blunder–busting kombucha branding

Some fun projects from 2019

Brand-led design of small space conscious bike storage accessory

The Domesticated Bicycle

Design and build of landing page in Figma and Webflow

Supplements landing page

In-house full service delivery agency responding to briefs from communications and fundraising teams, as well as owned self-initiated project, all with an emphasis on accessibility.

Digital UX Designer

Designer and marketer for 6 Apple franchise retail stores in addition to an education sales and support division. Gained wide experience developing complete user journeys and propositions for core services, responsible for both project management and product design. This included the design and strategic planning for promotional landing pages, static web content, segmented email marketing campaigns, paid social videography, brochures, posters and large format advertising, including all content required from copy writing to photography and illustration. Many projects submitted to Apple UK for approval recieved high praise, while internal projects aspired for the same level of fit and finish, helping to carve out a unique and memorable indentity for Solutions inc. Reporting directly to the managing director, I was involved in cross department discussions and regularly took part in ideation and critique sessions.

Elliot George

2024

2022