JAKE GOODISON
With over 15 years in design, I have transitioned from being a designer of products to a designer of product systems. This systems level thinking enables me to see bottlenecks in the development of initiatives and act to create solutions that unlock inherent potential.
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Whether this is seeing the bottleneck of imitating the genius of natural systems in our inability to 3D print cold natural materials at scale with Jireh 3DP; or the bottleneck of outdated tools preventing traditional bespoke businesses from scaling with Bespoke 3D. I am as likely to start a project with an essay as a sketch. Complex problems requiring deep and analytical network level thinking that often find the issue is systemic but pivoted around a precise and solvable problem. ​
Understanding products as a component of systems also allows for innovation in the product design itself. A leisure vehicle is a component in a camping system, an artificial reef is a component in the system of fish reproduction and interaction, office furniture is a component in the social life of a workplace and a tool for productivity. Once understood in this way, my best work has been to allow the imposition of the requirements and strains of this system to mould the product. A kind of data driven design.
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​This data driven element is the trajectory of my creative endeavours. It has me combining Ai LLM's with visual programming software to
attempt to imitate DNA's folding of proteins, sculpting components as a conversation between genetic code and data.
The hyper-customised result has me exploring natural materials to allow objects to die after their useful life and additive manufacturing to cope with the geometrical freedom required to make what is modelled. ​
In my client facing life, my passion is to equip those I work for with products that allow previously impossible business outcomes to become inevitable. This is the end result of seeing design systemically.
Inspiration
In terms of the imitation of Nature in design there is no better practitioner on the planet, and possibly in history, than Neri Oxman.
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My work on 3D printing natural materials is a direct extension of her work on a project named "Aguahoja" whereby her and her team went about manufacturing sculptural forms from natural polymers such as chitin and natural cellulose.
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Her systematic knowledge of Nature is something I also aspire to.
Antoni Gaudi represents for me the seed of my own precise pursuit. Both motivated religiously towards biomimicry. He looked to copy Nature in the pursuit of The Creator.
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This monastic pursuit is something I lend my free time to continue. Whether it be through articles, books or artworks, material tests or 3D CAD explorations, I see myself as contributing to the continuation of his life
and career in this way.
Developing Design Theory
#1 product apps over products
In factories every product is built with features the user will never use, wasting material and energy.
In Nature product applications are coded into seeds, planted and grow to the stimulus of surrounding data.
This results in hypercustomisation that allows energy and materials to only be used on what is required for the use case.
This is much more efficient.
#2 ship data over products
Worldwide shipping of products and materials causes instability in supply chains, wastes energy and is highly polluting.
In Nature data is shipped in seed form, whether sperm or oak tree seed, and is manufactured onsite to the data.
#3 complex parts over assemblies
In factories thousands of parts come together to make complex assemblies subject to friction and ware.
Our skin is a single complex component.
Shifting complexity to parts instead of assemblies saves energy, assembly and increases lifespan.
#4 additive over reductive manufacturing
In factories thousands of parts come together to make complex assemblies subject to friction and ware.
Our skin is a single complex component.
Shifting complexity to parts instead of assemblies saves energy, assembly and increases lifespan.
#5 degredation over recycling
Recycling is a requirement because of the inability for a material to break down after its useful life.
In Nature, death is a mechanical switch on accelerating material degradation into building blocks for new organisms.
#6 circular over linear waste systems
Modern products are designed for an economy but not for an ecology. The result is a linear waste system without thinking of how to pass material wealth on to the system to redistribute. In Nature waste systems are cyclical and even generative.
#7 decentralisation over centralisation
Energy production, manufacturing and even mechanical design in modern industry is highly centralised.
We therefore must ship products to location, endure regional power cuts and products that break when only partly damaged. In Nature, leaves are designed to endure damage to cells whilst maintaining flow of nutrients, energy production is cellular and manufacturing takes place local to the life of the product.
Design Process Theory
Alongside general principles, I have come to understand that the classic top down design process needs to be reversed for us to remain within planetary boundaries. A friend, Peter Davis, helped crystallise this thinking.
Typical Design Process
Reversed Design Process
Design
Design ideation takes place.
Software
Designs are taken into traditional 3D CAD software designed for plastic and metal moulding / forming.
Hardware
Designs are translated into manufacturing information designed mainly for plastic and metal moulding / forming.
Lifecycle Planning
Useful lifespan of the product is set at the beginning.
Materials
Materials are chosen to last long enough to fulfil the product lifespan and then degrade or be reprocessed.
Hardware
Hardware is chosen in line with the most effective and geometrically free way of processing the material chosen.
Materials
Software
Materials are chosen at the end of the project when time is often pressed and easy options are taken.
Software (CAD design program) is chosen to get the most out of the manufacturing hardware used to process materials.
Lifecycle Planning
If lifecycle planning takes place at all it is at this point heavily restricted by the materials chosen in haste.
Design
Now the above parameters have been defined the designer can see clearly to ideate a responsible product.