
Designer / engineer / researcher
London, United Kingdom

Designer / engineer / researcher
London, United Kingdom
My intention is to help get the world back on track, by using design, cultural understanding and appropriate technology to create a sustainable, peaceful, practical revolution where all of us have the ability to make the right decisions.
Design engineering, industrial design, engineering design, product design, design research, environmentally sensitive design, ecodesign, sustainable design, design for behaviour change, lightweight transport design
(Educational Institution; 501-1000 employees; Research industry)
September 2007 — Present (9 months)
In September 2007 I started as a PhD researcher at Brunel University’s School of Engineering & Design, Uxbridge, Middlesex, as a member of the Cleaner Electronics Research group.
I am investigating methods of using design to change users’ interactions with products and systems, so that they are used in a more environmentally friendly manner (reducing whole-lifetime energy use, reducing waste generation, and so on). Specifically, the aim is to test, practically, the relative effectiveness of ‘control’ versus ‘persuasion’ and ‘guidance’ approaches, within the context of consumer product technology, to produce a set of techniques which will be useful to environmentally sensitive product designers, interaction designers and engineers.
(Self-Employed; Myself Only; Design industry)
October 2005 — Present (2 years 8 months)
As an independent consultant, I’m currently engaged in lightweight transport R&D for Sir Clive Sinclair (previously, I was a member of the team that developed the Sinclair Research A-Bike and WDU) and recently worked on research into product/market segmentation for Tangerine, for whom I’ve also done branding research in the past.
My work has tended to involve carrying out a variety of short engineering, product and graphic design and business research projects for corporate and private clients - in various capacities, previous clients have included Mayhem UK, Wilson Bros, Wright Fenn, Daka Designs, Cambridge Frequency Standards, and a number of individual inventors and entrepreneurs.
Ongoing personal projects have included the development of Incluminate, an award-winning lighting backup system primarily intended for elderly or infirm people, a series of wheelchair drive prototypes, and (very much in the early stages) an electric conversion of a Bond Minicar.
(Self-Employed; Myself Only; Writing and Editing industry)
July 2003 — Present (4 years 11 months)
I’ve recently completed a substantial series of commissioned pieces for Inventor Resource (PtS) intended to help inventors through the process of turning their ideas into businesses, and my blog, fulminate // Architectures of Control, started in November 2005, has caught the attention of a diverse worldwide audience, collaboratively exploring a hitherto under-recognised field of design thinking and practice.
I’m also the author of Rebel Without Applause (ISBN 1870519647), an analysis of the Reliant Motor Company’s history and its impact on automotive technology, published by Bookmarque in 2003, have contributed articles to magazines such as Engineering Designer, Original Tin and Gown, and co-edited Good Thinking (ISBN 190231641X), a handbook of innovative new technology products from young designers and engineers accompanying the show of the same name. I’m always interested in writing commissions - please get in touch.
(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Consumer Goods industry)
July 2004 — September 2004 (3 months)
Summer job with Mayhem UK, an innovative design-led gadget retailer selling through shops and charity catalogues. I worked on new product development, branding, packaging and POS design, exhibitions, product testing and literature preparation.
(Public Company; 51-200 employees; Consumer Electronics industry)
August 2002 — July 2003 (1 year)
Development of electric vehicles, bicycles and wheelchair accessories for international markets. Responsibilities included finite element analysis, solid modelling, concept generation and testing, prototyping, competitor analysis, technical investigation, literature production and customer-facing rôles at trade shows.
PhD, Environmentally Sensitive Design, 2007 — 2010 (expected)
In September 2007 I started as a PhD researcher at Brunel University’s School of Engineering & Design, Uxbridge, Middlesex, as a member of the Cleaner Electronics Research group.
I am investigating methods of using design to change users’ interactions with products and systems, so that they are used in a more environmentally friendly manner (reducing whole-lifetime energy use, reducing waste generation, and so on). Specifically, the aim is to test, practically, the relative effectiveness of ‘control’ versus ‘persuasion’ and ‘guidance’ approaches, within the context of consumer product technology, to produce a set of techniques which will be useful to environmentally sensitive product designers, interaction designers and engineers.
MPhil, Technology Policy (Cambridge-MIT Institute), 2004 — 2005
Dissertation: 'Architectures of control in consumer product design', looking at the use of design features to restrict or enforce users' behaviour for economic and political reasons. I have continued this research with a blog - http://architectures.danlockton.co.uk
Examiners' Letter of Commendation for degree results.
BSc (Hons), Industrial Design Engineering with professional development, 2000 — 2004
Intensely multidisciplinary course at Brunel's former Runnymede design school, including design & manufacturing processes, materials science, engineering dynamics, structural design, FEA, CAD/CAM systems, graphics, programmable logic, analogue electronics, marketing, concurrent engineering, patent & IP law, ergonomics & design psychology, prototype modelmaking, machining & fabrication.
design, industrial design, product design, engineering design, engineering, electronics, technology, car design, classic cars, automotive history, lightweight transport, graphic design, branding, logo design, retail branding, Linux, entrepreneurship, invention,
Chartered Society of Designers, Institution of Engineering Designers, British Design Innovation, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Open Rights Group
- 2006 Independent/Bosch/RAE Technology Horizons essay contest, runner-up
- 2006 Isambard Kingdom Brunel Engineering Award (Brunel U/Ideas21), for Incluminate, a backup home lighting system for the vulnerable.
- 2005 Cambridge University Entrepreneurs’ £1k Business Award for Wheelchair Drive System — unit providing low-cost electric drive, manoeuvrability & regenerative braking
- 2004 Motion Drives & Controls Award for Best Use of Engineering in Product Design, for Wheelchair Drive System
- 2000 CIMA / Procter & Gamble, UK Business Management Competition, winning team for an investigation of NPD in the snack sector
- 1999 Institute of Directors / Young Enterprise SW Region Award for Entrepreneurship, team award for student company
- 1998 Arkwright Trust Design & Technology Scholarship, part- awarded for working scale model of an ultramanoeuvrable city car. Exhibited at IEE, Savoy Place, London