He was the one who (in the 1960s) researched and designed the highly adaptable bed that is still used in 85% of British hospitals and whose life much resembles my own because we were both drawn to begin 'design research' in the 1950s and 60s when almost no one else was doing it...

...we did not always agree about how science and art should be combined but in our differing ways we were surely propelled by similar intentions.

I am sad to think that Bruce has gone but i hope that the cultural changes which we both attempted will continue (in ways that may surprise us?) in the thoughts and actions of other people who now continue to consciously improve the processes through which the designed world takes form... (though the attempt to improve life is not always evident to me when design research is academically done!).

As i gradually recuperate from this minor surgery, i wonder if and how (in this small part of the collective mind) one can still attempt to improve the process of design and 'the quality of life' as we used to call it (for i fear that for many people life now seems to be worsening).

So is life improvement still possible?

And how can it be accomplished?

...only if we can change our perceptions, i think... yes, that is the answer, to re-see our own presence as both cause and effect.

(these pages are designed to be read with the window set to two-thirds of the screen width)

atlas

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