Jon Ardern

 

As a graduate from Design Interactions at the Royal College of Art,
my interests and passions lie in the exploration and communication of the relationship between people, technologies and social / environmental possibilities. I love working with sound, imagery and film. in a collaborative environment.

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Contact
Phone:	+44 (0) 7779 340 115
E-mail:	mail@jonardern.com
Skype:	jonardern
Education
2006	MA, Design Interactions (Distinction). Royal College of Art, London, UK.
2000	BA (Hons) Fine Art Sculpture, (First) Bretton Hall University of Leeds, UK.
Abilities
Project Development	Developing, outlining and communicating concepts. Planning and meeting deadlines. Combining functional, aesthetic, experimental and communicative aspects. Teamworking.
Creative Design Skills	People-centered design thinking and research methods. Design ideation. Sketching, experience prototyping and creating mockups from conceptual design ideas. Visualisations of future scenarios around sustainability and emerging technologies. Service design.
	User testing. Graphic design, photography and film making. Good communication and presentation skills, as well as a strong ability to quickly pick up skills and practical knowledge as and when needed.
Technical skills	Excellent knowledge of software such as Photoshop, Illustrator, Freehand, InDesign, DreamWeaver as well as presentation software such as Power Point & Keynote Proficient use of video editing and film software like Final Cut, Sound Studio and Aftereffects, hardware prototyping and building, Basic electronics including stamp chip micro controllers.
Events and Exhibitions	(Recent & Significant)
2006	Friday Late, V&A, performance / installation, ‘Ark-Inc’ project.
2006	Generation, Royal College of Art, project ‘Ark-Inc’.
2006	No Man is an Island, The Empire, Bethnal Green, ‘Ark-Inc’.
2006	Tipping Point Conference, Oxford.

Academic Achievement
2006	Distinction for RCA dissertation. Within the Loop: Tools of emergent consciousness in contemporary society, is now in the Royal College of Art library archive.
2000	High 2:1 for University of Leeds dissertation The Implications of Altering Reality Through High Technology
Work Experience
2006	Event Planner / Workshop Facilitator RSA & Ludic Group, London. Member of the Ludic design team involved in planning, designing and facilitating the ‘TAKING ON THE DESIGN CHALLENGES OF THE STERN REPORT’ workshop as part of the RSA Arts & Ecology’s ‘NO WAY BACK’ conference.
2006	Interaction Designer / Information Architect Content and Code, London. Independent designer creating interface layouts, user experience design and graphic skins on web-based projects for large clients such as Atkins and Torfaen Council, working within MS sharepoint and corporate specifications.
2005	Intern, Grizedale Arts, Grizedale, UK. Interaction designer and artist working on the project ‘Thinking Space for the North’ , which involved developing a remote and previously derelict farmhouse site and its imaginative future through hands-on renovation work, designs and new dialogues.
2002-2004	Independent Designer, London. Worked as a freelance interaction designer managing web-based work and graphic design projects. Including websites for Manchester Metropolitan University, and Cambridge County Council.

Interaction Design	(Significant Projects)
2005 - 2007	‘Ark-Inc’: An ongoing conceptual service design project that engages with models of investment and value structures as they relate to extreme yet very possible future scenarios. see: www.ark-inc.info
2005	‘Wet Toys - an untapped market’: An exploration of the economics of in-vitro cultured sex toys. How do new technologies, cultural trends and market forces quickly make what could previously seem grottiest, desirable?
2005 - 2006	‘We know best’: Research into Dyslexia led to a proposal for a service designed around a collaborative user focused software platform. Short listed for the Helen Hamlyn Design for our Future Selves Award, RCA, 2005
2005	‘Power Point’: A product designed to make visible the amount of power being consumed by each mains socket in a direct and immediate way. Over time, the product is intended to change patterns of power use by creating awareness of how much power individual appliances draws.
2005	‘ZX Interface’, bringing the computers back to life was a brief from the Science Museum. I developed an interactive interface to recreate the user experience of the 1980’s ZX Spectrum home computer.
2005	‘Rumours’, developing a mobile service for France Telecom in partnership with George Grinstead. Thought the project we explored the motivating factors for social mobile communication applications though the use of touch points and rapid experience prototyping.
2005	‘Pocket Conductor’, a one week intensive project working with sociologist Kat Jungnickel of INCITE & UniS to research, rough prototype and design for the retirement of the Route Master London Bus.
2005	Our Mob’, developing a mobile-based local peer-to-peer network to provide illicit services.
Published	(Projects and Work )
2006	Ark-Inc’, was well received by the wider public and gained attention from the media www.we-make-money-not-art.com www.worldchanging.com www.mobuzztv.com
2006	‘Wet Toys - an untapped market’ www.we-make-money-not-art.com
2005	‘Power Point’ http://infosthetics.com http://www.designcouncil.org.uk
2005	‘Pocket Conductor’ www.we-make-money-not-art.com
	coming soon... The ‘Ark-Inc’ project will soon be published as part of a book outlining and showcasing contemporary Interaction design practice... more info will follow shortly, check or subscribe to the jonardern.com blog for updates.
References	Available on request.