Alastair Bale

BSc (Hons) Product Design

I believe that being a designer allows for the opportunity to help people, whether that is providing a new solution or improving an existing solution to make the end users life easier. Product design allows use to be constantly driving forward looking for innovations and pushing to the future.

Throughout my time at university I have had the opportunity to work on and win group design challenges, for example the Hafod 24 hour challenge where my team and I designed a solution to help elderly people to feel more valued and included in the community. In this project I was able to further develop my user experience design skills as well as working in a team remotely. This desire to help people extends to my major project where I designed a new spinal immobiliser specifically for the outdoors. This project allowed me to work with and develop an understanding for materials I hadn’t prior worked with.

Alongside my studies I worked at Cardiff International White Water where I was fortunate to have the chance to work with professional agencies as well as with interacting with clients getting to provide the best service possible. The love of the outdoors and the water pushes me to create products which are ecologically focused as possible, together with being technologically viable.

Credaf fod bod yn ddylunydd yn caniatáu cyfle i helpu pobl, p’un a yw hynny’n darparu datrysiad newydd neu’n gwella datrysiad sy’n bodoli eisoes i wneud bywyd y defnyddwyr terfynol yn haws. Mae dylunio cynnyrch yn caniatáu i ni yrru ymlaen yn gyson i chwilio am arloesiadau a gwthio i’r dyfodol.

Trwy gydol fy amser yn y brifysgol, cefais gyfle i weithio ar heriau dylunio grŵp ac ennill heriau, er enghraifft her 24 awr Hafod lle cynlluniodd fy nhîm a minnau ddatrysiad i helpu pobl oedrannus i deimlo eu bod yn cael eu gwerthfawrogi a’u cynnwys fwyfwy yn y gymuned. Yn y prosiect hwn roeddwn yn gallu datblygu fy sgiliau dylunio profiad defnyddiwr ymhellach yn ogystal â gweithio mewn tîm o bell. Mae’r awydd hwn i helpu pobl yn ymestyn i’m prosiect mawr lle dyluniais beiriant symud asgwrn cefn newydd yn benodol ar gyfer yr awyr agored. Caniataodd y prosiect hwn i mi weithio gyda a datblygu dealltwriaeth ar gyfer deunyddiau nad oeddwn wedi gweithio gyda nhw o’r blaen.

Ochr yn ochr â’m hastudiaethau, bûm yn gweithio yn Dŵr Gwyn Rhyngwladol Caerdydd lle bûm yn ffodus i gael cyfle i weithio gydag asiantaethau proffesiynol yn ogystal â rhyngweithio â chleientiaid i ddarparu’r gwasanaeth gorau posibl. Mae fy nghariad am yr awyr agored a’r dŵr yn fy ngwthio i greu cynhyrchion sydd â chymaint o ffocws ecolegol â phosibl, ynghyd â bod yn ddichonadwy yn dechnolegol.

The SAR Board is a spinal immobilisation board designed for use in the outdoors. The fully inflatable system allows mountain rescue to extract casualties with time critical injuries quickly from locations normally inaccessible to conventional spinal immobilisers.

The major project SAR Board is designed to split apart depending on the situation. The top board which wraps around the casualty detaches for lightness and manoeuvrability. When attached to the base board further stability and floatation is added critical for extracting a casualty in moving water.

The Unite Rescue Tracker allows incident command in larger scale rescues to track and follow emergency services on the ground from an App. This is so assets can be better deployed to key areas to find and help people more quickly.

This Bike Light has been designed focusing on sustainability. The primary material used is carbon fibre recycled from old and broken carbon bike frames crushed down and remoulded into the shell of the product along with the arms connecting it to the bike.

Other Exhibitors:

Matthew Amesbury

Matthew Amesbury

Over the past three years at CSAD Product Design I have developed an endless number of skills as a designer. It highlighted the importance of design within the world and the way in which it can change lives for the better. Over the course of my time here, I have come...

Samuel Woods

Samuel Woods

I believe that as a designer I should always be thinking about how things can be improved and that almost nothing is ever perfect. We should always be thinking about how our designs can improve the lives of others, which is why I always bring this perspective to every...

Gareth Marshall

Gareth Marshall

When I was a child, I was fascinated by the designed world. Toys and remotes were taken apart to see the workings and I seldom left the house without my Gameboy or wearing my Jurassic Park G-shock. I aim to make attractive, engaging objects and services that inspire...

Anna Pritchard

Anna Pritchard

It is probably far to say this final year was not what I initially thought would happen, or had planned, however, this situation has allowed to me to adapt to unpredictable circumstances. My work this year has been focused on human centered and purposeful design,...

Ryan Vincent

Ryan Vincent

I believe creating and finding solutions to the world’s problems, demonstrates a passionate and motivated designer. Tackling new issues displays a focus for a more sustainable future in each part of the design process. The goal being to move forward and learn from the...

Lewis Fogg

Lewis Fogg

As a product designer I aim to develop solutions to tackle real world problems to improve the world we live in project by project. I have a passion of the details and since starting in CSAD my skills and knowledge have improved profoundly. Throughout my time at CSAD I...