Designers of the Future
Warren Fearn

• Wednesday 7 June 2017, 7.30PM to 8.30pm
• Free admission
  Booking required
  Book tickets
• The Basement, City Screen , 13-17 Coney Street (view map)
• Wheelchair accessible

Event details

Augmented reality is becoming familiar through games such as Pokémon Go and the face-mingling lenses in Snapchat. But as well as developing new forms of entertainment, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are also becoming useful tools for designers, scientists and in healthcare. 

Join Warren Fearn of York St John University as he explains how these tools can be used to enhance the creative work of the designer. He’ll explore some of the developments, alongside a demonstration of the difference between VR and AR. Using examples from industry, Warren will discuss these new communication tools and their potential as new learning methods for students both in schools and universities.  In future as well as ‘real world’ field trips, software is being developed to take us on ‘virtual world’ tours. But what are the pros and cons of opening up these ‘new’ worlds? Come along to York Café Scientifique to find out and to try out some of the equipment for yourself.

About the speaker

Warren Fearn is the Subject Director for Design at York St John University. He gained an MA in Furniture Design at Bucks University before beginning his career as a freelance designer. He worked alongside companies such as Made by Man and Fitch Design, designing a range of concepts for interior spaces. He then moved to Pentland Centre where he was responsible for designing a new range of street fashion footwear for production in the European market. During this period, Alias Wavefront offered him a position using their latest 3D modelling software to learn and create a variety of virtual concept designs. As a result, the BBC offered him a position as a Virtual Set Designer to develop innovative 3D virtual environments for television. He worked on the first children’s interactive television programme, BamZooki and other known brands using the Chroma key studios. He later transferred into the BBC 3D department concentrating on digital 3D graphics and animation for television and used his creative talent for post-production.

As well as gaining a number of prestigious awards, he has been nominated for an Emmy Award at the New York Festival. He has also managed the Digital Knowledge Exchange project and partnered with EON3D to explore 3D Stereoscopic and Interactive CAD technologies. He ran his own company WAK Studios as Creative Director for several years, working on commercial and educational projects for WWF, SKY, DHL, FELLOWES, NHS and many more. He became an Autodesk Accredited Trainer and has produced online curriculum for the Autodesk STEAM website for schools in both the USA and UK.

York Café Scientifique

York Café Scientifique is organised by the Yorkshire Philosophical Society (YPS) and is held on the first Wednesday of each month, from September to July (not in August and January), in City Screen Basement, Coney Street, York.  The event is free and includes a presentation about a key area of scientific or technological research followed by a Q & A. Recent topics have included air quality monitors, British bats in the Anthropocene, and explosives and the disarming power of plants.

Future speakers include engineers, social scientists, physicists and designers, with the events open to all. Café Scientifique provides an opportunity, over a coffee, a glass of wine or a beer, to enjoy a dialogue with cutting-edge researchers about their work and its implications for all of us. For further information please visit ypsyork.org/cafe-scientifique/