How do you make products that appeal to the senses? Consumers are demanding aesthetic appeal as well as functional attributes. How do you turn a utility product into a desirable item?

Plastics are tremendously versatile materials, replacing traditional materials. They offer many new design opportunities, because of their ease of processing and decorating. Special effects can be incorporated and extravagant shapes created so that even the most mundane of items can become a work of art. These effects are much cheaper to achieve with plastics than materials such as metals. Developments include special effects, soft touch, decorative films, scents and seductive colours.

Design innovations are appearing in many markets from cars to packaging, PCs to phones, and domestic appliances to medical devices.

This first international conference on The Art of Plastics Design brought together designers, manufacturers, plastics engineers and end-users, together with producers of innovative plastics materials.

SESSION 1. THE CREATIVE DESIGN PROCESS

Paper 1: Creating value – KEYNOTE ADDRESS
Sebastian Conran, Conran & Partners, UK

Paper 2: Neurons that fire together wire together
David Humphries, PDD Group Ltd, UK

Paper 3: What’s in your wardrobe?
Mike Ellams, Razorbite, UK

SESSION 2. APPEAL TO THE SENSES

Paper 4: The impact of olfactive factors on plastic design or the sweet smell of success
Dr Olivier Noiset & Dr Catherine Henneuse, Certech, Belgium

Paper 5: Material texture perception in product design
Dr Hengfeng Zuo, Mark Jones & Tony Hope, Southampton Institute, UK

SESSION 3. PLASTICS IN DESIGN

Paper 6: Plastics design – the unlikely pioneer of product relationships
Nick Gant, University of Brighton & BoBo Design Ltd, UK

Paper 7: The branding of plastics - How important is the branding of a material and how far do plastics go in helping to define brands
Chris Lefteri, Chris Lefteri Design, UK

Paper 8: The importance of material data for the designer
Dr Erwin Baur, M-Base Engineering & Software GmbH, Germany

SESSION 4. PRODUCT DESIGN

Paper 9: Medical devices – the design difference
Jarred Evans, The National Centre for Product Design & Development Research, Wales

Paper 10: Desirability in capital equipment - some experiences from a scientific instrument manufacturer
Evan Kitsell, Don Whitley Scientific Limited, UK

Paper 11: Shrink sleeves - the answer to recycling and valorisation of PET packaging
Jean-Charles Fresnel, Sleever International, France

Paper 12: Combining appearance and functionality to get the most out of product design
Peter Frank, Product Innovation Ltd, UK

SESSION 5. PLASTICS FOR EFFECT

Paper 13: Plastics, from plain, to beautiful and functional
Dr Francoise Pardos, Pardos Marketing, France

Paper 14: Out of the box: Discover special effects in colour and material
Ulf Nilsson, ExxonMobil Chemical, Belgium & Filip Roscam, Merck KgaA

Paper 15: Special effect pigments for plastics
Dr Mark Stoll, Eckart GmbH, Germany

SESSION 6. COLOUR, MATERIAL AND FINISH

Paper 16: Finish trends – getting the CMF (Colour, Material and Finish) right!
Tina Rippon, Finish Technologies Ltd, UK

Paper 17: In-mould film lamination - surface ?nish technique offering visual, tactile and functional surface effects
Dr Martin Wielpuetz & Michael Beyer, Degussa AG, Germany

Paper 18: Silicone polymers, dispersions and elastomers to feel and enjoy the difference: physicochemical properties supporting new applications
Dr Stéphane Van Oycke, & Dr André Colas, Dow Corning SA, Belgium, & Isabelle Van Reeth, Dow Corning (Shanghai) Company Ltd, China

Paper 19: Colour design in plastics
David Horan, Clariant UK Ltd, UK

SESSION 7.  THE DESIGN—MANUFACTURING INTERFACE

Paper 20: Rapid collaboration: a creative package design process
Bob Smith, Erie Plastics, USA

Paper 21: Taking the stress out of design by total simulation
Andi Clements, Rapra Technology, UK

Paper 22: Total modelling approach to design
Peter Dickin, Delcam, UK

Paper 23: Beauty—not just skin deep: practical steps to avoid appearance problems in plastics components

John McLoughlin, POLYnnovation, UK