How do you wear your shopping basket?

PRODUCT design is much more than just having a bright idea!

Students in Design Technology at MMU Cheshire take great ideas and make them work for business.

Take Chris Johnson's ergonomic shopping basket. Not only is it much more comfortable than your bog standard basket, it's what shoppers actually want and could be a winner, according to Asda executives.

"We do a lot of research and work closely with an industrial partner to create a prototype," says the 21-year-old who graduates in July.

Life-saver

Equally, Sheri Lea's gizmo to alert police and ambulance in a car crash has been guided by the hand of a Cheshire-based electronics firm. The company believe the gadget could become a part of an in-car computer's make-up in the future.

Other products, among them, an intelligent bike light to inform cars that you are around the corner, an MRSA beating hands-free phone for the NHS and a shower hygiene wash system are part of the Design and Technology Degree Show at the Alsager Gallery, MMU Cheshire this week and next.

Course coordinator David Heaton said: ""The beauty of this course and these inventions is that they are not just bright ideas, they are being implemented. All the student-designers have worked with companies and external organisations to produce working prototypes to solve specific problems."

In all, the work of around 60 undergraduate designers in on show on Thursday, June 14 and on Monday/Tuesday, June 18-19.

For more about the Design Technology for Industry and the Design and Technology for Education degrees, go to www.cheshire.mmu.ac.uk/dandt.

These courses are run at MMU Cheshire by MMU's Institute of Education.