My Subject: Product Design and Design Engineering: Internet

Searching the Internet effectively

How to spot fake news

Gateways, search tools and directories

Archives Hub The Archives Hub provides a gateway to thousands of the UK’s richest archives. Representing over 220 institutions across the country, the Archives Hub is an effective way to discover unique and often little-known sources to support your research.
Cogprints: Cognitive Science Electronic Archive CogPrints is an electronic archive for self-archive papers in any area of Psychology, Neuroscience, and Linguistics, and many areas of Computer Scienceincluding artificial intelligence, robotics, vison, learning, speech, neural networks.
HCI Bibliography: Human-Computer Interaction A free-access bibliography on Human-Computer Interaction.
OAIster OAIster is a union catalog of digital resources. Digital resources include items such as: digitized books and articles, born-digital texts, audio files, images, movies and datasets.
Open Directory Project The Open Directory Project is the largest, most comprehensive human-edited free directory of the Web. It is constructed and maintained by a vast, global community of volunteer editors.
OpenDOAR - Directory of Open Access Repositories Provides a quality-assured listing of open access repositories around the world.

Websites: General

DesignBoom Digital architecture and design magazine. Designboom aims to bring together professional and young creatives from a diverse range of backgrounds. By publishing the latest news and key issues in the fields of architecture, design, technology and art, there mission over the past 20 years has remained the same: unearthing the best projects and curating a selection of the most interesting aspects of contemporary culture…before you can find it anywhere else.
Dezeen Dezeen's mission is to bring you a carefully edited selection of the best architecture, design and interiors projects from around the world before anyone else. Dezeen was launched at the end of November 2006 and has grown rapidly to become one of the most popular and influential architecture and design blogs on the internet. We now get over two million visits a month, and traffic is doubling every year.
How stuff works HowStuffWorks, a wholly owned subsidiary of Discovery Communications, is the award-winning source of credible, unbiased, and easy-to-understand explanations of how the world actually works.
IDEO IDEO is a global design company. Blog available on website covering creative tips and tools, how we make it, people and things we love, the future and work cultures. Also IDEO journal and tools/resources that unlock the power of creativity.
IDSketching Website dedicated to sharing free video tutorials on drawing and design sketching skills for industrial designers, illustrators and visual artists.
Instructables Instructables is a web-based documentation platform where passionate people share what they do and how they do it, and learn from and collaborate with others. The seeds of Instructables germinated at the MIT Media Lab as the future founders of Squid Labs built places to share their projects and help others.
MAKE videos Technical, useful and fun vids from MAKE: technology on your time.
Product Design Hub Product Design Hub is the online community place, where industrial designers from all over the world come together to socialize and to create, share and find useful resources. Product Design Hub was born out of ProductDesignForums, which is the leading online discussion board for industrial design enthusiasts since 2004.The mission of Product Design Hub is to maintain a friendly and inspirational social environment, where a wide range of inspirational resources are shared with pleasure.
TED Talks TED is a small nonprofit organisation devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader.

Intellectual Property and Standards

British Library Business and IP Centre Support for small business owners, entrepreneurs and inventors - the team can help you take the right steps to start up, protect and grow a business. Webinars, one-to-one support plus online articles, blogs and industry guides.
British Standards Institute (Global) Since its foundation in 1901 as the Engineering Standards Committee, BSI Group has grown into a leading global independent business services organization providing standard-based solutions in more than 120 countries. The BSI Group develops private, national and international standards, certifies management systems and products and provides product testing services, training and information on standards and international trade and performance management software solutions.
British Standards Institute (UK) Originating as the world’s first national standards body, the Group has over 2,250 staff operating in over 100 countries through more than 50 global offices. BSI offers the development and sale of private, national and international standards and supporting information, second and third-party management systems assessment and certification, testing and certification of products and services, performance management software solutions, training services in support of standards implemen
BSI Knowledge Centre The BSI Knowledge Centre (formerly BSI LIbrary) is one of the most current and authoritative standards information resources in the world and is the central source for your national, international and overseas standards needs.

British Standards Online (BSOL) This link opens in a new window Middlesex University has access to a Custom Collection of up to 300 British Standards. Please contact the Science & Technology librarians (SATLibrarian@mdx.ac.uk) to request full-text access to Standards not currently in our subscription.

Creative Commons Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization. We work to increase the amount of creativity (cultural, educational, and scientific content) in “the commons” — the body of work that is available to the public for free and legal sharing, use, repurposing, and remixing.
European Patent Office The European Patent Office (EPO) provides a uniform application procedure for individual inventors and companies seeking patent protection in up to 40 European countries. It is the executive arm of the European Patent Organisation and is supervised by the Administrative Council.
Intellectual Property Office The Intellectual Property Office can help you get the right type of protection for your creation or invention.

Organisations/Associations

Audio Engineering Society The Audio Engineering Society is the only professional society devoted exclusively to audio technology. Founded in the United States in 1948, the AES has grown to become an international organization that unites audio engineers, creative artists, scientists and students worldwide by promoting advances in audio and disseminating new knowledge and research.
British Human Computer Interaction group This is the longest established and largest national group in Europe devoted to HCI. Founded in 1984, the group is a specialist group of the British Computer Society (BCS), and provides an organisation for all those working on the analysis, design, implementation and evaluation of technologies for human use. The website offers the latest news on HCI, usability, events, products, jobs, education/courses, publications, etc.
British Plastics Federation The British Plastics Federation (BPF) is the leading trade association for the UK Plastics Industry, with over 400 members and 1200 affiliated members. Encompassing the whole plastics supply chain including raw material suppliers, processors, machinery suppliers and recyclers. BPF membership covers over 75% of the plastics industry by turnover. Websites includes Plastipedia: the Web's largest plastics encyclopedia.
Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers The Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers received its Royal Charter in 1976. It is the professional body that exists to: ‘support the Science, Art and Practice of building services engineering, by providing our members and the public with first class information and education services and promoting the spirit of fellowship which guides our work.'
Chartered Society of Designers The Chartered Society of Designers (CSD) is 'the' professional body for designers. With over 3,000 members in 34 countries, it is the world's largest chartered body of professional designers and is unique in representing designers in all disciplines.
Crafts Council The Crafts Council are the national development agency for contemporary crafts in the UK. Read about our work, how we're funded and the people that make it possible.
Design Business Association The Design Business Association is the trade association for the UK design industry and helps design consultancies become more professional and profitable by offering a range of industry specific membership services, training courses and events.
Design Council The Design Council is the National strategic body for design. The Council believes that design can help people to do what they do, better. Funded by the UK government, they promote the use of design throughout the UK's businesses and public services. They demonstrate that design can play a vital role in strengthening our economy and improving our society.
Design inSite Design inSite is the Designer's guide to manufacturing. Various manufacturing processes and materials are described as well as the products where they are used. The purpose of Design inSite is to inspire designers in their designwork to consider materials and processes which are new or unknown to them.
Design Management Institute The Design Management Institute connect design to business, to culture, to customers—to the changing world. They bring together educators, researchers, designers, and leaders from every design discipline, every industry, and every corner of the planet. US based.
Design Museum The Design Museum is one of the world’s leading museums devoted to contemporary design in every form from furniture to graphics, and architecture to industrial design.
Engineering Council The Engineering Council UK is an organisation set up by Royal Charter to regulate the engineering profession in the UK . It achieves this by working through a number of engineering institutions, providing the standard for assessment of individuals, and for education programmes and for professional development programmes.
Engineering Employers Federation (EEF) EEF is dedicated to the future of manufacturing. Everything they do is designed to help manufacturing businesses evolve, innovate and compete in a fast-changing world. With their unique combination of business services, government representation and industry intelligence, no other organisation is better placed to provide the skills, knowledge and networks they need to thrive.
Engineering UK Engineering UK are an independent, not-for-profit organisation whose purpose is to promote the vital contribution that engineers, and engineering and technology, make to our society. They also aim to inspire people at all levels to pursue careers in engineering and technology.
Ergonomics Society The Ergonomics Society is the UK-based professional society for ergonomists, human factors specialist and those involved in user-centred design.
Forum for the Future Non-profit organisation working globally with business and government to create a sustainable future.
Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design The Centre is a global leader in inclusive design, design thinking and creative leadership, working with government, business, academia and the third sector.
Industrial Design Society of America The Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) is the world's oldest, largest, member-driven society for product design, industrial design, interaction design, human factors, ergonomics, design research, design management, universal design and related design fields.
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers The world's leading professional association for the advancement of technology.
Institute of Engineering Designers The Institution of Engineering Designers (IED), established in 1945, is the UK's most prestigious professional body for designers operating in the many fields of engineering design - product design, architecture, the marine, automotive and aircraft industries and many more.
Institute of Making The Institute of Making is a multidisciplinary research club for those interested in the made world: from makers of molecules to makers of buildings, synthetic skin to spacecraft, soup to diamonds, socks to cities. Their public programme of symposia, masterclasses, and open days explores the links between academic research and hands-on experience, and celebrates the sheer joy of stuff. Its mission is to provide all makers with a creative home in which to innovate, contemplate and understand all aspects of materials and an inspiring place to explore their relationship to making.
Institution of Engineering and Technology The Institution of Engineering and Technology is one of the world’s leading professional societies for the engineering and technology community.
Institution of Mechanical Engineers The Institution of Mechanical Engineers is the fastest growing professional engineering institution in the UK. Our 80,000 members work at the heart of the country’s most important and dynamic industries.
James Dyson Foundation The James Dyson Foundation encourages young people to think differently, make mistakes and invent.
Materials and Design Exchange The Design Exchange - brings together the communities of design and materials technology in order to stimulate innovation, promote the transfer of materials knowledge and improve the competitiveness of UK business. The Design Exchange is part of the Materials Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN), forging a link between designers and other sectors of the KTN concerned with metals, plastics, textiles and the full range of modern materials.
MoDIP (The Museum of Design in Plastics) MoDiP is the only accredited museum in the UK with a focus on plastics. It is the UK's leading resource for the study and interpretation of design in plastics and is a specialist research resource at the Arts University Bournemouth. MoDiP houses three distinct collections: the MoDiP collection, consisting of predominantly 20th and 21st century mass-produced artefacts; the Plastics Historical Society collection, which includes examples of the very-first man-made plastics; and the Worshipful Company of Horners collection of artefacts made from horn, a natural plastic. Together they amount to more than 10,000 artefacts and provide a comprehensive history of the use of natural and synthetic plastics in design.
Museum of Design and Domestic Architecture MoDA’s collections relate to the visual culture of the ‘ordinary’ domestic interior, from the late nineteenth to the mid twentieth century. As well as collections relating to domestic design, MoDA also contains rich material relating to the practice of being a designer . Objects and texts from the museum’s collections can show how an individual related to their chosen practice and how this evolved over time.
NESTA NESTA is the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts - an independent body with a mission to make the UK more innovative.
Royal Academy of Engineering As Britain’s national academy for engineering, we bring together the country’s most eminent engineers from all disciplines to promote excellence in the science, art and practice of engineering. Our strategic priorities are to enhance the UK’s engineering capabilities, to celebrate excellence and inspire the next generation, and to lead debate by guiding informed thinking and influencing public policy.
The Skills Council for Science, Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies (SEMTA) Semta is the Sector Skills Council for Science, Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies. Semta supports UK businesses in achieving global competitiveness through investment in skills.
Society of Manufacturing Engineers The Society of Manufacturing Engineers is the world's leading professional society advancing manufacturing knowledge and influencing more than half a million manufacturing practitioners annually.
Women's Engineering Society The Women's Engineering Society is a professional, not for profit network of women engineers, scientists and technologists offering inspiration, support and professional development. Working in partnership, we campaign to encourage women to participate and achieve as engineers, scientists and as leaders.
Worshipful Company of Engineers The Company has over 300 members (Chartered Engineers), who live and work throughout the United Kingdom including some overseas and cover all branches of the engineering disciplines. The objects and intention of the Company is to promote the development and advancement of the science, art and practice of engineering for the benefit of the public and to afford means of professional and social intercourse and the exchange of information between Members, and those who practice engineering.