A Canadian Summer

Last year I went to Canada to work at a summer camp. This year I went back again…

I have always loved travelling & I’m certainly no stranger to journeys longer than 24 hours across the globe. What has travelling got to do with a design blog you might ask? Well let me tell you. Since beginning to study product design and especially after the design trip to London earlier this year, I feel like the way I see the world is totally different. In general, in everyday life I have begun to notice a lot more than before.This significantly becomes more prominent when I enter a different environment to my usual surroundings of Limerick city.

Québec Cité

My first stop in Canada this year was Quebec City. This place has always intrigued me because it’s association with France, the French language & culture . The city is very hilly. It has a myriade of staircases which give the city its own ambiance. There are lots of beautifully painted murals on the sides of buildings depicting life in olden days.

A curious journal moment: one thing I noticed in the city was the pedestrian crossing buttons. They were not buttons at all but sensors which I did not see in any other city.

Winnipeg

Before heading off to camp I stayed at a friends house in Winnipeg. I have to mention this city is known for its dangerous downtown area. What I learned from being here was the sad history behind indigenous culture. Up until recent times Canada has treated their indigenous population awfully. From placing children in residential schools to isolating whole communities in reserves, it is all horrifying.Many of these people have grown up in poverty with no way to escape. This leads to alcohol and drug problems. It is vicious circle.

Winnipeg is a strange city to me. I got to drive here! (On the right hand side of the road). This didn’t make the city clearer to me though. The grid system makes every street look the same and due the Manitoba landscape being so flat this didn’t help either. The city just seems like a collection of houses and blocks – which I guess it is.

Camp

Copeland Island has been my home for a total of 4 months of my life. This may not seem like much in the grand scheme of things but it has definitely changed my life. Here I conquered my fear of fire. I learned to cook on a Coleman, was taught how to belay, how to tie different types of knots & mainly the difference between a kayak and a canoe. I learned a lot of things about mental health, teamwork, communication & especially the difference between personal and professional life.

This experience has given me so much more than I can express in words. How can I relate any of this back to design? In so many ways. This year I noticed a lot more of the equipment we were using. For example the canoes we’re made of different materials including aluminum (Alumacrafts) and Fiberglass (Old towns). This as well as the weight varied with purpose they were designed for eg. whitewater etc. I learned that there are different types of carabiners used for belaying: auto lock, screw lock. They can also vary in material from steel to aluminum depending on the weight intended to be lifted etc.

I think that no matter what I end up doing in life somehow this knowledge will come in handy.

Vancouver

This is probably once of the craziest cities I have ever visited. It’s vast spread from ocean to mountain on either side of the concrete jungle is quite the sight.

An observation I made here was that on buses as well as stop buttons, there was a chord that one could pull to let the bus driver know you were getting out at the next stop. This intrigued me quite a bit at I have not seen this implementation elsewhere.

Calgary

I really liked Calgary. The beautiful glacial river flowing through it contrasted greatly with the modern vibe of the city. Here I got to experience the downtown skywalk. This made the city seem all the more modern. It was clearly all strategically planned and designed so that most parts of city could be reached by not stepping foot outside at all! This was done simply by having tunnel-like corridors connecting buildings about 15 feet (4.5 meters) above ground level. A solution so simple yet extremely effective. This really made me think about how simplistic a design idea can be it’s the execution that really matters.

Banff

Being in Calgary of course I wasn’t going to miss Banff. The world famous Canadian rockies and glacial lakes were made even better by the fact that we got to drive around in a 2024 Jeep Wrangler! The true Canadian dream. Why am I mentioning this? Well a design issue I had with this vehicle was that the roof came off but where does one place it? In my opinion there should be a better way to store the pieces of the roof when you remove them for your hot midday drive that letting them roll around in the boot of the car. Maybe we didn’t quite do it right but for a 2024 design I believe this could be improved.

Montréal

My final stop before I returned home was Montréal. They say this is the closest there is to Europe and I guess people aren’t wrong. The old town looks like you could be in Paris. This city has many cool statues and man made sculptures for people to enjoy on the streets as they walk past. However, I wondered, if I wasn’t in the design mindset would I have noticed them at all?

Back in Ireland

PDT has changed my outlook on the world. I guess I am a lot more out word looking now. Even though I spent my summer doing something, that at a glance, is completely unrelated to design, I do not regret it at all. I feel that travelling may not be the quickest method for research but in the long run it teaches you so much more than the internet or books ever could. Experiencing the world for myself is something I am extremely proud to say I have done. I am so grateful that I have the opportunities & resources to do so.