Design Resource

 

I love doing things here in Australia and having them sold on the world stage – that's pretty exciting.
- John Brown, Director, Design Resource


This full-sized model was constructed
to test the cabin design of the
Millennium train. Courtesy Design
Resource.

Design Resource, founded by John Brown in 1980, designs products for a variety of industries, from small electronic consumer goods to rail transport.

Based in Crows Nest, Design Resource works jointly with other groups in the USA, UK, Asia, and New Zealand to research and develop their products. The group has also formed a joint venture, known as Transport Design International (TDI), with a UK company to specialise in the design and styling of trains.



Video interview - John Brown, Director, Design Resource talks about the ‘Millennium’ train project. Requires Quicktime 7 plugin
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Our future is in being an intellectual property developer in terms of design for the manufacturing organisations of the world.
- John Brown, Director, Design Resource

Fourth generation 'Millennium' train: a demanding design

Our ambition or our objective was to turn the rolling stock into something which was much closer to an aircraft interior.
- John Brown, Director, Design Resource


Concept rendering of exterior of
'Millennium' train. Courtesy
Design Resource.

The global time differences between Australia, the USA and Europe mean Australian designers are at work while many international clients are asleep.

Design Resource works with international design partners to take advantage of these time zone differences and design 'around the clock'. In this way the group can produce faster results for their clients giving Design Resource a competitive edge in the market.


Early concept for the interior of
'Millennium' train. Courtesy Design
Resource.

About one third of the work done by Design Resource is in the area of transport design, working with its partner company in the UK under the name Transport Design International (TDI). Together the two studios aim to provide a 24-hour design service.

Their projects to date include interior and exterior styling of passenger trains, light rail and pleasure craft for Australia, the UK and Asia.

Design Resource has worked with the NSW Government on a number of transport projects, including the 'Millennium' train. The group collaborated with the manufacturer, EDI Rail, over a 2½ year period to design the interior and exterior of the train.


A still image from the 3-D computer
animation of the train concept used
in the bid with EDI Rail to win the
project. Courtesy Design Resource.

A design concept model and a 3-D computer animation were part of the designers' bid with EDI to win the project. A full-size model was also constructed to test the design. Designers in Sydney worked with their UK counterparts 'around the clock' to complete the design and documentation for the project.

At first sight the train had to be clearly a step above anything that was produced previously and we certainly achieved that.
- John Brown, Director, Design Resource

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Design Resource developed the most recent Dolphin torch