Yes, it's crazy - and it works!

Dynamic design is as much about problem solving as it is about concocting attractive shapes or seductive colours. This is the much-needed message of an exuberant interactive show opening at Viaduct, the modern furniture shop in Clerkenwell. Here, this year's graduates of the Department of Three-Dimensional Design at Leeds Metropolitan University are putting the best of their work on display. Nothing particularly rare about that - degree shows have been opening all over the country for the past month - but these young people (all around 23) have devoted themselves to producing practical, realistic designs relevant to today's lives.

They have a novel way of making their point, too. Visitors can bring along their own design problem to receive a suggested solution within 24 hours, using the expertise of the 14-strong team. Design answers will then be posted on a website (www. solutionsprescribed.com) so all can benefit.

To test these young designers' skills, we asked a range of people to confront the Leeds team with problems in advance of the show.

FRUSTRATE THOSE BUGS

THE PROBLEM: Naomi Cleaver, director of Echo Design Agency, and presenter of TV's Other People's Houses, reveals an environmental rather than domestic problem. She declares that "litter and people's attitude to littering makes me see red. Litter is ugly, unsafe and just plain anti-socialî.
THE SOLUTION: A campaign to change public opinion is what's needed, says the Leeds team: "We need to jolt the conscience of litter droppers.î

To this end, the team suggests simple litter whistles. These would be circulated on specific days, much like red noses for Comic Relief. They would be used to "confront and ridiculeî litterdroppers, and draw attention to litter hotspots.

MORE SPACE, PLEASE

THE PROBLEM: London flat-dwellers cannot afford to waste any storage space. Accordingly, Viaduct's managing director, James Mair, asks the graduates for "high-level storage [for rarely used clothes, etc] to use in any high-ceilinged corridor such as those found in mansion flatsî.
THE SOLUTION: The Bug Shelf can fix into the corner of a room with no screws, glue or other fixings. It rests on long, spindly, adjustable legs, and is braced tight by horizontal legs that reach out to the opposite wall.

SMART CHAIRS YOU CAN STACK

THE PROBLEM: Design guru and restaurant owner Sir Terence Conran asks for an upholstered chair for "quite grand banquetingî that could be stacked easily. He also stipulated that they should cost, mass produced, no more than £150 each.
THE SOLUTION: An easily stacked "nakedî chair could be "dressedî with a pad and cover when required (Sir Terence finds the design "quite niceî but wonders if it was grand enough).

TABLE TALK

THE PROBLEM: Louise Taylor, new director of the Crafts Council, asks for "a debating table where up to 12 people could exchange stimulating ideas on what is craft. The table should demonstrate that the Council is leader of the contemporary craft sceneî.
THE SOLUTION: ... is ingenious. Sets of legs could be designed to be mass produced. A set would be given to various craftspeople/designer-makers and they would each create a segment of a round table top, working to a carefully specified shape and size. When joined together the "patchwork tableî would be sure to stimulate conversation. And, importantly, the leg kits could be sold to anyone who wanted to make a table themselves.

A LIGHT IN A BAG

At this show, in addition to posing your own design conundrum, you can see an array of ingenious products, including one that is already in production and selling well.

This is the exhibition highlight, in all senses of the word: the Chandy light shade designed by 23-year-old Kieron Bakewell from Lincoln. He's concerned that household products are so expensive. "I'm interested in what affordable actually means,î he says. So he set himself the task of designing a light fitting for a fiver.

The result is witty, pretty: standard carrier bags are printed with a picture of an ornate glass chandelier and mounted on a cardboard disc. The fitting, which glows softly when the light is on, has been fully tested for safety by an independent lab. Viaduct has them for sale.