School staff
Sofia Garcia-Noriega
Research Associate
Tel +44 (0)7879 041747
Email s.garcia-noriega@lboro.ac.uk
Location LDS 1.20
Personal profile
Sofia Garcia-Noriega started her career in 2005 working at Phuze Design based in Mexico City, designing custom made glass products.
In 2007 she moved to the UK to purse her career in sustainable development. In 2008 she worked at the Centre for Sustainable Design in Surrey, as a researcher of social networks and its implications for Civil Society Organizations and Nongovernmental Organizations.
During 2009 she collaborated as a user-centred designer in the development of a mobile telehealth service for epileptic patients sponsored by Procter & Gamble and Design London. Also, she made an internship in Forum for the Future where she collaborated in a project to promote sustainable travelling within Europe.
As a freelance designer she has worked as a graphic, product, web and user experience designer for companies such as: Electronic Ink, Procter & Gamble, Sprout Design, SEED Foundation and Siruna, a provider of mobile internet websites.
She has a masters with distinction from the UCA at Farnham, Surrey UK on Sustainable Product Design and has been involved in projects within the private, financial and public sectors. More recently she has centered her carrier as a user experience designer, as well as continuing her sustainable design career as a research associate in Loughborough University.
Research
Co2ncept: Carbon Footprinting for Design Concepts
This 18 month EPSRC funded research project aims to investigate the use of an abridged carbon footprinting methodology to allow designers to calculate the carbon footprint of product design concepts. These concepts are not yet sufficiently developed to be assessed via traditional carbon footprinting methods.
The developed resource will be aimed at designers involved in New Product Development. This tool will be the first of its kind and has the potential to answer a need that has not yet been catered for by existing carbon footprinting methods. It will allow designers to make more considered decisions at the early stages of the product development process with regards to concept selection, at a time where changes are neither costly nor time consuming.