What is sustainable design?
Sustainable Design, also known as environmentally conscious design, green sustainable design or eco design, is a design strategy with the focus on creating products and services that have considered the environmental, social and economic impacts (also known as the triple bottom line) throughout the entire lifespan of the product or service. The goal is to reduce and counter negative impacts on the environment, as well as the health and well-being of people. In short, sustainable design is about supporting the development of products that meets the needs of today’s consumer but without compromising the environment for future generations.
In contrast to other design strategies, sustainable design strategies have a long-term approach to environmental protection. This means that sustainable designs not only seek to design products that meet the current needs, but also the needs of future generations. Whereas other design strategies have a narrower approach that only concentrates on current issues and needs.
Why is sustainable design important?
Sustainable design is important because it urges us to pay attention to the negative impacts that our products and services has on the environment. It encourages us to find durable and regenerative solutions fit for a thriving future.
In short, sustainable design is important to protect the planet and all its biodiversity. Ways of doing that could be by paying more attention to renewable resources rather than relying on carbon energy or by lowering pollution and reducing overall greenhouse gas emissions.
Examples of sustainable design initiatives
By having the environment in mind from start to finish and in all the phases of the design process, it is possible to minimize the negative impact of any product.
For instance, products should be designed to last as long as possible. The focus should be on quality and longevity. This could be by making the product highly durable, so that it doesn’t have to be replaced very often, or by creating designs that are aesthetically timeless.
Some products today are intentionally designed to be difficult to repair in order to force consumer rebuy when things wear out, break or gets damaged.
Sustainable design is about doing the opposite. Making products that can be repaired rather than replaced, as this will extend the lifespan of the product.
Also, consider how to design the product so that it may be reused in different ways from its original purpose. There are many ways to design products to serve a second life after its intended purpose. It just requires thinking about it.
When the product finally does wear out, consider how parts of the product, or the entire product, can be re-manufactured into new products or goods.
Learn to design for sustainability
The above are just examples of sustainable design. If you want to learn more about sustainable product design, and how you can design better solutions for a more sustainable future, KAOSPILOT’s Design for Sustainability course might be just for you.
KAOSPILOT is a world-renowned business and design school located in Aarhus, Denmark that offers several professional programs as well as a full-time education within the fields of creative leadership, co-creation, sustainability, entrepreneurship, innovation and much more.
In the Design for Sustainability course, you will learn the most relevant frameworks and models from the field of sustainability science as well as the newest relevant innovative design methodologies
At the end of the course, you will be able to design and innovate practices, services, products, and systems that promote sustainability. You will also be able to extract learning and insights to strengthen the designs and systems for the future.