Designers have a great opportunity...

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Designers have a great opportunity...
The design stages of product development have a
direct influence over about 70 of the final
product this brings with it responsibility Des
igners play an important role because they are
the industrys connection with the marketplace,
interacting between people and products
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"There are few professions more harmful than
industrial design, but only a very few by
creating whole new species of permanent garbage
to clutter up the landscape, and by choosing
materials and processes that pollute the air we
breath, designers have become a dangerous breed
In this age of mass production when everything
must be planned and designed, design has become
the most powerful tool with which man shapes his
tools and environments (and, by extension,
society and himself). This demands high social
and moral responsibility from the
designer. (Victor Papanek, 1985)
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Why focus on design?

• The Brundtland Report known for its
  popularisation of the concept of sustainable
  development made recommendations for a new
  approach to design and production, setting out
  terms for
• 'a production system that respects... the
  ecological base' and,
• 'a technological system that searches
  continuously for new solutions'.

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Why focus on design?

• Environmental impact occurs at every stage of the
  life cycle
• Different products have different impacts at
  different stages
• E.g. furniture raw materials
• E.g. household appliances use energy
  consumption
• Impacts are often locked in at the design stage
  when decisions about materials, function,
  performance, energy source, aesthetic, purpose
  etc. are made
• Only careful consideration at these early stages
  can make sure that negative effects excluded and
  positive features are included.
• Trying to retro fit solutions is often very
  costly involving additional equipment, rather
  than solving the problem from first principles.

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The Role of Designers

• Design can influence the decisions people make
  about what they buy and why. These decisions
  reflect peoples' perceptions of lifestyle and
  their associated status in the world.
• Lifestyle is about identity choices about how
  individuals wish to be, and be seen by others.
  Often this is expressed through what is consumed
  from the material, aesthetic and symbolic
  perspective.
• Lifestyles are patterns of actions that
  differentiate between people. They map onto
  conventional social categories of class, income,
  age, gender and ethnicity and also transcend
  them.
• Sustainable Design can help people question what
  it is they are trying to gain through the
  purchasing decisions that they make.

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Product Life Cycle
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Good design will ensure that

• a product contains a rationalised number of
  materials and components
• consumer health and safety issues are considered
• a product functions appropriately and effectively
  and communicates this function clearly
• a product is styled appropriately
• a product is ergonomically correct
• environmental legislation requirements are
  addressed

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Ecodesign looks further...

• it includes all elements of good design but
  goes further to consider a range of different
  principles
• Materials amount and type (appropriateness)
• Energy source and requirements
• Length of life
• Waste issues
• End of life issues
• Packaging issues