Sustainability is a broad area. In short it is ability to create product in a balanced way without permanently depleting our resources. The needs of the planet and people (including future generations) are maintained long-term. As well as the clear ethical benefits, sustainability can lead to cost reductions, innovation, and a stronger brand.
We have collaborated with academia and industry experts to create the Design Compass tool, which represents over two decades of expertise in responsible product design.
If you have an existing product that you want to improve this can limit the scope of your sustainability improvements, but that depends on several factors.
1. Set goals and restrictions
What you are able to achieve will be limited by your resources and other needs. It is important to list and acknowledge these. They include aspects such as:
- Budget: what money do you have set aside for the research and development, and any tooling changes or similar? What is the budget for final unit cost? This will be related to how your customers perceive increased value in your sustainability efforts.
- Compatibility and change allowance: You will likely have more scope for change if you have a product in early development you wish to improve, as opposed to one on the market. Do any changes or parts need to be compatible with existing designs? Does the product need to be made using the processes and materials already handled by the factory? Is there a restriction on packaging type or format? Is any IP you have affected?
- Timelines: How much time do you have before you want your implemented changes to hit the market?
- Expectations: How much improvement are you aiming for, and in which areas? Do you have specific targets for carbon footprint or water usage for example, or just a general improvement? Are these expectations compatible with your restrictions?
2. Reinforce your product’s core identity
Identify key parts of design that should not change without good reason. This includes: USPs, target market etc.
3. Form a knowledge base
In order to make progress in sustainability you will need to learn more about it. This is a broad area that can be intimidating, setting learning goals or following existing courses can help.
We have created the Design Compass as a tool to give all design leaders information and resources on the connections between marketability, ecological sustainability and social responsibility. We have developed this from the point of view of designers, so we have focused on practical changes that are easy to understand and implement with prompts and idea generators to get design teams thinking.
Bring together a team, ideally including experts in the different areas you wish to tackle from inside and outside company.
4. Consider all segments
- Start by thinking beyond the restrictions: Whilst this may seem counter-intuitive, it is worth casting a wide net at the beginning of any creative process. You may find that these ideas are not as incompatible as they originally seemed, or they may be useful for future product lines.
- Aim for a broad range of ideas: Think radically and across all segment areas. These should be a mix of easy small scale tried and tested ideas, and large experimental ideas.
5. Consider the knock-on effects
Once the initial ideas are generated, the team should consider:
- Burden shifting: do ideas intended to improve one area of sustainability have negative effects on another area of sustainability?
- How decisions affect each other: Can multiple be combined or are they incompatible?
6. Rank and filter
Now that the team has broadened their scope, they can narrow it again by filtering ideas through limitations and the needs of various stakeholders: Business, manufacturer, customer, nature etc. This is based on the Design Council’s double diamond approach.
Try to evaluate real consequences. If you have lots of resources, you may have been able to do a full LCA or SLCA but with few you can still gain insight by relying on existing studies/accreditations/expert advice etc.
Consider priorities, If this is a product already in production, or soon to be in production, what can be done now to have the biggest impact whilst other areas are evaluated? Development takes time but the world’s resources are used every day.
Rank, Use your knowledge of the effects and knock-on effects, costs etc. to assign value to each idea based on your goals. You can use this to choose a route forward.
7. Create an implementation plan
Now that you have chosen a route forward, you can create a project plan to schedule the changes, map resources needed etc.
It is worth also looking at ideas you discarded for now but that had a lot of potential. Can you consider them for further research for future product iterations?