My Exploration of Circular Design
Designing in loops rather than lines
In the natural world, living systems renew themselves in a cyclical process. The sun provides energy for life forms to grow. When life forms die, nutrients return to the soil to restart the cycle.
Meanwhile, human society can’t get enough of straight lines.
The modern industrial economy, in fact, was designed along a straight line: take resources from the ground → make goods → use → dispose.
As technology has advanced, the duration of the consumer use period has decreased. The new iPhone comes out, so we ditch our older model. The old vacuum stops working, so we buy a replacement.
At the end of the process, no one wins. The end result is something that is of no value to anyone (hi, landfill). Our linear approach eats into a finite supply of resources and often produces toxic waste. This simply can’t continue forever.
What if our waste could create value rather than diminish it? What if the goods of today could become the resources of tomorrow?
Imagine a culture of return and renew rather than chuck and replace– in which all products are made to be disassembled, regenerated, or reused, and importantly, in which the manufacturing system is powered by renewable energy.
This is the mission of the circular economy. This concept seeks to redefine growth and value for business by focusing on the society-wide benefits of moving to renewable resources, designing out waste, and extending product life cycles.
Within this economy, business can drive value for consumers and the planet through four key activities:
- Reducing ownership of goods in favor of sharing or renting
2. Designing products with the idea of eventual disassembly or recapture of materials
3. Providing reuse, refurbishing, and repair services to existing products
4. Extending product lifecycles through repurposing or regenerating end-of-life products
Although many innovations have already emerged in this space (see “Case Studies” section), transitioning to the circular economy is one of the biggest creative challenges of our time. According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the leading organization “inspiring people to rethink, redesign & build a positive future through the framework of a circular economy,” design thinking is key to realizing this shift. Tapping into the growing appetite for an alternative approach to business, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation partnered with IDEO to create the Circular Design Guide in early 2017.
This guide provides the tools to help designers build competencies in circular design thinking and the principles of successful circular design, including material selection, standardization, “designed-to-last” products, and design for easy end-of-life regeneration. With these tools, designers can begin to consider the entire system, understand areas of negative impact, and design products that can be used in closed loops.
For my independent study at the VCU Brandcenter, I set out to learn all I could about circular design, and apply my findings to solve a problem facing consumers as well as the planet. Through this process, I’ve learned how to design just a bit differently– to see the impact innovation can have from all angles– and to realize the danger and cost of traditional modes of linear thinking.
Please stay tuned for my next article, which will outline the problem space I’m tackling and preview my design solution.
In the meantime, below are some successful and inspiring case studies to showcase circular design methodology.
Case Studies
- Vigga, a circular subscription model for baby clothes
- Gerrard Street, modular headphones with swappable parts
- Patagonia’s Worn Wear spin-off
- Replenish 3.0, liquid concentrate package redesign to eliminate waste and encourage reuse
Sources/ More Info:
“What Is a Circular Economy?” Ellen MacArthur Foundation, www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/circular-economy/concept.
“The Circular Design Guide.” The Circular Design Guide, www.circulardesignguide.com/.
