Ever since I was a child, my mom has been teaching me to keep the environment in mind. This results in being sincerely bothered by how the kind employees at my local supermarket are unaware of how they obsessively damage the planet. They’re handing out an overload of plastic bags to each and every customer, often even for products that are already portable by itself.
Everyone knows plastic is evil, right?
This frustration is among the reasons I aspire to be a protagonist of designing products and services that contribute to a circular economy.
The Circular Economy
The traditional economy has a linear take-make-dispose process: we take raw materials, we make a product and after using it, we dispose of the waste.
The circular economy aims to transform this process into a closed loop, where materials, nutrients, and data are continuously repurposed.
Since its creation, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation has emerged as a global thought leader, establishing the circular economy on the agenda of decision makers across business, government and academia.
“A circular economy is one that is restorative and regenerative by design, and which aims to keep products, components and materials at their highest utility and value at all times, distinguishing between technical and biological cycles.”
To close the loop, there has to be some sort of repurposing in the process. A great example that’s been increasing in popularity over the last decade is the ‘as-a-Service’ model, embodied by companies like Airbnb, Spotify and Uber.
As-a-Service
Uber (or Lyft), for instance, created a method for car owners to repurpose their vehicle as a transportation method for others and make some extra money, while passengers only pay for the service they require. This ‘performance economy’ concept was brought to life in the 1970’s by Walter Stahel.
A somewhat less popular (but very circular) example is that of Philips’ Circular Lighting. When working on a project, the architect Thomas Rau didn’t feel like paying for and installing complicated lighting systems himself, instead he made a deal with Philips to incorporate Lighting-as-a-Service.
IDEO’s Circular Design Guide
In collaboration with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, global design company IDEO designed the guide to meet an emerging need among industry leaders: an alternative, restorative, and regenerative approach to business, one that creates new value and delivers long-term economic, social timely and ecological prosperity.
In other words: a DIY manual to create a product that fits the circular economy. Give it a shot: https://www.circulardesignguide.com/
Social Design
To me and my peers, the term ‘design’ often relates to user experience, app design or other digital topics, although a lot of people don’t have much to do with these specific subjects. They’d rather profit from a design solution that improves their primary needs.
The creative minds of designers can be extremely useful in solving all sorts of problems when conventional methods don’t seem to cut it.
Looks good, feels good, is good
Anne van der Zwaag compiled inspiring cases of social design in her eponymous book ‘Looks good feels good is good’. The book clearly demonstrates that simple, well-designed products can have a substantial impact in problematic themes like water, energy, food, waste and well-being.
Precious Plastic
One of the featured projects in the aforementioned book is Precious Plastic, by Dave Hakkens. An amazing initiative that helps you set up your own recyling factory to turn plastic waste into useful products.
Nature as Design Guru
We can consider nature as a design agency that has over 3.8 billion years of experience in research & development. It would be rather foolish to ignore nature as an essential design resource. Copying its biological design systems is also known as biomimicry.
Biomimicry in architecture and manufacturing is the practice of designing buildings and products that simulate or co-opt processes that occur in nature.
Spider Silk
The North Face: a popular clothing brand among hikers and other outdoor enthusiasts, but I bet few people know about their collaboration with Spiber. Spiber is a Japanese company that’s been experimenting with spider silk to understand and master proteins as a multi-purpose solution.
Spiber and The North Face working together resulted in a state-of-the-art piece of clothing, due to the spider fibroin-based protein material: The Moon Parka.
Scientists claim spider silk to be 340 times tougher than steel, a material of which mankind in general thinks it’s pretty tough already.
If only there was an online resource that gathered all information on these exceptional insights.
The progressive team at AskNature.org created an extensive collection of biological strategies, inspired ideas, and resources relative to your own innovation challenges, up for grabs. Let nature be our mentor.
Wrapping it up
These are just a bunch of methods to design for a better future. I believe designers have to take responsibility for the products and services they give birth to, as to take initiative in solving the conventional problems that require a design solution.
