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Students will need to consider sustainability as part of your collaborative project. You should include some focus on sustainability in your design brief and you will need to research factors around sustainability to assess the impact of your product design. Materials and processes in particular. Understanding sustainability involves research of the social, economic and environmental impact of your product design.
Social:
This refers to how humans behave on their own and as a member of society.
How might this product affect human behaviour? (positive and/or negative)
What effects might this product have upon the community?
Will this product contribute to person's life in a positive way?
Are the materials sourced fairly an d ethically?
Economic:
This refers to the cost of the product both in the long term and in the short term. Consideration around the profits to be made and the cost to the consumer. While the manufacturing of products needs to generate profits in order to survive, the ethics of how these products are made, where they go to and whether the benefits of products are justly shared.
Who gains financially from the materials, production and use of a product? Is this ethical?
Are workers paid fairly?
Are profits taken off shore?
Can only affluent and wealthy consumers afford this product?
Environmental:
This refers to the impact our behaviour has on the natural world. Consider whether our actions make permanent changes to the natural systems and whether or not these systems can recover and the resources renewed.
What are environmental considerations evident in the manufacture of the product?
What are the negative ecological effects of the product and the materials used to create it?
How could the environmental impact be improved?
You should include specific comments around sustainability in your design folio.
1. The materials you use:
Are they renewable recyclable or indeed recycled?
Are they sourced and produced locally?
Go deeper with your research into one or more of the following are relevant to your product design.
Are the materials processed with toxic/non-toxic chemicals?
What kind of pollution does the manufacturing create?
Water usage during manufacture
Are the workers treated fairly in terms of pay, health and exploitation?
2. How to make the product durable?
The strength and quality of design, materials and construction techniques.
3. How to minimise waste
4. Consider the possibility of designing the product multifunctional.
5. Maintenance and up keep.
Cleaning, re-surfacing, painting and other care instructions.
6.How the product might be reused or recycled at the end of its life.
Identifying materials
Limiting the amount of materials
Designed for disassembly.
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