The linear design process inherently has sustainability challenges.

Whether you’re using an iPhone, rocking your favorite t-shirt, or driving a new car, all design has a lot in common. Let’s take your favorite t-shirt for example- a white cotton shirt that fits you perfectly, compliments your skin, and brings you oh so much joy. The life cycle of this t-shirt involves:

01. Taking. We extract raw materials from the earth.

The story of your t-shirt starts at a cotton farm in Australia. The cotton was farmed ethically and the working conditions are great for farmers.

02. Making. We manufacture our product.

Next, the cotton is shipped to Bangladesh where the cloth is weaved and the t-shirt is produced. In Bangladesh working conditions involve “the use of child labor, low wages, long working hours and public health provision that fall in the bottom 10% of those of all nations.” While this is the case, it’s important to understand that many people work on t-shirt manufacturing as their primary sense of income to support their families. 

After the shirts are woven, they are then transported to Europe by shipping under Panamanian jurisdiction. Panama also has “child labor, high unemployment and political instability,” which poses ethical concern to the supply chain.

03. Using. People use our product.

Now your lovely white t-shirt is shipped to the United States where you see it for the first time at Lucky Brand. The shirt catches your eye and you try it on in the dressing room and fall in love with it. The shirt and it becomes your favorite clothing item for three years. You wear it to your favorite shows, dates, and you even met your partner in this shirt. Now after three years, your puppy tears a hole in it. You can’t think of the best way to repair it so it hangs in the back of your closet for a while. 

04. Disposing. People dispose of the product at the end of its lifetime.

Once your shirt has collected dust for another year, you decide what to do at the end of its life. In this case, you throw it away because you feel too lazy to repair it or go to your local thrift store to donate it. Your t-shirt is transported landfill among other waste.

There is a clear need to inject curiosity into this design process and design for sustainability.

This four step, linear design process has been highly successful for businesses around the world; therefore, we don’t tend to question ways we might change this process. We don’t ask where our products are coming from, what people are involved at each step of the way, and where our products go at the end of their life. 

However, as climate change has begun to rapidly impact our lives, people are starting to note the need for change in the design process. Businesses are being required to report their ESG scores and report how they take, make, use, and dispose of the products they create. To be more thoughtful about how to design successful products that also sustain the environment, there is a need to inject curiosity into our linear economy and re-think how we might design for sustainability.

When we inject curiosity into our linear economy, we can begin to ask critical questions at each step of the design process:

01. Taking: What raw materials are we taking? Is this the best option? Why?

To explore which raw materials are the best option, we need a way to soundly compare each material in terms of cost, environmental impact, geopolitical risk, and practicality.

At Sustain Tomorrow we leverage top LCA software to analyze and compare the materials used in product design. By looking at each material, we weigh the costs and benefits of over extraction of rare earth elements, geopolitical risk, and carbon intensity of each resource. Once we assess the data, our team visualizes the findings in a compelling way. The goal of assessing the raw material extraction using data is to allow product design teams to have critical conversations at the onset of the design process and determine the best options moving forward.

02. Making: Who is making our products? Where are they being made? How are they being transported? Is this the best option?

When it comes to assessing who makes our products, we can gather data about the geopolitical risk in each location, but this hardly tells the whole story. Conversations need to be had with manufacturers and suppliers of our products to understand their needs, challenges, and motivations. This leaves room for a realm of possibility in service design for businesses to improve the supply chain.

At Sustain Tomorrow, we allow these conversations to be had. We conduct empathy interviews of suppliers to understand their needs, challenges, and motivations. We then synthesize these findings and facilitate workshops with businesses to brainstorm and prototype services that can overcome supplier pain points.

03. Using. How are people using our product? Can we make it more sustainable?

In the t-shirt example, we see how consumer behavior greatly impacts the use and eventual disposal of the product. In businesses, the use of the product is defined as Scope III emissions, which is often very challenging to understand and mitigate. By better understanding the ways people interact with our products, businesses can innovate profitable services and products to improve the user experience while improving sustainability.

At Sustain Tomorrow, we work to first understand how people are using products. We conduct empathy interviews and carry out immersion activities of consumers to understand their needs, challenges, and motivations. We then synthesize these findings and hold facilitated innovation labs to alleviate Scope III emissions.

04. Disposing. How do people dispose of the product at the end of its lifetime? Can we create more profitable solutions to spur a circular economy?

At the disposal phase of the design process, we often see people throwing something away due to laziness, the inability to find repair services, or from the effects planned obsolescence. There are countless opportunities to intervene and design for circularity at the disposal phase.

At Sustain Tomorrow, we hold innovation labs focused on creating circular design services to eliminate unsustainable end of life practices. We use constraints to ensure that the design is fiscally sound for businesses to implement. 

Re-thinking the design process can drastically impact our work.

When we inject curiosity into design, a lot of things can happen. We can get unstuck. We can be empathetic. We can harness collective creativity. We can take action immediately. We can reduce supply chain costs. We can improve our ESG practices and scores. We can create profitable products and services. We can fight climate change. 

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