Designing with the environment in mind

Why? For any design the environment is usually a second priority to cost. Businesses run to make money so that is where the focus is aimed. So why would a business want to shift more focus onto the environment. What I am briefly going to cover are a few very good reasons for cost and not for the classic argument to save the world for my children and my children's children.

How? What methods are best for saving a bit of cash when designing / producing a product? There are many many ways to reduce cost and help protect the environment. Most just require a bit of extra thinking when designing. Here are a few ways I have found to get you started: When designing products, money can be saved in the long run by carefully designing products to use materials and resources efficiently. This reduces waste during the initial building stage and also at the end of the product life cycle.

Using already recycled materials or using materials that can easily be recycled. Design packaging that can be easily separated into key materials that can be recycled. This reduces disposal costs which are sometimes charged to the original manufacturer. Using simple fastening methods instead of adhesives is often a good way to do this.

Do not over use packaging. Some products do not need a huge box with many layers of wrapping and padding. Not only will you reduce costs in material but transport costs can be reduced due to smaller space usage.

Take ideas from nature. Nature has been designing for quite a bit longer than anyone around and has got the efficient use of materials down to a fine art. Its not just amounts of material used, it's also the ways they are used. Shapes and structures that allow minimum structure for maximum strength are where the biggest savings can be made.

Also For further information on being good to world around you when designing have a look at the information on these links. http://www.pca.state.mn.us/oea/p2/design.cfm http://www.plasticsresource.com/s_plasticsresource/ http://www.re-nourish.com/

Category: Design & Illustration