This document summarizes a presentation on sustainability awareness in design. It discusses the expanding role of design and initial findings from a survey on how designers consider sustainability. The survey looked at designers' competence on responsibility issues, ethics, attention to value chains, and consideration of user needs. Findings indicate a gap between a sense of global responsibility and focus on users. There is potential to lose sight of products and production if design focuses only on product-service systems. The designer's perceived role is smaller than it could be to address macro needs of ecosystems and societies.

1. Sustainability Awareness in Design
Bridging the gap between design
research and practice
Outi Ugas, Kausaali Oy Trends and Future of 10 June 2011
Cindy Kohtala, Aalto University Sustainable Development Tampere

2. Introduction and motivation
The expanding role of design
Survey framework and initial findings
Discussion
Contents
Outi Ugas, Kausaali Trends and Future of 10 June 2011
Cindy Kohtala, Aalto University Sustainable Development Tampere

3. The landscape of design
DESIGN!
practice and design
education
(Source: NextDesign
Leadership Institute, GK
4.0
VanPatter and
Social
Elizabeth Pastor) Transformation
Design!
DESIGN! DESIGN!
2.0 3.0
Product / Service
Organizational
Design! Transformation
Design!
DESIGN!
1.0
Traditional
Design!

4. Typical statement The design process Typical role for
on design designer
2000s “Global competition
Innovation & and renewal” Design as
competitiveness “China phenomenon” Vision innovation driver
“Total experience Design for creating
1990s
design – from concept experiences for
Brand building
to retail” customers
Strategy
1980s “Our product
Design portfolio is Design as
management consistent” coordinator
Roadmaps
1970s “The user (be it a
The rise of child or elderly) is the Design for user
ergonomics most important” understanding
Product definition
Design as part of a
1960s “Design as part of the team together with
The various roles of
Involving industrial product
The entire product mechanics and the designer and
industry development process”
development marketing representative
process statements on
1950s
“We got a prize in Designer as a design
Promoting the
nation
Milan”
Product aesthetics, creator (Source:
styling Valtonen 2007)

5. Design Value in a Sustainable Society
Regenerative capacity! Safety (planet)!
Community need(s)!
RESPONSIBILITY!
Resource productivity! Accessibility!
User experience!
User desire!
Innovation driver!
User need(s)!
Brand building!
USABILITY! Usability!
Quality!
Safety (user)!
BUSINESS! Ergonomics!
TIME
Profit/revenue! Aesthetics!
Function!
Traditional Design Value!
Cindy Kohtala

6. Design Jurisdiction in a Sustainable Society
Societal need(s)!
Dematerialization strategies! Safety (planet)!
Ecosystem!
DESIGN 4.0! Creative fulfilment (user)!
Community need(s)!
Product/service life cycle!
Resource productivity!
Regional and national brand building! Product-service system!
DESIGN 3.0!
Innovation driver!
Brand building! User need(s)!
Creative fulfilment (designer)!
DESIGN 2.0!
Company differentiation strategies! Product/service!
Safety (user)!
TIME
Profit/revenue! Aesthetics!
Function!
DESIGN 1.0!
Traditional Design Jurisdiction!
Cindy Kohtala

7. What is “good design”?
hyvää = good, as in good food but
also do good

8. Five level framework for planning in complex systems, from
the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development
(FSSD):
1. System
2. Success
3. Strategy
4. Actions
5. Tools & measures
>> Design is target-oriented action towards
some goal, conscious and/or unconscious.
How to define success in design?

9. Five level framework for planning in complex systems:
1. System
2. Success
3. Strategy
4. Actions
5. Tools & measures
>> Design is target-oriented action towards
some goal, conscious and/or unconscious.
How to measure success in design?

10. Five level framework for planning in complex systems:
1. System
2. Success
3. Strategy
4. Actions
5. Tools = measures
>> Design is target-oriented action towards
some goal, conscious and/or unconscious.
What are the characteristics of the
system that designers work within?

11. What does “good design” mean
in a sustainable society?

12. What is success in sustainability?
In a sustainable society, nature is not subject to…
1. … systematically increasing concentrations of
substances extracted from the earth's crust.
2. … systematically increasing concentrations of
substances produced by society.
3. … systematically increasing degradation by physical
means.
And in a sustainable society,
4. … people are not subject to conditions that
systematically undermine their capacity to meet
their needs.
(e.g. Robèrt et al, 2002; Robèrt 2009)

13. The survey:
How to measure success in design?

14. Dimensions
Outi Ugas, 2011

15. Outi Ugas, 2011
Survey Framework

16. 1. Designer’s competence/capability in responsibility issues
2. Designers and ethics
3. Paying attention to the value chain
4. How designers consider the user’s fundamental needs
Initial findings

17. 3. Paying attention to the value chain

18. Findings and conclusions
• The commonly acknowledged strengths
= the actual characteristics of design
• The gap between a sense of global responsibility
and the focus on the user
• PSS in design mainstream >> potential danger that
we will lose sight of products and production
• The designer’s own perceived jurisdiction smaller than it could
be (or should be)
Research challenges:
Ø strategic link between everyday business practice and
addressing the macro needs of both the ecosystem and the
society
Ø unpacking the meaning of social sustainability and the layers
of the social tissue in terms of user/community/society needs

19. Aminoff, Christian – Hänninen, Timo – Kämäräinen, Mikko – Loiske, Janne (2010) The
Changed Role of Design. Ministry of Employment and the Economy.
http://www.tem.fi/files/26881/The_Changed_Role_of_Design.pdf retrieved 9 July
2010.
Max-Neef, Manfred A. (1991) Human Scale Development: Conception, Application and
Further Reflections. New York: The Apex Press.
Robèrt, Karl-Henrik – Schmidt-Bleek, B. – Aloisi de Larderel, J. – Basile, G. – Jansen, J.L. –
Kuehr, R. – Price Thomas, P. – Suzuki, M. – Hawken, P. – Wackernagel, M. (2002)
‘Strategic sustainable development – selection, design and synergies of applied
tools’, Journal of Cleaner Production Vol. 10(3), 197–214.
Robèrt, Karl-Henrik (2009) Real change through backcasting from sustainability principles:
presentation of an international research programme built on a unifying Framework
for Strategic Sustainable Development (FSSD). Progress in Industrial Ecology, an
International Journal Vol. 6(3), 207-215.
Ugas, Outi (2011) Designers and responsibility – How to measure success in design?
(unpublished research report, forthcoming). Faculty of Information Technology,
University of Jyväskylä.
Valtonen, Anna (2007) Redefining Industrial Design: Changes in the Design Practice in
Finland. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Art and Design Helsinki, Finland.
Sources

20. Outi Ugas Cindy Kohtala
Kausaali Oy Aalto University
University of Jyväskylä School of Art & Design
Helsinki, Finland Helsinki, Finland
outi@kausaali.fi cindy.kohtala@aalto.fi
Thank you!