Broad+Impact+-SP


 * Broad Impact**

__Design Education__ - Necessity is the mother of invention and designers and engineers have a need for better tools that enable them to collaborate and come out with the best products for consumers. They will have to lead the creation of tools best suited for them to design effective sustainable products in an era of global connectivity in infinite information networks. Designers will design tools that enable designers to more efficiently reach optimal solutions in minimal time. We must leverage the power of computing to create tools that further enhance the creative capacities of the mind. - Sustainability and lifecycle analysis must be core curriculum and an integral part of design projects in collaborative studio class environments. We must consider that the ego of the designer is often a barrier to far better product iterations and true innovations. - Design Collaboration must be encouraged and intellectual property perhaps considered a barrier to progress under many circumstances. We should examine or incentive model and the difficulty in bringing products to market the try to eliminate these barriers so that the best ideas are not lost

__Sustainable Design Practice__ - Offer planned obsolescence as a solution to itself to address the complexity of design and the pace of innovation that must be sustained if not accelerated to reach critical levels to achieve abundance and transcend barriers increased resource access and distribution enabled via technological advancements yet imagined on a global scale. - Further exploration into modular design of consumer products with upgradability in mind. It is applicable and moves us closer to sustainable practice but only in that it can exist within a current model of business. It would be far more effective and green to completely revolutionize the system however the barriers in doing so are far greater. - The time of design may need to be extended so that more can be considered for each product. Not just time between iterations but time spent toward designing the features, systems, and product as a whole with all stages of life cycle considered. Yes more effort is needed to look into these factors but I propose that we can actually decrease design time by increasing efficiency through proper collaboration and access to future design tools. - Encourage business to start exploring products that take advantage of biomaterials and C2C design. We are inventing and discovering new green materials and production methods every day and it is about time that mainstream business and production got onboard the green wagon. - An exploration of emerging manufacturing techniques and personalization through 3D printing is to be encouraged in this thesis

__Our Views of Consumer Society__ Not more stuff but better stuff. How we view and value the products the products we do own must change. I will call for a reduced market saturation and better design for products that we really need. These must be products that last and increase in value over time. In many areas, it isn’t possible but other categories of durable goods must embrace this strategy if we are to make any progress toward a greener future. There are only two sustainable alternatives. Products designed to last as long as possible or products with an intentionally high turnover rate that are either net neutral or nutrient rich. The must be upcyclable or recyclable so as to cause no damage to ecosystems and simultaneously promote product evolution and innovation.