Slide1: reframing product lifespan: material life Miles Park Course leader Product Design | Sustainable Futures [34 slides :: v1.2]


Slide2: planned obsolescence : product lifespans "instil in the buyer the desire to own something a little newer, a little better, a little sooner than is necessary" Brook Stephens, US Industrial Designer [Envinrude Lark 1956 concept boat]


Slide3: > absolute obsolescence [functional & technical] > relative obsolescence [psychological & social aspects of consumer behaviour] typologies of obsolescence : drivers


Slide4: > growth in consumption > waste impacts > ephemeral electronics > consumables not durables > migration into new sectors > novelty & fashion > price erosion WEEEman the amount of waste electrical and electronic (WEEE) products that an average UK citizen will throwaway in a lifetime consumer electronics : throwaway society


Slide5: consumer electronics : throwaway society


Slide6: consumer electronics : throwaway society


Slide7: consumer electronics : throwaway society


Slide8: Categorising strategies and responses: product lifespans


Slide9: categorising strategies and responses: product lifespans Product determined strategies Eco-design strategies Fashion durability [neutral aesthetic] Product [aesthetic] wear Reconfiguration Embedded intelligence Product optimisation Behavioural responses Systems level actions Behavioural responses Behavioural influencing Product evolution Emotional durability Anthropomorphization Personification Benign ownership Systems level actions Secondary markets P.S.S. [Product Service Systems] Product policy warranty Extended producer responsibility Embedded intelligence Marketing Pricing


Slide10: categorising strategies and responses: product lifespans Product determined strategies Eco-design strategies Fashion durability [neutral aesthetic] Product [aesthetic] wear Reconfiguration Embedded intelligence Product optimisation Behavioural responses Systems level actions Behavioural responses Behavioural influencing Product evolution Emotional durability Anthropomorphization Personification Benign ownership Systems level actions Secondary markets P.S.S. [Product Service Systems] Product policy warranty Extended producer responsibility Embedded intelligence Marketing Pricing


Slide11: eco-design: modular design Modular computer, Robert Mansfield [Year 3 Product design student]


Slide12: fashion durability : timeless design > slow design Manufactum catalogue items [www.manufactum.co.uk]


Slide13: reconfiguration: piggybacking [Silicon film]


Slide14: reconfiguration: piggybacking [MP3 player cassette]


Slide15: reconfiguration : product reassignment PET pourer, Nicolas le Moigne Switzerland [2005 MACEF Design Award winner]


Slide16: categorising strategies and responses: product lifespans Product determined strategies Eco-design strategies Fashion durability [neutral aesthetic] Product [aesthetic] wear Reconfiguration Embedded intelligence Product optimisation Behavioural responses Systems level actions Behavioural responses Behavioural influencing Product evolution Emotional durability Anthropomorphization Personification Benign ownership Systems level actions Secondary markets P.S.S. (Product Service Systems) Product policy warranty Extended producer responsibility Embedded intelligence Marketing Pricing


Slide17: behavioural response : scripting


Slide18: behavioural response : narrative [Nicole van Ness]


Slide20: categorising strategies and responses: product lifespans Product determined strategies Eco-design strategies Fashion durability [neutral aesthetic] Product [aesthetic] wear Reconfiguration Embedded intelligence Product optimisation Behavioural responses Systems level actions Behavioural responses Behavioural influencing Product evolution Emotional durability Anthropomorphization Personification Benign ownership Systems level actions Secondary markets P.S.S. (Product Service Systems) Product policy warranty Extended producer responsibility Embedded intelligence Marketing Pricing


Slide21: system level actions: embedded intelligence > bits with bytes (meshing of digital networks with the physical world) > IP & wireless networks (RFID, Bluetooth, Internet) > product DNA repair & upgradeability product use & operation materials, construction, origin, disassembly, hazardous materials and toxicity


Slide22: system level actions: marketing product life A Golf is worth £2820 more than a Peugeot 307 after three years. [VW 2005 UK press campaign]


Slide23: analysis: consumer electronics > how effective are these strategies? > material consumption continues to soar > unsustainable consumption and production


Slide24: behavioural and structural obstacles, which lay behind product obsolescence, can undermine design for product lifespan strategies analysis: consumer electronics


Slide25: analysis: consumer electronics > strategies rendered ineffective due to a range of behavioural and structural (systems) factors > behavioural aspects poorly understood by designers and advocates for sustainability > the dynamics of markets and technology, the backbone of our consumption production economy, are equally inadequately dealt with


Slide26: analysis: consumer electronics > rapid technological change - leading to significant levels of technological obsolescence > emerging new markets - BRIC's growth [rebound] > consumer behaviour – we consume as a means of satisfying our social and psychological needs


Slide27: analysis: consumer electronics > highly competitive sector - marketing push new and incessant price erosion > cost factors - are extremely important, if not the most singly important factor in determining product life [Bayus, 1988] > TVs and DVD players - cost 45% less, in real terms, than a decade ago > in the same period - the price of computers has fallen by 93%


Slide28: > material life [within products] circumvents many of these issues > material life avoid direct confrontation with behavioural and structural issues >shifts, from trying to engage with these complex matters that can undermine product lifespan strategies > to designing products that enable efficient and economic recovery of materials, components, sub-assemblies reframing product lifespans: material life


Slide29: reframing product lifespans: material life [cradle to cradle, Walker] > beyond re(down)cycling > entropy > waste = food


Slide30: > Waste = Food? > what about the role of design? > lack of market for recyclates Warwickshire scraps recycling service for mixed plastics [06.04.06] "Warwickshire county council has been forced to scrap a five-month-old mixed plastics recycling service because of what it called a "market collapse" for the material". Metal prices hit new highs [ 10.04.06] Copper leapt $185 to $5910 tonne = 30% gain 2006 Zinc, Nickel, Gold follow reframing product lifespans: material life


Slide31: reframing product lifespans: material life > new opportunities > extend producer responsibility > shift in manufacture > role of designer > alliances with de-manufacturing sector


Slide32: > the response hierarchy product life component life material life reframing product lifespans: material life > material lifespans strategies complement material lifespans. > establishing principles rather than prescriptive methods for designers.


Slide33: Miles Park mpark@ucreative.ac.uk