reframing product lifespan: material life

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reframing product lifespan material
life Miles Park Course leader Product Design
Sustainable Futures
34 slides v1.2
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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
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typologies of obsolescence drivers

• gt absolute obsolescence functional technical
• gt relative obsolescence psychological social
  aspects of consumer behaviour

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consumer electronics throwaway society
gt growth in consumption gt waste impacts gt
ephemeral electronics gt consumables not
durables gt migration into new sectors gt novelty
fashion gt price erosion WEEEman the amount
of waste electrical and electronic (WEEE)
products that an average UK citizen will
throwaway in a lifetime
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consumer electronics throwaway society
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consumer electronics throwaway society
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consumer electronics throwaway society
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• Categorising strategies and responses product
  lifespans

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• 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

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• 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

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eco-design modular design
Modular computer, Robert Mansfield Year 3
Product design student
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fashion durability timeless design gt slow
design
Manufactum catalogue items www.manufactum.co.uk

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reconfiguration piggybacking
Silicon film
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reconfiguration piggybacking
MP3 player cassette
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reconfiguration product reassignment
PET pourer, Nicolas le Moigne Switzerland 2005
MACEF Design Award winner
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• categorising strategies and responses product
  lifespans

• Systems level actions
• Secondary markets
• P.S.S. (Product Service Systems)
• Product policy warranty
• Extended producer responsibility
• Embedded intelligence
• Marketing
• Pricing

• 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

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behavioural response scripting
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behavioural response narrative
Nicole van Ness
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(No Transcript)
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• categorising strategies and responses product
  lifespans

• Systems level actions
• Secondary markets
• P.S.S. (Product Service Systems)
• Product policy warranty
• Extended producer responsibility
• Embedded intelligence
• Marketing
• Pricing

• 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

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system level actions embedded intelligence

• gt bits with bytes (meshing of digital networks
  with the physical world)
• gt IP wireless networks (RFID, Bluetooth,
  Internet)

gt product DNA repair upgradeability product
use operation materials, construction, origin,
disassembly, hazardous materials and toxicity
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system level actions marketing product life
A Golf is worth 2820 more than a Peugeot 307
after three years. VW 2005 UK press
campaign
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analysis consumer electronics

• gt how effective are these strategies?
• gt material consumption continues to soar
• gt unsustainable consumption and production

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

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

• gt rapid technological change - leading to
  significant levels of technological obsolescence
• gt emerging new markets - BRIC's growth rebound
• gt consumer behaviour we consume as a means of
  satisfying our social and psychological needs

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analysis consumer electronics

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

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reframing product lifespans material life

• gt material life within products circumvents
  many of these issues
• gt material life avoid direct confrontation with
  behavioural and structural issues
• gtshifts, from trying to engage with these complex
  matters that can undermine product lifespan
  strategies
• gt to designing products that enable efficient and
  economic recovery of materials, components,
  sub-assemblies

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reframing product lifespans material life
gt beyond re(down)cycling gt entropy gt waste food
cradle to cradle, Walker
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reframing product lifespans material life

• gt Waste Food?
• gt what about the role of design?
• gt 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

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reframing product lifespans material life
gt new opportunities gt extend producer
responsibility gt shift in manufacture gt role of
designer gt alliances with de-manufacturing
sector
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reframing product lifespans material life
gt material lifespans strategies complement
material lifespans. gt establishing principles
rather than prescriptive methods for designers.

• gt the response hierarchy
• product life
• component life
• material life

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Miles Park mpark_at_ucreative.ac.uk