More Sustainability

Nathan Shedroff's book, Design is the Problem, is in no way the first that the design world has heard from the sustainability issue. In fact, sustainability has become more than a mere issue, it has morphed into a trend, particularly in design. After the initial concern over global warming and diminishing resources, the design world in particular has been sent into a frenzy, with everyone attempting to hop on board to prove that their design thinking has always been eco-friendly and that their designs will always be "green."

Unfortunately, sustainability in design is more than the "green" movement and the trends, it comes down to the fundamentals of design and the thorough thinking of designers and consumers. Shedroff recognizes these more important aspects of the move towards sustainabilty, saying that design can never be fully sustainable, but that with work and thought, design can stop being the problem and become a more sustainable solution.

Shedroff's book goes through the different ways to be more sustainable in design, beginning with the idea. Function and aesthetics must conform to sustainability, resulting in sleeker, simpler products such as the thin aluminum keyboards manufactured for Apple Inc. Shedroff's process then takes care of itself, once designers begin to think about their products in a more sustainable way, use of raw materials will follow. Shedroff stresses this, that materials must be minimized so as to be rid of excess waste, and that they must be both enduring and recyclable. According to Shedroff, the application of these aspects of design thinking will lead to more sustainability in design, invoking greater creativity in designers and elminating design as the problem.