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Sustainable Product Design
Motivation
Many graduate students prefer to spend at least some of their time working outside of a traditional office setting, whether it be in their homes, at a coffee shop, or in the campus library. For graduate students, there are a number of benefits to working outside of a traditional office setting, the most significant of which is the ability to control their working environment. This includes temperature and smell as well as comfortable seating arrangements, all of which can enhance productivity. Free of the constraints inherent in working in a traditional office setting, when they work elsewhere, graduate students can utilize products that enhance their comfort. However, their best intentions in doing so are often undercut by a lack of solutions for controlling the ambience of their environment. Furthermore, related products are rarely designed and produced using sustainable processes. To meet this need, a sustainable product development process was followed to create a product that allows graduate students to control their working environment.
Methodology
The early stages of this product development process, termed the new product development process, emphasized research on the factors currently impacting or influencing graduate students who work outside of a traditional office setting. These factors, considered together, aided in the identification of a potential opportunity for a new product. This product opportunity was to improve the ambience of the working environment of graduate students who work outside a traditional office setting. Based on this opportunity statement, a number of concepts were generated. There were a total of five concept generation sessions. Each session was preceded by an in-class lecture on a particular topic - sustainable materials, sustainable manufacturing, energy use, biomimicry, and systems-level sustainability. The concepts generated during each session reflected information presented in the lecture. Additionally, various concept generation methods were employed in each - some being more individual in nature and some being more collaborative.
Result
As a result of the sustainable new product development process, the final design for the lapdesk is targeted at improving users’ comfort when they are working elsewhere, whether they are working on their couch, at a comfortable chair in a coffee shop, or in a quiet room in the library. Future work will require the production of a physical prototype. Additionally, ergonomics expertise will be required to ensure that the shape of the desk ensures a comfortable and pain-free user experience.
