Revised function analysis of sustainability: understanding the complexity of sustainability.

This article presents and discusses the case study “Scraping the surface,” a
workshop about sustainable design held for master’s students of different design majors at the FHNW Academy of Art and Design. Through marketing we, as consumers, are bombarded with products claiming to be sustainable. As a result, sustainability has become a buzz word. “Scraping the surface” highlighted the complex factors a designer needs to consider when designing sustainable products. During the workshop students discussed how a designer can have an impact on the lifecycle of a product or a system through material choice, production method, design for longevity, design for sustainable behaviour using the principles of behaviour change and design for the end of product use. Students were asked to bring a product that they found to be sustainable and to justify their reasoning using its characteristics. A list of criteria was compiled and converted into a function analysis. After the workshop a literature review was conducted to identify words and actions that could be added to make the list more holistic, focusing on ecology. To conclude, the proposed Revised Function Analysis of Sustainability can be used as a tool in the early design process to identify opportunities, specify deliverables and aid communication in development teams in terms of sustainability. The tool can also be used as a teaching and learning tool to provide a visual overview of possible traits that can be applied throughout the life cycle of an object. This can help to encourage upstream activities to prevent product renewal and avoid landing in the waste hierarchy. The template includes the potential benefits to the ecosystem and gives examples and further references. Consequently, the purpose of the tool is to be used as a creative tool rather than an assessment tool, specifying both desirable and undesirable outcomes.