Why designers need to be more like gardeners
And how it would benefit both people and the planet.
I’m a keen amateur gardener and it’s taught me a lot about design.
You see, gardening is about growth. You plant things with the full expectation that they will grow and send out shoots, hopefully bloom, and eventually be composted. This is a mindset which I think designers would benefit from applying to their work.
In my opinion, designers are often very static in their approach. They think about creating something to deliver to the customer… and that’s the end of their involvement. In many cases, they believe they are producing a fully formed and completed product that will not grow and develop over time, and they move on to the next design without a backward glance.
But creating beautiful flowers is a lot more than just sticking a bush in the ground. You need to nurture it and anticipate its growth, even before you plant it.
There’s been a lot of talk in recent years about “cradle to grave” design, and the EU Circular Economy Action Plan includes requirements for making products more durable, repairable and reusable. Unfortunately there are still a great deal of challenges in applying this approach, and not enough of it is actually happening. Designers must, as gardeners do, think about how their designs will grow and evolve over time, how they can be maintained, and ultimately (for physical products) how they will be disposed of.
Recycling alone, however, is not a solution to sustainable consumption, because although it reduces waste and use of virgin materials, it still consumes energy. It may also encourage the production of more waste by liberating consumer conscience.
In fact, the most sustainable thing we can do is to extend the lifetime of the products we manufacture (there are some notable exceptions in terms of electronic appliances, where manufacturing a new efficient appliance is better than continuing to use an old power-hungry appliance - but on the whole we simply need to use stuff for longer).
The problem, then, is that products either fail to last in a physical sense, or they fail to sustain long-term relationships with their owners and are thus discarded before they are physically worn out. The solution is that we as designers need to stop thinking about our work as “the finished article” and instead consider how we can plan for our products and their relationships with their users to grow over time.
Designing for longevity
The first thing that designers need to understand is that people purchase and use products for two main reasons:
- To reduce difficulties in their lives. Perhaps the product helps them to do a particular task or fulfils a particular function. Essentially they need that product for some reason (although even then their decisions are not always rational).
- To increase pleasure in their lives. The product gives expression to their identity and signals the group they belong to, or maybe it boosts their feelings of self worth.
This corresponds to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, in which the lower levels are about functional needs and the upper levels are about self-actualisation.
When products are discarded before they are worn out, it is because:
- The product no longer reduces difficulty as much as an alternative could. For example it no longer fulfils a particular task/function efficiently, e.g. an outdated camera which is still physically sound but no longer fulfils the function of taking high-quality photos because technology has moved on.
- The product no longer provides enough pleasure. Perhaps it no longer expresses the identity that the owner wishes to convey, or no longer makes them feel good about themselves. For example, clothing which is still in decent condition but no longer reflects the current personal style of the wearer. Or alternatively, items which do still reflect the owner’s current personal style but aren’t in good condition any more. They aren’t worn out and they’re still usable, but they look bad and don’t convey the image the person wants to display. For example, a car with a dent in the side, which drives perfectly well but looks a mess.
These examples reflect growth and evolution over time. The standard of what constitutes a high quality photo has changed, so thus the camera has become obsolete. The fashion has changed (or maybe the person themselves has changed), so therefore the clothing is undesirable (to that individual at least). The product exhibits unacceptable wear and tear so even though it’s not obsolete it has become undesirable.
How, then, do we prevent (or at least minimise) obsolescence and undesirability through good design? How do we ensure that a product can maintain a long term relationship with its owner, even as the product ages and the owner grows and changes?
Products must be durable
A major part of extending the lifetime of a product is to extend its physical and functional durability.
- Physical durability relates to how well the product stands up to regular use. We need to consider how materials will wear and age, how the product can be refurbished or repaired, and how its appearance can be maintained over time. This includes the affordability of repairing the product vs buying a new one. It also includes a consideration of aesthetics in the sense that the product needs to be physically durable enough to remain in acceptable condition and look good (which also relates back to refurbishment and repair).
- Functional durability relates to keeping the product in working order so it is able to do its allocated task. This means it needs to be updatable in order to keep pace with changing user needs. For some products (e.g. a chair) functional durability is related directly to physical durability (the function of a chair requires it to be strong enough to sit on). For other items (e.g. a smartphone) functional durability is separate to physical durability (a phone can be in good condition but still be outdated).
However, products are not merely physically functional objects — in many cases they also hold personal meaning and provide important social signals. Due to this it’s not sufficient to only consider tangible factors; we also need to consider intangibles which have an equally strong effect on durability.
- Emotional durability relates to encouraging the user to maintain a personal relationship with the product over time. It’s strongly related to the meaning of objects. For example, items retain intrinsic value because of their historical significance and nostalgia, and a sense of ownership and attachment can encourage users to keep and maintain a product. In this sense, unique imperfections and wear can actually be endearing.
- Cultural durability relates to the accepted cultural significance of an item in the wider context of society. For example, brands or labels that confer a sense of status have a symbolic value that goes beyond their functional use. Fashion items also have a cultural value which relies on trends which wax and wane. Users are more likely to keep and maintain products which currently have high cultural value.
Tips for designing like a gardener
- Avoid the idea that the designs you create are static in appearance and meaning. Consider that their appearances and meanings can and will grow and evolve over time.
- Think about physical durability when selecting materials. Select materials which have an appropriate longevity and which will gain a desirable patina, rather than those which will age unattractively or break.
- Position the user as a co-creator of narrative experience in the way that a product wears and ages. Bear in mind that personalisation, imperfection and uniqueness can endear a user to a product.
- Make repairability a key consideration. Design for disassembly and ensure that replacement components are available cheaply and easily. This approach also facilitates recycling at the end of the product’s life.
- If the physical durability of the product is likely to outlast its functional or emotional durability, consider how to make it updatable so its lifetime can be extended.
- Consider the cultural significance of the designs you create. Trend-led designs will have an ephemeral cultural value, while timeless designs are more likely to retain their cultural value over time. Be aware that the symbolic cultural value afforded by some brands and labels is more enduring than others.
