Design Team Leads: 3 Strategies to Lead Your Team Towards Sustainable Solutions

Designers have already begun to lead the sustainability movement, working to develop long term design solutions with sustainability in mind. As a journalism and design student at Northwestern University, I have found two articles that offer valuable insight into sustainable design.

Elizabeth Segran’s article “The shockingly simple way to make packaging more sustainable” published on Fast Company explores the creative way in which many cleaning companies have cut down on waste: removing water. By removing this component from the design of certain cleaning products, companies have been able to reduce the plastic and packaging they must use to hold and transport products. Water is a component that can be added by consumers at home. In cutting this out of the products design companies have been able to reduce the size of products, in turn reducing the resources needed to package and ship them.

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Renee Yardley's article “The state of recycling: What does it mean for paper?” published on Sustainable Brands examines consumer trends in sustainability. Today, consumers care more about recycling and are extremely mindful of their environmental impacts. Nevertheless, the average American still produces more than four pounds of trash daily, according to the EPA. Consumers want to help the environment but don’t necessarily know how to do it most effectively. Yardley also points out that consumers want companies to become leaders in sustainability as well, and hope they will work together to do so.

Based on these articles and my learnings from Northwestern, I have developed three recommendations for design leads to consider when working to lead your team towards a sustainable design solution:

• Cut components - Reduce waste production by simplifying products through the removal of unnecessary components, such as water.

• Find a partner - Collaborating with other green partners will allow designers to be more innovative in sustainable design and reduce environmental impact.

• Educate consumers - It’s not enough to simply create sustainable products, educate consumers on disposal best practices in order to maximize the environmental effect.

Next time you're working on a design project, consider these three recommendations to create more sustainable solutions for the future.

My name is Kelli Nguyen. I am a senior at Northwestern University graduating this spring with a degree in Journalism, Design, Integrated Marketing Communications, and History. My passion lies in the intersection of communication and design. In the past, I have worked for BMW Technology and LinkedIn, and I aim to continue to work in tech improving communication strategies between companies and consumers. Find me on LinkedIn and Twitter.