Design for next… year. The challenge of designing for material change

From the momentof purchase, pristine objectsare subjected to an array of stimuli including wear, impact, heat, light, water and air which alter their tactile and aesthetic properties. Material change is often regarded as ‘damage’ or ‘degradation’, but has potential to be used as a tool to engender emotional engagement to an object. We present a framework for designers to betterunderstand how materials change with use, and in turn how people respond to materials as they change. Key challenges are identified which must be overcome to use this framework in design practice people’s physical interaction with objects is poorly understood, it is difficult to simulate material change, materials resources for designers do not provide information about material change, and people’s responses to aged materials depend on a complex web of interactingfactors

Ageing (dis)gracefully: Enabling designers to understand material change

From the moment of purchase, pristine objects are subjected to an array of stimuli including wear, impact, heat, light, water and air which alter their tactile and aesthetic properties. Material change is often regarded as ‘damage’ or ‘degradation’ and contributes to premature obsolescence but has potential to be used as a tool to engender emotional engagement with an object and extend product lifetimes. However, materials resources for designers rarely provide information about how materials will change in use. In this paper we draw on a combination of literature and user studies to elucidate the complex web of factors which contribute to changes in material surfaces, which we present in a ‘framework for understanding material change’. We go on to explore the role that changes to product material surfaces, and the design of objects to change in particular ways with use, could have on the transition to circular modes of consumption. A range of resources which aim to increase designers’ understanding of material change are presented, and the challenges of creating, utilising and developing these resources are discussed

Embracing material surface imperfections in product design

Imperfection is not a usual aim within the context of industrialized product design. Under general norms, products are manufactured as clones of a ‘perfect’ original and product surfaces are prized for their ‘perfect’ flawless state. The mass production of products against these principles seems counterintuitive. Yet within the world of materials, and especially considering material surfaces, imperfection is widespread. This research set out to identify and scrutinize circumstances when material imperfection in products is appreciated, from mass manufacture to artisan practices. By synthesizing literature with analyses of material and product samples, five sources of surface imperfections are characterized: inherent material properties, production effects, workmanship of risk, planned and foreseen events, and everyday wear and tear. Following this, a research-focused concept design project is reported, leading to eleven product designs that exemplify how to design for, and with, imperfect material surfaces. A significant challenge facing designers is one of persuasion: of designing products where imperfect material surfaces are regarded as contributing to rather than detracting from product value. To this end, the paper culminates in a visual guide to embracing material surface imperfections in design practice

Closing the loop on e-waste: a multidisciplinary perspective

This paper describes the challenges faced, and oppor tunities identified, by a multidisciplinary team of researchers developing a novel closed loop system to recover valuable metals and reduce e-waste, focusing on mobile phones as a case study. This multidisciplinary approach is contrasted with current top-down approaches to making the transition to the circular economy (CE). The aim of the research presented here is to develop a product service system (PSS) that facilitates the recovery of valuable functional components and metals from mobile phone circuit boards. To create a holistic solution and limit unintended consequences, in addition to technological solutions, this paper considers appropriate component lifetimes; the (often ignored) role of the citizen in the circular economy; customer interaction with the PSS; environmental life cycle assessment; and social impacts of the proposed PSS. Development of enabling technologies and materials to facilitate recovery of components and metals and to provide an emotionally durable external enclosure is described. This research also highlights the impor tance of understanding value in the CE from a multifaceted and interdisciplinary perspective

Understanding material change: Design for appropriate product lifetimes

From the moment of purchase, pristine objects are subjected to an array of stimuli including wear, impact, heat, light, water and air which alter their tactile and aesthetic properties. Material change is often regarded as ‘damage’ or ‘degradation’, but has potential to be used as a tool to engender emotional engagement to an object and extend product lifetimes. The potential benefits, and complications, associated with material change in the context of designing for the circular economy and other sustainable product service systems is discussed. We present a framework for designers to better understand how materials change with use, and in turn how people respond to materials as they change. Key challenges are identified which must be overcome to use this framework in design practice: people’s physical interaction with objects is poorly understood, it is difficult to simulate material change, materials resources for designers do not provide information about material change, and people’s responses to aged materials depend on a complex web of interacting factors

Aging gracefully to increase product longevity

Longer use and responsible disposal of rapidly discarded consumer electronics would slow material throughput and reduce metal extraction rates and associated environmental impacts. Although longevity is technically achievable, extending product lifetimes is more challenging when devices become ‘tired’, ‘worn’ or ‘damaged’ as these attributes are believed to result in loss of value, dissatisfaction and premature disposal. “Materials mediate the aging process in a tangible and immediate way” (Chapman, 2014, p. 141), thus users’ sustained appreciation of materials will often determine a product’s longevity regardless of physical durability and functional lifespan. This paper presents the findings of a user-centred study which explores tactile and aesthetic responses to new and artificially aged mobile phone cases made from leather, titanium, cork, plastic, rubber, walnut and bamboo. The results indicate that preferences for the materials tested were extremely subjective, and even a single participant was likely to have conflicting requirements for the characteristics of the materials (for example, sleek and shiny yet easy to grip). Participants’ preconceptions about the meaning and function of materials in a particular context strongly influenced their responses. The ageing process had no effect on the position of the samples materials in preference order, but the comments provided by participants gave useful insights into the variety of ways that wear and damage can be interpreted by different people for different materials in a particular context

Worn out or worn in? How cosmetic wear affects semantic appraisals of materials

The aesthetics of material performance within design is typically only considered up to the point of sale, a false end state in which the ‘newness’ of the product is protected by the hermetic packaging in which it is sold. Beyond this, the ‘ageing’ of a material is thought of only in terms of utility or easily measured technical parameters such as durability or toughness, and rarely reflects upon, or accounts for, the users experiential relationship with the material. Here, we explore changes in tactile and visual perceptions when sample materials have been artificially aged through the application of a taxonomy of damage observed from real world products. This paper argues that to expand our current knowledge in material culture and to assist in providing a more nuanced understanding of the user’s long-term relationship with materials, we, as designers, need to observe, record and reflect upon attitudinal reactions to aged and used materials

Diagnostics plots showing the convergence of the three randomly chosen regression parameters <i>θ</i> of the Bayesian dynamic linear model at time 10000s.

<p>The first column shows the posterior density of the state variables. The middle column is the running ergodic means of MCMC samples. The third colum is the trace plots for the MCMC samples.</p

Biofilm structures showing temporal evolution of effect of shear rate on biofilm deformation and bacteria detachment for different shear rates for the period the flow is applied.

<p>Left-plot: <i>γ</i> = 0.26<i>s</i>⁻¹ and right-plot: <i>γ</i> = 0.37<i>s</i>⁻¹ for 40,000, 80,000, 120,000, 160,000 and 200,000 seconds respectively.</p