Perspectives on greener product development and manufacturing from Sustainable Minds, our partners, customers and contributors.

IDSA partnership aims to mainstream innovation in greener product design

By Sustainable Minds on January 11, 2010

Today we are excited to announce a new partnership with Industrial Design Society of America (IDSA), the world’s oldest and largest association for product designers. IDSA and Sustainable Minds have made a commitment to work together to advance the adoption and integration of ecodesign and sustainability practices in product design.

Greener product design means designing the whole product system from a life cycle perspective. Understanding what this means and how to design this way is the first step.

We are bringing together important tools and education for members, including offering Sustainable Minds LCA software at a discount. The software enables rapid iteration and comparison of new product concepts, and provides quantified environmental performance information during the design process to help make design and manufacturing trade-off decisions.

“At IDSA, our goal is to help prepare our members for the challenges that lie ahead, especially in the area of sustainability and ecodesign,” stated Clive Roux, executive director of IDSA. “We are glad that we now have a more effective tool in place to help designers plan for sustainability and environmental impact assessment. Together, with Sustainable Minds, we can work to advance the understanding and practice of whole systems and life cycle thinking in product design processes.”

“It’s the optimal partnership to catalyze meaningful change,” stated Terry Swack, CEO and co-founder of Sustainable Minds. “Our mission is to bring environmental sustainability to mainstream product development and manufacturing in an accessible, empowering, and credible way. Designers have the opportunity and responsibility to change organizations and culture through the products we value and use.”

We look forward to a long lasting partnership with IDSA, and anticipate uncovering new discoveries and methods by embracing greener design practices with IDSA members.

To learn more about the partnership, visit: http://www.sustainableminds.com/idsa.

Read the full press release.

Interested in becoming a member of IDSA? Find out what’s involved.