Sustainability Influences Design Thinking

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Sustainability and Design

You might be thinking, you’re a designer, ¨why are you talking about sustainability¨, and ¨what does it have to do with designing my presentation, report, poster, infographic, app, website, or dashboard project? ¨ I decided to write about this topic because it is important. Sustainability is an important driver of innovation, and it influences the way I think about customer problems, how I try to solve customer problems, and the decisions I make as a person and as a designer. It is a mindset or a consciousness that embraces the teachings of Tikkun Olam (Healing the World).

Empathy and The Customer
When working with clients, I bring high-level communication skills and put myself in their shoes. In a sense, we join in a partnership, and I like to dig into the why to understand customer pain points and ask 100+ questions, which explore all the details –related to past and present. Sustainability presents innovative, fresh, modern ideas and solutions that can be explored and iterated.

A Sustainable Mind-Set
Nowadays more than ever, I believe that sustainability should be top-of-mind as a driving force that plays a significant role in what we do in our jobs and in society. Sustainability presents an efficient model for business, innovation, community structure and relations, production and industry, and environmental expansion and protection. One of the benefits of sustainability is that it is a mindset that can be used as a model for making decisions and creating strategies. It is by nature it is inclusive, accessible, and caring.

In today´s social and commercial landscapes, there should be no doubt about the value of integrating sustainability into your day-to-day work, and its ability to make a profit. Plus, the added benefit of supporting the protection of the environment and social impact actions that benefit all people, not just a few. Integrating design thinking and product development to promote sustainability can create practical, responsible, and innovative outcomes. The list below illustrates ten categories for how design thinking has created sustainable solutions that are socially responsible and protect our environment.

10 Examples of Sustainability and Design Thinking

Design thinking can be used to create:

Examples of socially responsible healthcare solutions include mobile clinics, which provide healthcare services to underserved communities, healthcare facilities designed to reduce the spread of infections, and healthcare technologies that prioritize patient privacy and safety

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