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Design Futures Council report offers tips for successful sustainable design projects

By | July 28, 2011, 2:14 PM PDT

Are there specific steps that designers can take to create successful eco-friendly products and services?

A number of tips can be found in a recently published report from DesignIntelligence, the editorial arm of the Design Futures Council, a global network of executives and thought leaders in the design, manufacturing, and architecture industries.

The report draws conclusions from a survey of architects, interior designers, engineers, and landscape architects, on their opinions on the state of green and sustainable design today. According to the survey, 63 percent were satisfied with their own firm’s progress in this field, so the study suggests realistic actions.

In the publication, the editors of Design Intelligence’s 2011 Green and Sustainability Design Survey point to the following tips:

  • Push your firm’s leaders to be role models; make sure they practice sustainable design themselves
  • Offer in-house continuing education on eco-friendly design and materials to all employees
  • Think about regional environmental impact as a priority for projects
  • Push for green building codes and other regulations at your local level, where impact is possible
  • Make branding a focus for sustainable products, in addition to design itself

Analyzing these suggestions, it seems that a satisfying way to achieve success in green design is to focus on smaller, more immediate results, rather than large-scale achievements. Make sure lead designers and junior staff alike know and use the latest sustainable products and services. Look to local and regional problems to solve via design for tangible outcomes. Then carefully market the projects or products that result.

[via the American Society of Landscape Architects]

Photo: Fpintl67/Wikimedia Commons

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Reena Jana

About Reena Jana

Reena Jana was a contributing editor for SmartPlanet from 2011 to 2013.

Reena Jana

Reena Jana

Contributing Editor

Reena Jana has written for the New York Times, Wired, Harvard Business Review online, Fast Company, Architectural Record, Artforum, Time Out New York, Harper's Bazaar, and GQ. Previously, she was the innovation department editor at BusinessWeek. She holds degrees from Columbia University and Barnard College.

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Reena Jana

Reena Jana

Reena occasionally consults with companies, and when her writing discusses a corporation or other organization with which she has worked, she will disclose this fact. Reena does not hold any investments in the companies she covers.

She writes for SmartPlanet and is not an employee of CBS.

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