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How often have you seen a label on a product proclaiming it to be made from ‘recycled material’, ‘bioplastic’ or similar, without it giving any details of the concrete environmental benefits? What do these terms really mean? A drive for greater transparency and demonstrable environmental benefits is happening in product design, through emerging legislation and standards, and consumer demand for more sustainable products and unambiguous marketing.
In Better Things: Materials for Sustainable Product Design, Daniel Liden seeks to tackle the lazy ‘greenwashing’ terminology we see every day, providing a guide for product designers, manufacturers and consumers wishing to make better and more informed decisions about materials. The book comprises six chapters devoted to material categories – plastics, textiles, metals, ceramics and glass, wood and paper – and a seventh chapter covering emerging sustainable technologies. Each chapter includes interviews with industry experts, as well as photos, diagrams, environmental impact data, general material properties and more.
In Better Things: Materials for Sustainable Product Design, Daniel Liden seeks to tackle the lazy ‘greenwashing’ terminology we see every day, providing a guide for product designers, manufacturers and consumers wishing to make better and more informed decisions about materials. The book comprises six chapters devoted to material categories – plastics, textiles, metals, ceramics and glass, wood and paper – and a seventh chapter covering emerging sustainable technologies. Each chapter includes interviews with industry experts, as well as photos, diagrams, environmental impact data, general material properties and more.
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Reviews
Daniel Liden's Better Things is a delightful contribution to the urgent material and sustainability discussion offering a condensed but well informed overview of materials and processes. It bridges the gap between design, material technology and sustainable innovation also offering useful references for further research.
I can't wait to order copies of this book for our students as it will be great resource for teaching the upcoming generations of designers and makers enabling them to make better informed material decisions respecting our planet!
Daniel has created an incredibly comprehensive material resource that any designer should be using - We all know how hard Sustainability decisions can be, with the varying factors to consider, and this breaks down all the complexities including everything from Life-cycle analysis to key suppliers. Materials are so critical to decarbonising our production, so if you are making products at any level - this is for you!
I have found myself dipping in and out of regularly. I think it's brilliant - comprehensive yet straightforward and extremely timely.
Better Things: Materials for Sustainable Product Design is an indispensable Source for any CMF designer. Its clear structure, insightful guidance around material choices, and beautiful visual design make it an essential resource for incorporating sustainable materials into stunning design solutions. Highly recommended!
This has great easy to understand case studies and examples of specific sustainable materials which will help students understand how they can close the loop in the design/manufacturing process.