The Benefits of Downscaling

Green design calls for small improvements across large volumes and for reducing the resources, materials, and energy used in products

by Clay Burns

Open any magazine and you're likely to find an article on how to "go green." The Web, meanwhile, is awash in sustainability sites. An eco-zeitgeist is forming, and designers and manufacturers are moving quickly to adapt. But while those of us on the supply side can start to deliver greener products, we can't control demand. How quickly will consumers adopt our green products?

While there has been an impressive shift in consumer consciousness, the truth is that consumer habits change gradually. For that matter, it takes time for new, greener materials to become truly affordable. This means designers and our corporate clients need to focus less on finding a killer green technology or selling consumers on green products, and more on the small design changes that can make a large impact immediately.

Design teams work with the three basic building blocks of sustainability: reduce, reuse, and recycle. Much has been accomplished on the recycling front, and even reuse has a newfound footing—witness eBay (EBAY), Craigslist, and certified pre-owned cars. But it is time to get serious about reducing. For companies, the problem is that it's difficult to thrive in an expanding global market by making fewer products and it is hard to make products using fewer natural resources. For designers, well, we love making cool stuff. Reducing is even difficult for consumers who have learned that variety is the spice of life. But the fact is, of the three building blocks, reducing is the most direct. What green design needs today is not a silver bullet, but the simple notion of small improvements across large volumes.

Downscaling Equals Downsizing

Call it downscaling, a design approach that focuses on a product's material and energy use. Downscaling entails small, consistent improvements across one (or more) of three dimensions: size, features, and longevity.

Taking size first, look around and count the number of things that are just plain big. The SUV is the most prominent example of oversizing in the U.S., but we also love big everyday items, such as spacious wheeled luggage—whose overstuffed contents help increase jet fuel consumption. Our culture remains dominated by the idea that bigger is better. And these oversized products not only expend more material, they also increase shipping costs and retail space.

Fortunately, a "go small" counter-trend has yielded successes in minimal architecture and micro-marquee products, proving great design trumps bigger-is-better thinking. Sales of streamlined prefab housing are rising, and the revamped Mini line by BMW (BMWG) has elevated the compact car. In each case, architects and design teams have stressed size optimization as a key criterion of a well-designed product. While these "right-sized" products might represent niche markets today, the trend lines are clear.

Reducing Features

The second way to downscale a product is to reduce features. Most companies add features as a way to stand out from their competition; marketing believes new features are key to sales, and R&D believes they are the natural outcome of technology. Of course new functions can be wonderful, but we have all experienced feature overload, as brands including Sony (SNE) and Hitachi try to outduel one another.