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Sustainability in Design Studies at Aalto University
Authors: Professor Kirsi Niinimäki, Senior Lecturer Tatu Marttila, and Lecturer Teppo Vienamo, Department of Design at Aalto University
Sustainability thinking is integrated into Design Studies at Aalto at both bachelor’s and master’s levels. While bachelor studies primarily emphasise the environmental impacts of product design and material choices, as well as the designer’s capacity to influence these elements through their own actions, master’s studies focus on educating the students about the necessary system-level changes.
Sustainability thinking is integrated into Design Studies at Aalto at both bachelor’s and master’s levels. While bachelor studies primarily emphasise the environmental impacts of product design and material choices, as well as the designer’s capacity to influence these elements through their own actions, master’s studies focus on educating the students about the necessary system-level changes.
The Department of Design at Aalto University offers the following majors at bachelor’s level: Design, Fashion, and Aalto Bachelor Programme in Design (since fall Aalto Bachelor programme in Design and Media Fashion), which is taught exclusively in English. At the master’s level, majors include Collaborative and Industrial Design, Fashion, Clothing and Textile Design (since fall Fashion and Textile design), and Contemporary Design. In addition, the Department contributes to two multidisciplinary master’s programmes in collaboration with other Aalto schools: International Design Business Management and Creative Sustainability.
Sustainability education integrates and adapts to each major, embedding essential competencies relevant to each profession. While product design-oriented majors focus more on design-based solutions, the International Design Business Management major, for instance, emphasises strategic thinking and business operations. Sustainable development has been a core component of product design education since the late 1990s. Therefore, it is essential that studies remain attuned to new developments and research in each discipline, allowing us to create a relevant knowledge and competency foundation on sustainability for future designers during their studies. The following sections outline the key sustainability perspectives integrated into design studies.
Defining sustainable design
Sustainable design addresses environmental, social, and societal elements in the design of products, services, and processes. Key indicators for sustainable design include the carbon and material footprints generated through processes and production, while the efforts to improve these elements are referred to as eco-efficiency. Efficient and more sustainable use of products and materials can yield benefits for the entire value chain. Therefore, assessment of sustainable design should include both social and global perspectives, as well as societal development from a broader perspective.
Sustainable design strategies have evolved in parallel with societal discourse on sustainable development. In addition to material and product-level sustainability, attention has increasingly turned to systematic changes on the levels of production and consumption and, most recently, innovation activities and the support of societal changes. In the sustainability and environmental crisis, the wasting of resources for example, in industrial production is seen as a problem, and design aims to move away from an unsustainable, consumption-centred lifestyle.
A cornerstone of sustainable design is ecodesign, which integrates life cycle thinking into product design. This approach considers the sustainability effects of products and services in all stages of production and use. Ecodesign thinking proposes to enhance the sustainability of materials and products through production and use innovations, such as by acknowledging social responsibility in raw material sourcing, advocating for low-emission production and logistics, and extending service life through maintenance, repair services and improved recycling systems.
Materials and products continue to yield benefits when they are used more efficiently and over longer periods. Product-service-system (PSS) design seeks to create innovative service models that enable sharing, maintenance, or more efficient recycling of products. Peer-to-peer transactions, rental services, workshops, and take-back systems made known by sharing economy offer ways to improve not just material efficiency, but also to distribute benefits a broader value chain.
Moreover, recent discourse on the circular economy and the transition to the production of more sustainable energy and mobility systems exemplifies the management of high-level societal changes. These, in turn, can be supported by a variety of design-oriented operational models, such as crowdsourcing or collaborative stakeholder participation. The late service and interior designer Tanja Jänicke, recipient of the 2020 State Prize for Design, exemplified this approach through their founding roles in Yhteismaa ry, a registered association for social impact projects and Mesenaatti.me, a crowdfunding platform. Furthermore, Jänicke contributed to the creation of the Cleaning Day concept, an event for promoting communality in urban areas.
International regulation of sustainable design
In addition, sustainable design studies must consider international regulatory frameworks. At the EU level, sustainable consumption and production (SCP) is governed through several directives. Previously, the regulation on the level of product design strived to reduce the energy consumption of electric appliances (cf. the former Ecodesign Directive), develop producer responsibility (extended producer responsibility, EPR), and influence consumer behaviour (for example, eco-labels).
In 2024, the Ecodesign Directive was updated in accordance with the circular economy framework, resulting in the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR). The ESPR expands its scope to cover nearly all products and emphasises criteria related to sustainability, repairability, and recycling. All future products must be designed for long life cycles as well as enhanced repairability and recyclability. The most recent developments include improving plastic recycling, increasing the use of recycled materials (cf. the EU Plastics Strategy), and extending producer responsibility to cover plastic packaging. In addition, the EU is promoting social sustainability, requiring large enterprises and organisations to report on risks to both social and environmental sustainability.
Globally, sustainable design is defined and regulated through ISO standards. The ISO 14000 family includes standardised processes for launching an environmental management system (ISO 14001) and for incorporating ecodesign (ISO 14006). These, alongside other key regulatory mechanisms, are briefly discussed during, for example, the compulsory course ‘Sustainable Design’ (ARTX-C1008), part of both the Design and Aalto Bachelor Programme in Design. A more in-depth discussion of the topic is offered in, for example, the multidisciplinary, inter-school Creative Sustainability Master’s programme, developed in collaboration with the Department of Chemistry and Materials Science and the School of Business at Aalto University.
Integrating sustainability thinking into textile and clothing design studies
Sustainability thinking is embedded in professional modules within textile and clothing design studies. To illustrate, studies on designing printed textiles and dyeing textile materials explore the environmental impacts of dyeing agents and the required chemicals, while familiarising students with safety information, correct use, and disposal of chemicals. Students are also introduced to alternatives and more environmentally friendly methods. For example, synthetic dyes and chemicals can be replaced with bio-based natural dyes and dye fixatives. At this point, studies focus on analysing optimal service life of products and required colour fastness, i.e., the product specifications. The newest research data in the field is continuously integrated into the studies. Innovations developed at Aalto, such as bio-based materials, are also featured in the curriculum. Therefore, we integrate our own research into degree programmes.
Material choice is a critical area where designers can influence sustainability in textile and clothing design. Therefore, material studies focus on analysing the environmental impacts of materials, introducing eco-labelled materials, and discussing material choices from the perspective the final stage of a product’s life cycle, recyclability (recyclability potential of materials). Students are encouraged to utilise recycled and excess materials donated by industry partners for their course work. Redesigning clothes from second-hand materials has, in fact, become a central aspect of design studies. These processes challenge traditional approaches to clothing design by starting with existing clothing and its limitations rather than new fabrics. In addition to aesthetics, studies also explore how design decisions influence functionality and product longevity. Moreover, new EU directives call for the promotion of product repairability and recyclability.
Several courses include assignments in which students self-assess their design work against sustainable development criteria. Studies include analysing industrial production processes from sustainability perspective, the designer’s role in clothing and textile industry, and how the designer can reduce product’s environmental footprint or extend its lifecycle. At master’s level, the focus expands to analysing the system-level changes, to influencing consumer behaviour through product-service systems or business-oriented thinking, and to acknowledging the EU-level directives and their induced changes to design. (cf. the EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles.)
Additional literature:
Ecodesign methods review:
Rossi, M., Germani, M., & Zamagni, A. (2016). Review of ecodesign methods and tools. Barriers and strategies for an effective implementation in industrial companies. Journal of Cleaner Production, 129, 361-373. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.04.051
Product Service Systems and Sustainability: Opportunities for Sustainable Solutions:
https://search.issuelab.org/resource/product-service-systems-and-sustainability-opportunities-for-sustainable-solutions.html
EU Sustainable Consumption and Production, SCP:
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/factsheets/en/sheet/77/sustainable-consumption-and-production
EU Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation, ESPR:
https://commission.europa.eu/energy-climate-change-environment/standards-tools-and-labels/products-labelling-rules-and-requirements/ecodesign-sustainable-products-regulation_en
EU Circular Economy Action Plan:
EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles
Henninger, C., Niinimäki, K., Jones, C. & Cano, M.B. (2022) Sustainable Fashion Management. London, New York: Routledge. ISBN 9780367564551