Abstract
In recent years, there has been an increased focus on bringing sustainability into design education. The focus of such education, however, mainly concerns providing design students with the knowledge and skills needed to create sustainable design, which, so this paper argues, may not be enough. Thus, with a basis in Aristotelian virtue ethics, this paper shows that sustainable design education may apply a broader perspective by also focussing on how to stimulate design students’ desire to create sustainable solutions as well as providing them with the means to engage others in such ideas. As compared to the identified literature, the present paper represents a novel perspective on sustainability in design education that may constitute a basis for further discussions and educational developments.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Arnold, D. G., & Bowie, N. E. (2003). Sweatshops and respect for persons. Business Ethics Quarterly, 13(2), 221–242.
Becker, M., Edwards, S., & Massey, R. I. (2010). Toxic chemicals in toys and children’s products: Limitations of current responses and recommendations for government and industry. Environmental Science and Technology, 44(21), 7986–7991.
Berman, D. B. (2009). Do good: How designers can change the world. Berkeley, CA: AIGA Design Press.
Bhamra, T., Lilley, D., & Tang, T. (2011). Design for sustainable behaviour: Using products to change consumer behaviour. The Design Journal, 14(4), 427–445.
Bhamra, T., & Lofthouse, V. (2007). Design for sustainability: A practical approach. Aldershot, UK: Gower Publishing.
Black, D. W. (2007). A review of compulsive buying disorder. World Psychiatry, 6(1), 14–18.
Boks, C., & Diehl, J. C. (2006). Integration of sustainability in regular courses: Experiences in industrial design engineering. Journal of Cleaner Production, 14(9–11), 932–939.
Cahoone, L. (2009). Hunting as a moral good. Environmental Values, 18(1), 67–89.
Cassim, F. (2013). Hands on, hearts on, minds on: Design thinking within an education context. International Journal of Art & Design Education, 32(2), 190–202.
Chapman, J. (2009). Design for (emotional) durability. Design Issues, 24(4), 29–35.
Chapman, J., & Gant, N. (2007). Design visionaries and other stories: A collection of sustainable design essays. Sterling, VA: Earthscan.
Clarke, J. (2013). Actions speak louder: Victor Papanek and the legacy of design activism. Design and Culture, 5(2), 151–168.
Cull, A. K. (2005). The education of undergraduate product designers in the principles and practice of sustainable design. Aberdeen: Robert Gordon University.
D’Anjou, P. (2010). Beyond duty and virtue in design ethics. Design Issues, 26(1), 95–105.
Dreyfuss, H. (1955, reprinted 2012). Designing for people. New York: Allworth Press.
Elkington, J. (1997). Cannibals with forks: The triple bottom line of 21st century business. Oxford: Capstone.
Elliott, J. E., & Elliott, K. H. (2013). Tracking marine pollution. Science, 340(6132), 556–558.
Ertekin, Z. O., & Atik, D. (2015). Sustainable markets: Motivating factors, barriers, and remedies for mobilization of slow fashion. Journal of Macromarketing, 35(1), 53–69.
Findeli, A. (2001). Rethinking design education for the 21st century: Theoretical, methodological, and ethical discussion. Design Issues, 17(1), 5–17.
Foulk, G. J. (1972). Plantinga’s criticisms of Sartre’s ethics. Ethics, 82(4), 330–333.
Fuad-Luke, A. (2007). Redefining the purpose of (sustainable) design: Enter the design enablers, catalysts in co-design. In J. Chapman & N. Gant (Eds.), Designers, visionaries and other stories (pp. 18–55). London: Earthscan.
Fuad-Luke, A. (2009). Design activism: Beautiful strangeness for a sustainable world. Sterling, VA: Earthscan.
Garver, E. (1994). Aristotle’s rhetoric: An art of character. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Grimm, H. (2012). Leaving the ivory tower or back into theory? Learning from paradigm cases in animal ethics. In T. Potthast & S. Meisch (Eds.), Climate change and sustainable development (pp. 441–446). Dordrecht: Springer.
Hartelius, E. J. (2008). The rhetoric of expertise. Plymouth, UK: Lexington Books.
IPCC. (2014a). Climate change 2014: Impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability: Contribution of working group II to the fifth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.
IPCC. (2014b). Climate change 2014: Mitigation of climate change: Contribution of working group III to the fifth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge, University Press.
Jelsma, J., & Knot, M. (2002). Designing environmentally efficient services; A ‘script’ approach. The Journal of Sustainable Product Design, 2(3), 119–130.
Julier, G. (2013). From design culture to design activism. Design and Culture, 5(2), 215–236.
Kolar, R. (2006). Animal experimentation. Science and Engineering Ethics, 12(1), 111–122.
Kotler, P., & Rath, G. A. (1984). Design: A powerful but neglected strategic tool. Journal of Business Strategy, 5(2), 16–21.
Lilley, D. (2009). Design for sustainable behaviour: Strategies and perceptions. Design Studies, 30(6), 704–720.
Lofthouse, V. (2013). Social issues: Making them relevant and appropriate to undergraduate student designers. Design and Technology Education: An International Journal, 18(2), 8–23.
McDonough, W., & Braungart, M. (2002). Cradle to cradle: Remaking the way we make things. New York: North Point Press.
Novotny, T. E., Lum, K., Smith, E., Wang, V., & Barnes, R. (2009). Communication cigarettes butts and the case for an environmental policy on hazardous cigarette waste. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 6(5), 1691–1705.
Nussbaum, M. C. (1999). Virtue ethics: A misleading category? The Journal of Ethics, 3(3), 163–201.
Oak, A. (2000). It’s a nice idea, but it’s not actually real: Assessing the objects and activities of design. Journal of Art and Design Education, 19(1), 86–95.
Papanek, V. (1971). Design for the real world: Human ecology and social change. London: Thames & Hudson.
Polak, P. (2007). Design for the other ninety percent. In C. E. Smith (Ed.), Design for the other ninety percent (pp. 19–25). New York: Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum.
Ramirez, M. (2006). Sustainability in the education of industrial designers: The case for Australia. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 7(2), 189–202.
Ramirez, M. (2007). Sustainability integration in industrial design education: A worldwide survey. In C. Reidsema & R. Zehner (Eds.), Proceedings of ConnectED 2007: International conference on design education (pp. 1–5). Sidney: University of NSW.
Ramirez, E. (2013). The consumer adoption of sustainability-oriented offerings: Toward a middle-range theory. Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, 21(4), 415–428.
Rodríguez, E., & Boks, C. (2005). How design of products affects user behaviour and vice versa: The environmental implications. Proceedings of the 4th international symposium on environmentally conscious design and inverse manufacturing ecodesign 2005 (pp. 1–8). IEEE: Piscataway.
Šálek, M., Svobodová, J., & Zasadil, P. (2010). Edge effect of low-traffic forest roads on bird communities in secondary production forests in central Europe. Landscape Ecology, 25(7), 1113–1124.
Scerri, A., & James, P. (2010). Accounting for sustainability: Combining qualitative and quantitative research in developing “indicators” of sustainability’. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 13(1), 41–53.
Shorrocks, A., Davies, J., & Lluberas, R. (2015). Global wealth report 2015. Zurich: Credit Suisse Research Institute.
Smith, C. R. (2004). Ethos dwells pervasively: A hermeneutic reading of Aristotle on credibility. In M. J. Hyde (Ed.), The ethos of rhetoric (pp. 1–19). Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press.
Stegall, N. (2006). Designing for sustainability: A philosophy for ecologically intentional design. Design Issues, 22(2), 56–63.
Thorpe, A. (2008). Design as activism: A conceptual tool. In C. Cipolla & P. P. Peruccio (Eds.), Proceedings of the changing the change conference (paper 127) (pp. 1–13). Turin: Allemandi Conference Press.
Tillman, J. T. (1994). Regenerative design for sustainable development. New York: John Wiley and Sons.
Tischner, U., & Charter, M. (2001). Sustainable product design. In M. Charter & U. Tischner (Eds.), Sustainable solutions: Developing products and services for the future (pp. 118–138). Sheffield: Greenleaf Publishing.
Van Nes, N., & Cramer, J. (2005). Influencing product lifetime through product design. Business Strategy and the Environment, 14(5), 286–299.
Walker, S. (2011). The spirit of design: objects, environment and meaning. Abingdon, OX: Routledge.
Webster, K., & Johnson, C. (2008). Sense & sustainability, educating for a circular economy. (n.p.): TerraPreta in association with Yorkshire Forward and InterfaceFLOR.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Haug, A. Educating ethical designers. Int J Technol Des Educ 27, 655–665 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10798-016-9367-y
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10798-016-9367-y