Sustainability encompasses social, economic and environmental issues with the primary aim to fulfil the needs of the present society without compromising the potential needs of future generations. Product design has been identified to greatly influence the sustainability of New Product Development. This study aims to identify and review the fundamental factors in which product design has the ability to influence and improve the overall environmental sustainability of a product. A comprehensive literature review has been performed to establish trends over the past four decades. The factors that have significant potential, such as the 6Rs, waste and energy, which aid designers in the implementation of environmental sustainability during the product design process have been identified and discussed. Through this analysis, a new conceptual framework has been conceived, facilitating designers in implementing environmental sustainability during product development. In addition, future research opportunities have been identified.

IntroductionSustainability has remained an important issue within academia and industry, with more recent focus on sustainability education to ensure that future generations are equipped with the knowledge to continue and champion sustainable outcomes. The design and innovation industry has been continuously identified as important by academia, for having high impact on the potential sustainability of products and services during their development. However, little research focuses on the pre-professional education of designers and whether they receive an appropriate education on sustainable issues in relation to their industry.MethodsThis study investigated these issues within the context of United Kingdom-based postgraduate design courses, to determine the current state of sustainability education as well as the impact of government resources and policies on encouraging sustainability education. Courses were identified utilizing online databases and were evaluated using Sterling's model “Levels of Response to Sustainability Education” to understand the current approach to sustainability within design education, including content and pedagogy, offering recommendations for improvement.ResultsCourses were evaluated against Sterling's model “Levels of Response to Sustainability Education”, which enabled the understanding of the current state of higher education and sustainability education with Postgraduate design courses in the UK. Following this review, a model for upgrading sustainability education is proposed.DiscussionAround 80% of the courses identified throughout this study were ranked as “weak” or “very weak” according to Sterling's model, the proposed model highlights several strategies to aid postgraduate design courses to progress to the “strong” level. The framework model focuses on various sustainability themes to be included within postgraduate design education, teaching methods, as well as the inclusion of a dedicated student reflection period to improve and adapt the sustainability teaching.

The aim of sustainability is to fulfil the needs of current generations without compromising the needs of future generations. It is also a rising area of concern within industry, it is therefore important that graduate designers are equipped with the skills to accommodate sustainability issues as well as demands from industry. Additionally, the product design stage during New Product Development has been identified to have the greatest impact on the sustainability of the entire product, however how educated designers are on the topic of sustainability is unclear. An initial literature review has been conducted to investigate design education on sustainability as well as teaching styles. Following this the study identifies and reviews UK Product Design courses to establish the current status of sustainability integration in higher education. The exploration into university prospectuses has found that around half of UK universities implement sustainability in some way, however there are limited courses which dedicate specific modules to sustainability. Additionally, links with industry and accreditation organizations between UK product design courses have been confirmed, but there is no definite information to suggest that the universities use this to aid in the implementation sustainability education. From this review future research directions have been outlined.

The need and demand for socially and environmentally responsible products from consumers has also increased, with customers demanding more sustainable products through their purchasing behavior and product feedback.

Environmental sustainability during New Product Development has been identified within in literature as being a key issue. The design process has been highlighted as having a great impact on the overall sustainability of a product and has been a rising theme for academic and industrial interest. Although there is an extensive range of literature identifying key methodologies, tools and factors of environmental sustainability to be implemented during the product design process, it is unclear of what is currently being implemented by product designers within industry. This study explores the themes of environmental sustainability and the design process through a literature review and semi-structured interviews to understand the current status of environmental sustainability during the product design process. From this study an initial conceptual framework has been developed to illustrate this. Future research directions have also been outlined.