Design for sustainability

Industrial designers are often asked to design products with mass production in mind: how to produce consumer goods efficiently and on a large scale? This approach has its origins in the industrial revolution, when mass production was used for machine production. Today, aesthetics, design and product durability also play a factor to be taken into account.

Although the industrial revolution brought prosperity and economic growth, the period also has a downside: miserable working conditions, disrupted ecosystems and a growing mountain of waste. Designers are part of this consumer society but they also possess the knowledge to find solutions to these immense challenges.

In the Industrial Design Engineer (IO) course, students are trained with a broad, global vision and a strong technological base. These engineers can zoom out and understand the complete system. With this understanding, they creatively make connections between different scientific disciplines to create sustainable, user-friendly products. Moreover, IO students possess the technical skills to turn ideas into tangible products with a meaningful impact.

Artist Bram Van Acker's art installation creates space for change on a mental level in this demanding consumer society, dominated by our digital habits. In their projects, the IO students show how we can creatively fill our mental space differently and deal with an ever-changing world.

Organised by the Industrial Design programme at Ugent Campus Kortrijk in collaboration with Bram Boris Van Acker, PhD in psychology.