Imagine squeezing some carrot juice, drinking the liquid, and then using the remaining pulp to make a computer keyboard. An absurd thought? Maybe not. Based on research, a team of UW industrial design students recently designed a biodegradable keyboard composed mainly of vegetable pulp.

The project was just one of 16 creative design solutions that emerged through a recent undergraduate course on whole product design, co-developed by Louise St. Pierre, assistant professor of industrial design, and Ann Thorpe, King County Department of Natural Resources. Students in the course were asked to redesign several local products to “reduce their environmental footprint.”

	UW students discuss models they created for a modular keyboard.

“We wanted students to look at the whole life cycle of a product, from resource extraction through use and disposal,” explains St. Pierre. “And we wanted students to work on real projects, designed for real consumers with real manufacturing limitations.”

To ensure that the projects were reality-based, St. Pierre and Thorpe recruited three industry partners, asking each to select a product to be redesigned. Computer giant Microsoft selected a computer keyboard, REI chose a mountaineering parka, and lighting company Resolute chose one of its bestselling lamps. Each industry partner also provided a mentor to work directly with the students. “The mentors gave so much of their time,” says St. Pierre. “They helped the students understand the manufacturing process and the hurdles to change in their industry.”

Eryn Gregory, senior apparel designer for REI, “jumped at the chance” to serve as a mentor when she heard about the project. “Most of what I do is petroleum-based, and I wish I could do more design that considers environmental impacts,” she explains. “What intrigued me most was the emphasis on realistic solutions rather than on what might be possible in 50 years.”

Before Gregory and the other mentors met with students, the class spent several weeks learning the basics of whole product design, from life cycle analysis of a product to assessment of economic impacts. With support from the Environmental Protection Agency and King County, St. Pierre was able to bring international leaders in whole product design to work with the class. She also recruited John Wells, an industrial designer experienced in eco-design, to serve as guest lecturer throughout the course.

By the third week, the class was ready to focus on specific products. Students divided into three groups, each assigned an industry mentor. First the mentors offered extensive background on their product, then the students brainstormed design ideas, generating hundreds of sketches. Breaking into smaller subgroups, they pursued two or three designs and created preliminary models. By the end of the quarter, each team created a more polished model of one design, accompanied by a report documenting its feasibility

“As the students started working through their ideas, there were layers and layers to go through,” says St. Pierre. “They had to ask, ‘Who’s using this product? How are they using it? What are the materials? What does it feel like to touch it? How would it be manufactured?’ The questions go on and on.”

Fortunately, the mentors were available to provide answers and assistance. REI let students use its database to learn more about its consumers. Resolute invited students to watch glassblowers at its facility—and then blew some of the prototypes for the students. Microsoft put students in touch with its lead project engineers.

Old REI parkas were reborn as backpacks through the creativity of one student team. Photo by Richard Nicol.

“Talking to the mentor and project engineers was extremely beneficial,” says Kyle Rogerson, a junior assigned to the keyboard project. “It was especially helpful to learn about manufacturing constraints. To me, dealing with those constraints is one of the most interesting parts of design. A lot of the fun is trying to resolve all the details—to blend your own ideas with the available manufacturing processes to make a real product.”

While the mentors responded to students’ questions, St. Pierre had questions of her own. Mostly, she wondered how much students could really accomplish in ten weeks. She got her answer at the end of the quarter. “The students did incredible things,” she says. “What I keep learning every quarter is to never underestimate students.”

Gregory was equally impressed. “I felt that I was almost dealing with them as peers,” she says. “They were intelligent enough to understand the issues. And when they didn’t, they asked questions, much like the designers and developers I work with at REI. By the end of the quarter, they were talking like experienced people from this industry.” Gregory was particularly intrigued by one plan for the REI parka: once the consumer no longer needs it, the parka could be returned to REI to be resewn as another product—a backpack, for example—for the same consumer. But so many of the solutions impressed Gregory that she wants students to present them to REI’s senior management. “The solutions are practical and thought-provoking enough that they really could be integrated into our company,” she says.

OK, but what about that pulp-based computer keyboard for Microsoft? “It is entirely possible,” says St. Pierre. “In their research, students discovered that vegetable pulp can be dried and molded with a binder to create the entire keyboard, except the electronics. So instead of throwing old keyboards away, the outer part could be composted and the inner parts could be sent back to the manufacturer for refurbishing.”

It just might be time to invest in the carrot industry.

An exhibit of the UW students' designs will be on view at the Tacoma Art Museum through June 18, 2000, as part of the museum's "Northwest Industrial Design" exhibit.

[Winter 2000 - Table of Contents]