The Design Compass®: Evaluating a new tool for sustainable product design with students

Andrews, Simon ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1092-8158, Dutheil, Evy ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4079-6923, Falcon, Rebecca and Knox, Stefan (2025) The Design Compass®: Evaluating a new tool for sustainable product design with students. In: Sustainable Innovation 2025, 30th-31st October 2025, Epsom UK. (Submitted)

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Abstract / Summary

The Design Compass is an online tool to support the development of commercially viable products whilst navigating environmental sustainability and social impacts. Undergraduate Product Design students from Falmouth University and the University of Chester used the Design Compass throughout a taught module. The project saw cross-institutional collaboration between students, academics, and the Design Compass developers, Bang Creations Ltd. Qualitative research focused on feedback provided by the students on their experience of using the tool, their design process and outcomes developed. The study provides a positive indication of the benefits of the Design Compass in a learning and teaching context, and advantages over other eco-design tools. Student feedback was also helpful in providing suggestions for improvements for the tool. Some of these suggestions have already been implemented by Bang Creations in a later iteration of the Design Compass.

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