Negotiating social value, time perspective, and development space in sustainable product design: A dialectics perspective

Designers face challenges stemming from the complexity and uncertainty in sustainable design. Drawing from the theoretical perspectives of dialectics and design process, we argue that a dialectical process of framing design issues and approaching design challenges can be an important but less explored element in the process of designing sustainable products. In the research setting of designers from five new sustainable design ventures, we explicated three sets of dialectics across the dimensions of social value, temporality, and development space. We further identified different synthesis strategies employed by participating designers for resolving design challenges. On the basis of empirical findings, we propose a framework for dialectical thinking and synthesis modes. We argue that the conceptual prompts provided by the proposed models can help designers articulate the process of problem framing and explore the various recombination and possibilities that emerge during synthesis.