DESIGN FOR DEMAND
BRIEF
Drive the circular economy movement. A resource
for emerging designers in any industry or sector.
You might be designing products, systems,
services, interactions, or something else entirely.
If you’re feeling inspired to apply your skills to
the challenges of the circular economy, then the
best way is to master your craft is to practice.
8
Whether you’re a design student or an emerging
professional our briefs will push you to think
holistically when you approach a sustainability
challenge. You’ve chosen a global trend and a
strategic starting point; now get going.
YOU CHOSE...
Global trend:
FOOD FOR
9.6 BILLION
To provide a global population of 9.6 billion
with healthy and nutritious food and eliminate
global hunger and malnutrition, food systems
must simultaneously produce more food,
improve livelihoods and reduce food wastage.
According to the UN, we currently produce
enough food for everyone on the planet to have
an adequate diet, but poor distribution means
that 805 million people are hungry while some
1.4 billion people are overweight or obese.
One-third of the food produced today is lost
or wasted at the production, post-harvest and
processing stages of the food chain.
According to the United Nations food
production will need to nearly double by 2050
to feed the world. There is no silver bullet that
will solve these issues. Instead a wide range
of solutions will be needed across the food
value chain. These include reducing food
waste, promoting agricultural efficiencies,
technological innovation and urban farming.
Changes to people’s dietary preferences and
consumption patterns around the world will
also have a role to play.
Strategic starting point:
+
SERVICE
This approach is about reconfiguring systems
so the user experiences a new relationship to
an organisation, transaction or product. This
is achieved by providing new kinds of value for
the consumer, i.e. a fun, worry-free or money-
saving experience. In some cases the service
model removes the need for outright ownership
or consumption, allowing for a new kind of
sharing economy. For example the recent rise
of car sharing, enabled by technology and
mobile platforms, and allowing the benefits
of a physical product, without the footprint of
ownership.
Services can play an enabling role for other
circular economy strategies, such as design
for reuse or for disassembly. If an organisation
designs an item specifically so it is easy to
take apart, which might require more upfront
investment in design and material costs, they
need to ensure there are systems in place to
enable that lifecycle. This is where a service
approach becomes a systems approach.
Considering a holistic viewpoint and supporting
the weak links in the system will allow the
whole to operate with more resilience.
2
YOUR BRIEF:
Can you conceive of a service which could
encourage and support people to alter their
diet and eat less meat?
In order to continue to provide food and nutrition as global populations rise, there is lots
of evidence to suggest that we need to diversify our diets. The way we currently consume
meat is unsustainable and is by no means the most efficient or healthiest way to use land
to produce protein. How could a compelling service experience change habits, make an
alternative lifestyle more attractive or create demand for new diets?

Your task is to explore this brief through a two diamond design process, outlined below.
Depending on how much time you have for this exploration, we’ve recommended some
steps or stages for you to use as a framework. This should get you started. This pdf also
includes resources and tools to support your response to the brief.

1. Discover 2. Define 3. Develop 4. Deliver

(diverge) (converge) (diverge) (converge)

If you’ve got: If you’ve got: If you’ve got: If you’ve got:

1 day (steps 1-4)
1. Identify some research
starting points
2. Clarify your brief, &
focus within in
3. Identify your target user
4. Generate initial ideas
for further exploration
1-2 days (steps 1-8) 1 week (steps 1-12) > 1 week (steps 1-16)
5. Generate initial ideas 9. Assess feedback 13. Establish timeline &
6. Select several for 10. Several further rounds goals for delivery
further discovery of prototyping 14. Establish partnerships
7. Deeper discovery in 11. User testing of your needed for delivery
these areas, inc. research prototype with target user 15. Continue to prototype,
& prototyping if you can 12. Develop the system user test & refine
8. Select an idea to share that sits around your idea 16. Launch!

*No matter how many steps you complete, always aim to share and critique your work with others.

3
HOW TO GET STARTED
Brainstorm or answer some or all of the following questions to get started:
1. Describe your culinary comfort zone. Make a map of the foods which you eat every day, on a
regular basis, occassionally or never. How prominent is meat in this map?
2. What are some examples of services which have changed people’s behaviours or significantly
altered their lifestyles?
3. Find some successful and unsuccessful examples of existing innovations in this space? What can
you learn from them? Does service or experience play a role in this?
4. Which cultures eat a predominantly vegitarian diet? Why? What we can we learn from them?
5. Who is working or playing in this space? Who is invested in the various different scenarios or
outcomes which humanity could move towards?

RESOURCES FOR INSPIRATION

Brief specific resources:
http://thefuturescentre.org/trend-cards/149/
feeding-world
https://www.forumforthefuture.org/our-work/
hub/food
http://www.foodsystemsacademy.org.uk/
https://www.ted.com/talks/josette_sheeran_
ending_hunger_now?language=en
http://www.fdin.org.uk/
http://www.servicedesigntoolkit.org/
https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/designers
Wider resources:
http://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/
circular-economy
http://www.greatrecovery.org.uk/
http://diytoolkit.org/
http://toolbox.hyperisland.com/
http://nikemakers.com/#/
http://www.okala.net/Okala%20Ecodesign%20
Strategy%20Guide%202012.pdf
http://www.frogdesign.com/sites/default/files/
pdf/frog_collective_action_toolkit.pdf
http://www.driversofchange.com/tools/doc/

4
SERVICE Idea generation tool
Answer the following questions either as a starting point, when you have some ideas you’d like to take
further, or when creative block strikes. Use the spaces here or take a new sheet for each question.

How could your service concept encourage or How could digital technology support and
grow a community around it? enhance your proposition?

If use of your service had learning outcomes for How would you describe the ecosystem that your
consumers what would they be? proposition is part of?

How might your design adapt to the changing How might you provide your service for free?
needs of the user?

Who wouldn’t be able to use your service and Would the concept of closed loop apply to your
why? Is there any way you could enable them? service? If not, why not?

5
TRI-STRATEGY Idea generation tool
STORYTELLING

SERVICE OPENNESS

You chose a strategic starting point to spark your thinking and get some ideas off the ground. Now use all
three strategies to push your ideas further. What happens if you apply additional approaches? If you try
to apply all three strategies? Use the spaces here or take each combination off the page for more space.

6
FINAL
RECOMMENDATIONS
Every time you get a new brief or start to think
about a design challenge, we suggest you wear
each of the following thinking hats in turn;

1. Think co-creation 3. Think systems

We know you’ll consider different technologies
and materials, but don’t forget the people and
processes behind them. Talk to those you’re
designing for, whether that’s the client, the
user, the materials expert or the engineer. Don’t
be afraid to go further upstream and speak to
engineers, developers and people with very
different visions. It may feel uncomfortable
at first but the potential rewards are huge.
Multidiscliplinary approaches are often the
most innovative and can result in unexpected
solutions that make a real difference.
Ask yourself: Who are you designing for and
how can you engage them in your process?
2. Think futures
Your design will have a legacy and it is vital
that you consider its life-span/life-cycle. If
it will be used only for a short time, should
it be biodegradable or infinitely recyclable?
Should you add a “Service” approach to a more
complex object so it can function over a longer
period? Is it an enduring object that needs a
“Story” approach to ensure it is valued and kept
in use? A futures mindset and long-term vision
are fundamental to achieving a more circular
economy.
Ask yourself: Should you design to
dematerialise, endure or evolve?
Our understanding of supply chains is evolving,
from an industrialised linear path to a more
networked perspective. No-one can solve the
circularity challenges alone and in order to
create a new value network we need a web of
new relationships to help us collaborate and
access a greater variety of assets and skills. By
doing this we begin to develop circular business
models that rely on new flows of energy,
materials and values. Talk to people in other
disciplines whose work could touch on yours or
who may be approaching similar issues from a
very different stand point.
Ask yourself: Who might be approaching this
from a different perspective?
CONTACT
If you’re interested in how these briefs could be
delivered as a module, or if you’re an educator
looking to encorporate sustainability and
circular economy into your design curriculum
then do get in touch with;
z.davidson@forumforthefuture.org
r.bautista@forumforthefuture.org