Should a product always be designed?

We receive all sorts of requests for assistance from potential clients looking to develop new products. The majority of these are clearly considered and well thought out, but just occasionally we get inappropriate ideas for new products and a handful that have been truly alarming and quite dangerous to contemplate!

At least we, as responsible product designers, can filter those out but our world is littered with examples of products that should never exist. Pointless products, unsafe products, irresponsible products and badly conceived products. The list is endless but at some point there was a designer and manufacturer who was part of the process. It’s tempting to think that those involved cannot have looked at anything other than the profit they would have made by bringing these to market.

We are all plagued by products becoming obsolete. Some of this is necessary but much of it is deliberately planned to force a new purchase. This inevitably results in huge amounts of resources going to waste and new resources being consumed to continue the merry go around.

How can it be fair on all of us and the planet to squander such valuable resources?

It seems to us that quite often a good idea is not always a good idea if it gets challenged using real world values.

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