Comparing Biomimicry and Cradle to Cradle with Ecodesign: a case study of student design projects

•Biomimicry and Cradle to Cradle were compared to Ecodesign, by analyzing student projects.•Depending on the design strategy applied, the students' design focus differed significantly.•Biomimicry and Cradle to Cradle yielded more solutions on a function and systems level.•Nature-inspired design strategies supported integration of context-specific solutions.•For some of the designs, absence of evaluation tools resulted in unforeseen impacts.

In the field of sustainable product development, a new type of design strategies is being implemented, based on ‘learning from nature’. Biomimicry and Cradle to Cradle, two Nature-Inspired Design Strategies, provide principles and tools specifically aimed at design practice. However, research into their application and how they influence the outcome of the design process is scarce. Consequently, there is a lack of knowledge as to how these design strategies differ from, and may add to, a validated and well-established approach such as Ecodesign.This paper describes and discusses an explorative case study, comparing how students designed a ‘sustainable product’ by applying either Biomimicry, Cradle to Cradle, or Ecodesign. The outcomes of 27 student groups across two years were analyzed through content analysis and statistical tests. Significant differences were found in the ‘design focus’ of the groups, depending on which design strategy they applied. Furthermore, groups that applied Biomimicry and Cradle to Cradle included functional alternatives and user needs more often than Ecodesign groups. Addressing ‘context-specific opportunities’ in the designers' solution space was found to be a key difference between nature-inspired design and Ecodesign. We argue that this focus on product context may have helped the students to integrate solutions at the level of functions and needs in their design process. All three strategies successfully guided the students in generating a design. However, only Ecodesign provided quantitative evaluation tools. Our study confirms the need for such tools in the design process, to prevent unforeseen environmental impacts of the designs in the product life cycle.