Kai Jaffe

Design with Respect:
An Innovation Process to Benefit People, the Planet, and Profits


Humans and nature are no longer in equilibrium with each other. We are living a life that harms rather than furthers life. Once we understand that we are in the midst of a crisis that seems to be getting worse, if we do not change what we are doing, than we are only hurting ourselves more. We must make a change in the industrial design field from killing the earth with our thoughtlessness, to respecting the planet and all who live on it with us.

For industrial designers to design products that are low-impact ones, culturally relevant for the user, economically viable for both the producer and the consumer, ecologically compatible with nature’s systems, and that integrate modern technology to solve problems, a new design innovation process must be developed that posits a new motivation for the designer to design with. Kai’s thesis proposes a new design innovation process: Design with Respect.

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