The Circular Design Guide
The current big shift in management - both public and private - is from linear models to circular models. This resource was designed to help innovators create more elegant, effective and creative solutions for circular economy. This resource allows users to explore new ways to create sustainable, resilient, long-lasting value in the circular economy. While it is oriented towards private sector manufacturing and products, it can also be helpful for public sector organisations to think about supporting more circular models, either externally or in their own operations. The resource is divided into sections: understand, define, make, and release circular innovations. The resource includes detailed step-by-step guidance on circular methods and mindsets, including videos, cases, and related resources. The guide also includes resources for putting circular strategies into action, including worksheets and packaged workshops with facilitator's guides, video lectures, and presentations.
IDEO is one of the leading design agencies globally. IDEO and CEO Tim Brown are more or less the founder of Design Thinking. Design Thinking existed before IDEO introduced it as an approach to problem solving and the mindset for non-designers. It was to a large extend thanks to IDEO and Tim Brown, that Design Thinking and the increasing understanding of the value of design among business leaders and civil servants took off and became a well-recognised and accepted approach to innovation and sustainable growth. Partly because of IDEO’s ability to communicate, partly because of their ability to make complex approaches and methods understandable and accessible. This is indeed also the case of this toolkit – The circular design guide. The methods in this toolkit are divided into four phases; Understand, Define, Make, and Release. Each method is very well explained, and the toolkit has its own webpage and is very easy to navigate. In addition to the methods, description, and templates the toolkit consists of useful case studies, videos, glossary, and useful links. Very adequate without being unmanageable. Even if the exercise of transforming from linear to circular is a challenge and takes time and effort, this toolkit is very useful even if the user is not a design practitioner.