Nature inspired design—a review from an industrial design perspective

Abstract

The paper, an ongoing doctoral research, makes an inquiry into nature inspired design from an industrial design perspective. The study examines various systematic methods developed by researchers and finds that they are strongly function oriented while methods adopted by industrial designers are based on observation of natural systems for nature inspired design. Literature review indicates that researchers and designers work under different environments and constraints, and further finds that the approach taken by designers face criticism as well as support to their methods. This paper highlights that existing researches are dominantly focused on functional aspects while aspects that deals with the form are not sufficiently explored for nature inspired products. It also suggests the importance for the design community to extrapolate methods that are based on design science principles in seeking creative solutions for nature inspired products.