Ending Up at the Beginning – Teaching Material Driven Design to Engineering Students

Abstract

Material Driven Design, or MDD, is a new way of realizing products starting in the understanding of the material rather than the need-driven approach that can be used to describe classic product development methodology. While new, MDD has potential to encourage more sustainable products being developed and is a useful tool for new designers and engineers to learn. In this paper, the author presents some lessons learned from teaching MDD to students in design and product development at a Swedish university. These students have experience from design and product development projects but have not done material-driven projects before. In general, the author concludes that the students are remarkably well-prepared in terms of tools and knowledge to do MDD, but that course coordination can make the projects less efficient if this is not solved early on. In master thesis projects or courses with few in-process deliverables, the implementation seems easier and can give students another path to solve problems in industry.