Originally created in 2017 by Karen Marie Hasling, Ulla Ræbild and Lotte Hahn Kofoed, the Sustainable Design Cards present a number of approaches and references to help practitioners conduct mindful design processes.
At the occasion of the release of the third edition, I was invited to update their content, challenging the relevancy of the cards themselves and ensuring the inclusion of a broad spectrum of references.

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A number of tools aiming at providing guidance and structuring the still emerging field of sustainability-driven design have been flourishing in the recent past. Amongst those, the Sustainable Design Cards have translated the practice-based approach advocated by Kolding’s Design School and its Lab for Sustainability and Design. They present 28 design strategies, organized around Functional, Emotional and Technical attractors, as well as the various stages of a product life-cycle. Furthermore, they introduce references for each of them, both from practice and academia.

I joined the Lab with the mission of bringing a fresh look to the cards, questioning the relevance and naming of the strategies and updating the references with more recent, diverse and relevant content. This led to an enriched and diversified spectrum of design practices being represented in the cards, and, I believe, a better ambassador of the melting pot of practicies and sensitivities that is the Design School.


The cards can be found on their dedicated website.