Chris Lefteri

In a recent article on the Design Council website, materials expert Chris Lefteri explains how to make the right choices for your project, as this can impact the functionality, durability, longevity and success of your product. The following two excerpts look at some key considerations when selecting materials and certain prominent issues around the choice and use of materials today.

Material is the stuff that you touch, smell, hear and experience as a living person. Materials permeate every aspect of our existence, from our own skin to our planet and beyond.

Humans have, since the time of our earliest ancestors, learned how to harness the materials of our planet and to form them into the most sophisticated and incredible tools. From flint tools and the earliest carvings in caves, to the development of super computers; from the first discovery that sand, when heated, turned to glass, to the use of biological applications of glass in our own bodies or as flexible fibre optic cable; and from the earliest mud dwellings, to technical ceramics used as replacement for metal in kitchen knives.

The importance of materials

Materials are an important consideration for any manufactured product. Choosing the right material for the right product is as important as any of the main criteria that would normally be involved in bringing a product to market. The complexity of meaning behind this simple word can be daunting. Beyond the basic terms wood, metal and plastic lies a universe of subcategories and hybrids.

The continually evolving science of materials, and the development of a constant stream of new materials, applications and material hybrids, is truly fascinating. However, it cannot be stressed enough that the use of materials goes hand in hand with production technology. New materials and ideas are often derived from new ways of processing the material itself or even just using it in a new application.

The area where materials can often have the greatest impact is in an environment. Think what you notice when you step into an office, train, aircraft interior or ship that has just been updated or refitted. These environments are as much to do with use of new materials, as with the planning of the space. Or think of your parents' old car and how dated its materials used in it are by today's standards. These are examples of how new surfaces, fabrics, materials and colours are used to reinforce a brand and enhance a sense of quality.

How do I decide which materials to use?

The choice of the right material for a design project can be critical to the success of that product. Whether we are discussing buildings, products, furniture, fashion or packaging, at some point a decision will need to be made on what material to use. In some cases this will be obvious, but in others it may need some creative thinking.

The selection of the right material can influence design on many levels. Perhaps the most obvious considerations are manufacturing costs and performance of the end product. A balance needs to be sought between costs, manufacturing feasibility and finding the right material for the job. However, there are also less obvious considerations to be borne in mind when choosing the right material.

Manufacturing and cost

Part of the juggling act of choosing the right material is understanding the ways it can be processed to form products. It is not just a case of choosing a material and then deciding on how to manufacture a product from it. One of the main criteria is the volume of production.

Glass can be a very cheap material but handmade pieces can be very expensive, as can the tooling to mass-produce a wine bottle. Plastic may also only be cost effective when you weigh it against the number of pieces and the cost of tooling.

Function of materials

Clearly, different materials have different properties. Ceramics are particularly heat resistant and hard. Plastics can be easily formed into an infinite range of shapes and colours. Glass is hard and has some outstanding optical qualities. Wood is easy to work without necessarily using expensive machinery and is also naturally highly decorative.

Evaluating the requirements for the final product should help to decide on the right material. Mobile phones for example need to be produced in high volume, they need to be made from a fairly rigid but resilient material and they need to be formed into a variety of complex, sometimes highly detailed shapes.

The personality of a material

It is easy to consider materials only from the perspective of obvious functional attributes - for example, the hardness of ceramics versus metals or the formability of plastics over wood - but the emotional and visual qualities of materials help define the product as much as the form and function. The surface texture, the translucency, the sponginess or hardness all have an effect on the way a product is perceived and used. A specific quality may well be the starting point for an idea: 'We need a packaging that has a seductive quality', or 'We need something aggressively modern'.

The question of sustainability

The increasing importance of providing a sustainable future means that for designers and manufacturers today the selection of appropriate materials is of even more importance. As a society we will not stop buying products, therefore the need to choose the right material will become even more important. We cannot avoid progress. We can merely try to make the application of materials and their use more intelligent. Our relationship with products and materials is entering a new age, which is based on exploring different ways in which materials can be used to allow for products to be dismantled and their various components recycled.

Whether it's getting to grips with new legislation or finding ways to try out new ideas, there a many challenges associated with the creative use of materials.

New political legislation

The environmental impact of consumerism in the form of products and packaging is forcing governments to produce new initiatives to deal with excessive waste. Increasing pressure is being placed on manufacturers and retailers by regulations for the disposal and recycling of products. One of the key requirements will be that a piece of packaging should be limited to a single substrate.

Using design

Using external materials and design consultants is an obvious consideration but there are many businesses that rely completely on in-house resources to bring products to market. There may better alternatives to the materials you are currently using. It might be worth considering using consultants who can help you to locate specific materials. Consultants can rationalise not just the product, but also the production process and the best materials for the project.

Ethical sourcing and environmental issues

Do you have a policy within the company for materials and ecological issues? It is worth setting up guidelines for the use of materials which brings designers' and suppliers' attention to the issues concerning responsible use of materials. This could include fixing mechanisms, adhesives and electrical components, and stretch to assembly and labour costs or distribution. Several retailers already have a strategy for informing all parties involved in bringing a product to production. These are presented in the form of a document and briefings/meetings to discuss how existing products could have been produced more ecologically and economically.

Integrating materials

How do you reinforce the importance and relevance for the appropriate consideration of materials within an organisation? How do you make sure that employees are thinking about materials on a level, which is integral to their work rather than an after-thought? Do you have a recycling scheme, which in a very simple way reinforces the importance of environmental issues?

Working environment for employees

How well do you practice what you preach by using materials within your environment? It is well-known that wood and other natural materials have the ability to create a calming, relaxing effect on people. How would it change your working environment to have a floor that was more like an outdoor decking than a scratchy grey carpet?

For instance, softwoods can be an amazingly resilient material. Think of the old Routemaster London buses with wooden flooring or the treads on steps of old railway stations with tiny squares of end grain wood. Traditional and new materials can underline the values of a company and also create a stimulating working environment.

Disposal of waste legislation and the Producer Responsibility Regulations
If you are a manufacturer, supplier or retailer, how prepared are you to deal with new legislation for disposal of waste from packaging and redundant products? This new legislation is constantly being introduced and updated to place greater responsibility on manufacturers to manage a product from inception to disposal. Taking this into account equips companies with a far-sighted approach to product development and can provide added value for customers.

In more depth

Details of the Producer Responsibility Regulations can be found at www.legislation.hmso.gov.uk

Further reading

More from the Chris Lefteri's Materials articles on the Design Council website:

• The business case
• Eleven examples
• Top tips
• Your questions answered
• Recommended reading
• Where next?
• Glossary