In a modern society, the preservation of natural sources and the environment is not optional but essential. Therefore, the sustainability is extensively discussed in business fields and most companies are concerned the sustainability. To pursue the su...
In a modern society, the preservation of natural sources and the environment is not optional but essential. Therefore, the sustainability is extensively discussed in business fields and most companies are concerned the sustainability. To pursue the sustainability is required for management of the company as well as the preservation of the Earth. By following this trend, many domestic and overseas companies increasingly employ eco-friendly materials and develop products or designs which are easy-recyclable and upcycable.
In this study, various cases of industry of upcycling sustainable design are studied and current situations of upcycling brand are investigated. Through the investigation, common areas between the brands, which lead the market pursue improved utilization of resources and development of luxurious goods with upcycling paradigm, are defined with messages and design languages of the brands. In addition, connections between concepts and materials employed by each upcycling brand are researched for suggesting future directions of upcycling brands to related market.
To begin with, this study elucidates the definition of upcycling sustainable design in terms of concepts and characteristics of sustainable design, green design and eco design. Moreover, the types of upcycling sustainable design are categorized according to the life cycles of products and the methods of design. Especially, this study concentrates on the cases of bag brands employing reuse design.
Upcycling is to reprocess waste materials or worthless products into materials or products of better quality or for better environmental value. The materials and products revert to nature or industrial resources with upcycling. By studying the cases of bag brand using upcycling sustainable design, this study figures out current situation of the brands. Furthermore, as the aspect of design, two relations, between messages and design languages of each brands and between concepts of each brands and colors, are analyzed by extracting mainly used adjectives by each brands and CMYK color values from bags of each brands. The adjectives and colors are extracted respectively in the image space of 2D ‘design style and emotional language’ and in the image space of ‘color distribution (representative colors)’. Extracted adjectives and colors are analyzed for defining common areas between brand messages and design languages. Besides of that, common adjectives are extracted according to each material in order to reveal connections between concepts of brands and main materials. From the analysis, formative and functional elements or characteristics of upcycling sustainable design are investigated. Additionally, the significance of design is emphasized for the success of upcycling sustainable design products.
As a result, in general, if concepts or messages of brands are similar, then adjectives presents similarities and color distributions used in main products are also similar for the same style product of each brand. In short, ‘design style and emotional language’ image space and ‘color distribution (representative colors)’ image space are correlated strongly and relatively in many aspects. On top of that, according to main materials used by each brand, similar adjectives are extracted and these adjectives appear overlapped in ‘design style and emotional language’ image space. Therefore, applying a strategy of design languages (materials, colors and emotional languages with stories) to upcycling sustainable design product is an efficient way to deliver brand messages of each brand to their customers.
Upcycling sustainable design began to meet the demands of the times for preserving the environment. However, efforts in various aspects are required to develop as a promising brand for upcycling sustainable design. Unique designs combining creative idea with useless materials are significant to produce upcycling goods. Moreover, it is essential for brand image build-up to establish effective concepts and brand messages for customers in terms of design. Also, further studies are required to pursue the improvement in aesthetic aspect as fashion and in functional aspect for surpassing general products.
At the conclusion of the paper, future directions are suggested for domestic upcycling sustainable design brands, which are at an early stage of development, based on the research of prominent overseas brand for upcycling. The domestic brands are demanded to develop design products that have high quality and seek better environment value by overcoming simple recycling products.
Lastly, further studies should be conducted with regard to studies and researches in different aspects about upcycling sustainable design.