A FRAMEWORK FOR FRUGAL DESIGN AND ITS ASSESSMENT

Abstract

The global challenges of environmental degradation and unequal access to the benefits of technological developments require a significant shift in how we approach product design and development. Traditional resource-intensive design practices are not sustainable, and current innovations often fail to achieve a critical portion of the world's population due to cost and adaptability issues. This research addresses these challenges by developing a Design framework as a generally applicable strategy for creating effective and sustainable solutions. In this research, we have developed a design framework that is frugal in terms of resource consumption throughout its lifecycle. The frugal design framework consists of five dimensions, beginning with redefining the frugal design concept. Moving beyond the commonly held perception of frugal design as an affordable innovation for marginalized communities, this research proposed a new universal understanding of the frugal design concept. Frugal design (FD) is defined as a resource-conscious innovation that develops high-performance, long-term, sustainable functional solutions. This expanded perspective goes beyond specific economic or geographical boundaries. Frugal design is seen as a globally relevant, strategically advantageous approach to various design challenges in various industries and contexts. This reconceptualization forms the basis for identifying essential attributes that define effective frugal design: sustainability, function, inclusion, and performance. These attributes are interconnected dependencies that must be harmoniously integrated throughout the design and development process. These attributes emphasize creating products that minimize resource consumption and environmental impact over the lifecycle, providing essential and reliable functionality, and are accessible, relevant, or exceed required performance standards in the intended operational context of a diverse global user base. Later, this research introduces a frugal design evaluation model (FDEM) for practicing these attributes. This evaluation model is developed through identified core attributes and enhanced with user feedback. Frugality index, defined on a scale of 1-5, measures the product's frugality quotient based on associated criteria/attributes. It also guides the designers to improve designs based on user insights, indicating the criteria the product lacks and making them understand why some products and features are acceptable over others at the user level. Furthermore, to understand the systemic challenges hindering the broader adoption of FD, the research delves into a comprehensive analysis of the entire product lifecycle, revealing the inefficient and wasteful use of key input resources (material, energy, information, time, and space) are major and frequently disregarded contributing factor to the inability to get frugal design outcomes. A central contribution to this research is developing an IO(Input-output) frugal design framework. A structured and systematic approach is presented to optimize resource use for various design processes. The main goal of this framework is to streamline the development process by strategically focusing on critical input resources (e.g., materials, energy, information, space, time, etc.), the generation of valuable outputs (e.g., sustainability, function, inclusion, performance improvements, etc.), and simplifying inherently complex systems and strategically effective values. This IO framework provides designers and decision makers with a more informed strategic foundation for resource allocation and design compromises, enabling them to v create sustainable and integrated solutions by optimizing critical resources. Quantifying the complex relationship between specific design decisions and their concrete effects on frugal design outcomes. This innovative approach substantially advances traditional, often more intuitive, experience-based design processes. Overemphasizing frugality with respect to five input resources can result in solutions that, while meeting resource efficiency goals, compromise user experience, which prevents widespread adoption and eventually minimizes the intended benefits of frugal design. Therefore, including Design Thinking (DT) in the frugal design paradigm provides a promising path to expand its capabilities. This research develops a frugal design thinking (FDT) framework. Recognizing the inherent limitations of traditional linear and often closely focused problem-solving methods, especially when facing the complexity and dynamic limitations of resource-scarce environments. FDT offers a powerful synergistic integration of the core principles and iterative processes of Design Thinking (DT) and the resourcefulness and value-orientation of Frugal Design (FD). This integrated approach provides a structured yet highly adaptive, human-centric methodology for manufacturers to effectively address multifaceted manufacturing and design challenges in a resource-limited context. This new framework represents a key contribution to the field with a practical and implementable roadmap to promote the ubiquitous culture of economic innovation within an organization, while simultaneously promoting the creation of effective solutions that effectively meet global needs related to sustainability, accessibility, and affordability. The FDT framework provides a transformative perspective on how design is used in an increasingly resource-conscious, interconnected world, providing both practitioners and researchers with the tools to advance frugal design principles and practices for a more sustainable and equitable future.