When Nature Hacks Design

This thesis details my journey of learning how to design in partnership with nature. This process took place in sequence; increasing the distance from home: the front yard, the park, and finally in remote wilderness. All of these places demanded full body attention, producing rich experiences that were unpredictable, thought provoking and brimming with content for creativity. I experimented with the boundary of control between designer and nature, inviting nature to engage with me through experiential prototypes that probed the division or relationship between design and nature. I learned how some of the tools and mindsets of a designer supported this engagement or hindered it. I offer a method for designers who wish to connect more fully to nature in their work, called Earthbond Prototyping. Earthbond prototyping borrows from experience prototyping, designing to produce engagement “between people, places and objects that unfold over time” (Buchenau et al, 2000 p.431). I use the skills and techniques of design to navigate boundaries between aspects of the natural world to recognize new relationships between design and nature. More than ever designers need to instinctually allow environmental ethics, and principles held within nature, to inform and challenge their design decisions.