Material VS Product design

This card helps you decide whether to design a new material and explore its potential application area, or to develop a functional product using existing, ready-to-apply resources.

• Could your goals be achieved more effectively by using an existing biobased material?

• Are you more driven to invent new materials or to apply existing ones in meaningful, functional products?

• How will your choice between material and product design influence your prototyping process and timelines?

• Who do you need to collaborate with depending on your focus—material scientists, product engineers, or both?

Material OR Product?

Defining whether you focus on material or product design is crucial because it shapes your entire biodesign process. Designing a new material often requires more biodesign cycles, time, lab access, and

expertise, while product design using existing materials allows for faster development and market testing. This choice affects your timeline, tools, needed collaborators, and the scale and ambition of your project. Being clear on this from the start helps keep your biodesign process realistic and focused.

• Define whether your focus is on inventing a material or designing a product.

• From now on, match your collaborators and tools to your chosen focus.

• Adjust your timeline and prototyping approach based on material or product goals.