Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Phases of Design
Biomimicry Design Pathways
Biomimicry Process Diagrams
In this chapter we explore various ways to bring together the concepts
and methods introduced in the previous sections into a coherent
process. Like any creative process, there really is no single right way to
do biomimicry. Each project and each person is likely to follow a slightly
different path. However the approaches described below can provide a
good framework for beginning and ideas for how to integrate insights
from biomimicry into a design process that works for you.
Phases of Design
In the introductory section of this toolkit we identified four overarching
phases that all design processes tend to sharescoping, ideation,
assessment, and iteration. Now that you understand some of the basics
ofscoping a biomimicry challenge, finding biological
strategies andcrafting design strategies, lets look a bit closer at Ideation,
Assessment, and Iteration and how biomimicry fits in.
Ideation
The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in
escaping from old ones.
John Maynard Keynes, Economist
Keywords associated with ideation: brainstorm, research, explore, imagine, create, plan,
select, ideas, concepts, possibilities, biological models, design strategies
Important Questions
Many ideation strategies use questions such as, what if? and how might we? to
provoke new ways of looking at the design opportunity. Similarly, in biomimicry we ask,
How does nature? as a way to move beyond conventional solutions and explore
concepts gleaned from biological strategies.
Biomimicry, of course, adds the natural world as a valuable source of
design inspiration and knowledge. For this reason, contact with the
natural world, research, and writing/drawing bio-inspired design
strategies are an essential part of ideation within a biomimetic design
process. These activities were discussed in the sections Finding
Biological Strategies and Crafting Design Strategies. Natures unifying
patterns are another tool for ideation in biomimicry. Finding ways to bring
the patterns into your design will reveal some opportunities you may not
have considered. These are especially valuable when looking for ways to
make your design as life-friendly as possible.
Assessment
Early prototypes need not be functional. You can learn a lot from even simple prototypes.
I have not failed, Ive just found 10,000 ways that wont work
Thomas Edison, Inventor
Iteration is not so much a phase of design as a phenomenon that
occurs when design teams move cyclically through phases and feedback
loops of ideation and assessment (and sometimes back to scoping).
Design is fundamentally an iterative process. One rarely gets everything
right on the first try; we need to learn from what doesnt work, and try
again. Interestingly, one can also look at evolution as a process of
iteration by which living systems have tested and refined numerous
adaptive strategies over generations.
If you have a design challenge in mind and can determine the function(s)
that you need your design to perform, you can ask nature how living
things do the same. We describe this as a challenge to biology (C2B)
pathway: you start with a design challenge and actively seek inspiration
and models in biology to solve it. This toolkit focuses largely on the
challenge to biology pathway because that pathway is the most likely to
be useful in our Design Challenges program.
Biology to Design
Pathway Examples
C2B Examples
Shinkansen train
Interface Entropy carpet
B2D Examples
Whale Power
PureBond
Ornilux
Biomimicry Diagrams
A couple different resources are available to illustrate the C2B and B2D
pathways. These tools were created to support those new to the
biomimicry process and can be used as guides to follow as you
approach a design challenge. Its important to remember that both of
these tools are simplified versions of what is in reality a non-linear and
iterative creative process. Although the steps are listed sequentially, you
should expect to repeat steps and revise your work along the way as
new discoveries lead you to rethink previous conclusions.
Biomimicry Design Spirals
The first tool is a pair of diagrams, called the Biomimicry Design Spirals.
They were developed collaboratively by the Biomimicry Institute and the
Biomimicry Guild (now Biomimicry 3.8). There is a unique diagram for
each of the C2B and B2D processes.
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h
C2B Design Spiral Methodology
Download the C2B Design Spiral diagram and methodology outline to use as a reference
with the video provided.
Watch this video for an overview of the challenge to biology design process, as captured in
the C2B Design Spiral.
Biomimicry Thinking
Another tool for visualizing the biomimicry process, is the Biomimicry
Thinking diagram, from the DesignLens published by Biomimicry 3.8 in
2012. This single diagram is used to illustrate both the C2B and B2D
processes.
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The Design Thinking diagram and related collateral can be accessed on
the Biomimicry 3.8 website.