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Prototyping is fundamental to the design process, whether as a highly exploratory process in concept generation, as a communication tool with stakeholders and team members, or to refine a final concept. However, educators still perpetuate the use of permanent materials to make temporary artefacts. To understand this contradiction, reveal prototyping impact and student’s perception of their process, a study was conducted across two undergraduate industrial design courses at Syracuse University which centred on circular economy and fast-track life cycle assessment implementation. In the first course, students produced ‘looks like’ prototypes of redesigned electronics for the circular economy. They were encouraged, not required, to use materials that could enter the recycling stream and to document their material flows: what was embodied in the prototype and what was wasted. A self-reflection on their prototyping process and impact on course content of their future practice was captured. In the second course, students produced groups of three replica prototypes differing only in material (e.g. cardboard, Bristol paper, foamboard) or production techniques (e.g. 3DP, CNC) for life cycle assessment (LCA). Results indicated that providing students with knowledge on the environmental impacts of common prototyping material gave them more data to choose when materials should be used in their process, or whether they should be avoided entirely. This work adds to the growing literature on the need to both formally and informally teach design and engineering students to think critically about their own process and contribution to our collective impact as an industry.

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