Building capacity for sustainable product service systems in Australian industrial design education: a reflection upon contemporary practice

Product service systems (PSS) have broadened sustainability agendas within industrial design (ID) education in Australia. In building PSS capacities for ID practice the relationships between need and use (service) and the mediating nature of tangible products and their attunement to cultural and contextual conditions get amplified. This article reflects on our work in accentuating the nature of ID in PSS through education. We discuss how we have adapted the original notion of PSS; retaining its principles but taking new approaches in the design of products that are central to a service proposition. A series of case studies of PSS in ID education from members of the LeNS Oceania network are conveyed to illustrate systemic concerns of design in product and service making. The authors describe a variety of ways in which PSS innovations have been framed and might be furthered within the Australian ID education context.