Throughout history, living beings have managed to develop an infinite number of cunning ways to survive. Years of evolution and refinement of nature are now being studied and applied in fields such as nanotechnology, robotics, medical and transportation industries, as well as in design and architecture.
From nature design to product design
As industrial designers, at Trem we are dedicated to providing solutions to the various requirements that a product demands. These requirements are given by the client, but after a phase of analysis, there are others derived from a more exhaustive study.
These requirements are of different nature; we have functional, ergonomic, economic, aesthetic and production requirements among others. Finding the optimal solution to all of them is not an easy task and that is what makes this profession so exciting.
However, it is a great inspiration to stop and look at the solutions provided by nature, which has managed to specialize by adapting to different environments with great success. An A 350-900 aircraft can fly 15,000 km non-stop. We compare it to a Colipinta godwit, which can fly 12,000 km non-stop. This is one of the infinite comparisons that exist between industrial design or technology with nature's design.
Evolving guarantees change
It never ceases to amaze us every time we look at nature and see the solutions they adopt in order to survive, from simple viruses or bacteria, to complex beings such as birds, fish or mammals, through the plant world. These solutions they adopt solve a specific problem in a masterful way, but they work globally and in total harmony with the rest of the components of which they are constituted. They are solutions that waste the minimum of energy, take advantage of what they have around them, collaborate with other entities when necessary, adapt to the environment, communicate and interact, and if that is not enough, they regenerate and finally reproduce.
Nature is capable of evolving to ensure survival in the face of change: it designs solutions that can outlast any human design. The oldest life form that remains unchanged is 2 billion years old, while the oldest human designs that are still in use date back thousands of years, such as ceramic vessels.
Digital design: the knowledge base
In 2022, in the midst of the digital and communications era, with artificial intelligence immersed in all our devices, resuming the conquest of space, studying new types of energy and with increasingly precious instruments, we are still far from creating something similar to any type of living being. In the DNA goes all the information necessary for the creation of a living being, in it is encoded how it will be and how it will behave with the environment it inhabits. The DNA of the human species could be compared in size to the information housed in the Digital Public Library, which has a database of 60,000 books.
Guaranteed design in extreme conditions
And where conditions make it more difficult, nature also serves to inspire man to find solutions for successful designs. The K-278 Komsomolets submarine was able to reach a depth of 1027 meters. The Mariana Snailfish exceeds it by almost eight times. This can serve as an example for us industrial designers to try to overcome the impossible and to go further and further with our solutions.
The best design, whether for a car, a computer or an airplane, is far from achieving the perfection that nature achieves, to which we do not usually give the importance it deserves. We continue to design for better results.
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