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Mar 05, 2026
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PUBLISHED 2026-2027 Credit Catalog
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MKTG 3020 - Sustainable Design and Innovation
Description
Conceptualizing customer needs into products that they want to buy is at the heart of marketing. However, customers are craving more than meeting the 5 levels of need established by Abraham Maslow in is iconic “Hierarchy of Needs”. Beginning in the late 20th century and moving forward (with no expected end date), customers have discovered their “self-transcendent” need. This was also a need identified by Maslow, and yet, in a true tale of the times, it was left out of his hierarchy. Transcendence is the movement beyond self to a place of selflessness. Remember, the 5 needs of Maslow’s hierarchy are self-ISH. In short, customers now want to buy things that are not only good for them, but good for planet and people. They demand not only innovation which solves typical consumer problems, they want those innovations to solve planet and people problems. They want sustainable innovation. This can only come from sustainable design.
In this course, students will learn and be guided by the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) to help align their product ideas with today’s most pressing social/environmental needs. They use the design thinking framework, as well as the 8 pillar competencies from the competency-based learning book, “The Daily Undoing: Being Better at Being Human”, to create an innovative product, service or experience for a target market. Preparing a SWOT analysis and other conventional and non-conventional business strategy tools, as well as a focused market assessment, learners will move toward discovering and delivering untapped value. They will develop a business case based upon an evidence-based definition of a problem and ideation to solution, tracing how their curiosity opens the door to design thinking. They will then develop a prototype and market test their product to classmates and industry professionals to determine the product-market fit.
3 Credits
Time Guidelines
The standard instructional time for this course is 45 hours.
Prerequisites
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