Throughout history and across cultures, animals have inspired product design.
Product design transforms resources to make things and supplies with the purpose to improve the quality of our lives.
Science books for kids that include animal-inspired goods can encourage kids to learn more about the natural world and the creatures that live there.
Reinforcing inspiration and creativity with elements from nature (biomimicry) can inspire designs to improve our lives. Also, it’s important to emphasize creating a great product and protecting the environment.
In this blog post, we look into three examples of animal-inspired product design found in Copy That, Copycat Picture Book created by Katrina and Julia.
The Relationship between Product Design and Animals
The natural world serves as an inspiration for product design in different industries, for example, aircraft and shipping.
People with biomimicry talent focus on nature for inspiration, from colors, shapes, patterns, and movements, animals provide a wealth of inspiration for product design.
Examples of animals that have inspired product design include frogs, polar bears, and geckos.
3 Products Inspired by Animals
⦿Frogs – Inspired Flippers
Frog’s feet inspired flippers. Flippers and frog’s feet exhibit an amazing similarity in their form and function.
They can move faster and with greater agility thanks to the linked membranes between their lengthy toes.
⦿Polar Bear – Inspired Snowshoes
Polar Bears thrive in the snowy environments they navigate, besides their heavy weight. These characteristics inspired snowshoes.
Snowshoes’ broad, rounded shape is similar to polar bears’ big, padded paws; both are made to distribute weight equally and prevent sinking into slushy snow.
⦿Geckos – Inspired Strong Tape
Geckos Inspired a strong tape which is a remarkable adhesive product that takes inspiration from the incredible capabilities of gecko feet.
This tape is made to offer an extraordinary grip, just like how geckos readily adhere to surfaces with their distinctive toe pads.
Recap of the Importance of Nature as Inspiration to Product Designs and to Preserve the Environment
Animal inspiration has been a relevant design element throughout history. These ideas inspire the next generation of designers and engineers to design products to improve our lives while preserving our environment.
The three products presented, the frogs’ flipper, Polar bears’ snowshoes, and geckos’ strong tape, are a few examples of how animal inspiration can bring new technology to life.
Available on: Amazon US | Amazon CA | Amazon UK |
Authors Tangen, K,Orecchia, G.
Copy That, Copy Cat!: Inventions Inspired by Animals
Published by Barefoot Books (September 5, 2023)
ISBN: 978-1646869992
ARC by Edelweiss
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